The Price We Pay is an eye-opening book that covers the many contributors to the broken US healthcare system. There isn’t a single reason for the US ranking poorly in life expectancy and most health metrics relative to other industrialized nations despite spending the most money by a large margin. This book covers a multitude of causes:
Price gauging by providers and hospitals (no transparency either)
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM)
Insurance broker commission and kickbacks
Excessive testing and treatment
Privatized hospital transportation
In short, consumers pay astronomical costs and don’t get an ROI as the money is not spent on quality treatment.
We need to demand better from providers and legislators. The book covers many solutions.
Anything that reduces the influence of middlemen (brokers and PBMs), improves price transparency and cuts down private insurance involvement (direct to employer) should be explored.
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