Why Is Health Care So Expensive in the U.S.?

Very recommendable! Thanks to way too much government interventions! In other Western countries, the situation is very similar!

Here are some examples:

"... There is not a single answer, but health care economists assign much of the blame to the “original sin” of health care policy: the preferred tax treatment for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) premiums. ...

First, it makes employers and employers less sensitive to increases in their ESI premiums. That is because a dollar increase in premiums doesn’t reduce one’s after-tax income by a full dollar. ... It weakens the ability of competition among providers to keep prices low. ... Why should doctors or hospitals compete vigorously when they know that their high prices can be passed on by insurers without much pushback? ... the tax exemption reduced 2020 federal tax revenues by $250 billion in 2020. Much of that tax savings went to high-income tax filers. The reason: high-income filers have higher tax rates and buy more expensive plans. ...
In the case of health care, we find a lack of competition among medical providers, hospitals, and insurance companies. ... State certificate-of-need (CON) laws, for example, require government permission before someone may build a new hospital or expand operations. Lawmakers hoped these rules would slow cost growth by stopping unnecessary hospital construction. But the result was the opposite; existing hospitals used CON laws to stop competitors from entering the market, driving up prices. ...
Strict medical licensing rules also prevent much-needed competition. While these rules are ostensibly written to protect patients, existing providers often use these rules to keep qualified competitors out. ..."

Why Is Health Care So Expensive? | PolicyEd