That is a pretty vague statement which I've not seen born out. I work in tech loosely associated with healthcare and I've needed to learn how the different companies involved in the charging process interact and it's super murky - there are a lot of "preferred rates" offered by HCPs to insurers. These "preferred rates" end up leading to the outrageous out-of-network charges some folks have been exposed to. These only seem to exist to justify the constant spending into marketing and sales on both sides to make it appear that negotiations are saving companies 80% of the "cost" in their partnership - while nobody ever ends up paying full price except really unlucky patients. Additionally the system of manufacturer rebates on prescriptions appears to exist solely to bump up the price to insurer - so a 80$ med sold for 160$ with an 80$ rebate might trigger the insurer to pay out 80$ as half the cost of the medication before the patient receives the medicine for free due to the additional rebate - this ends up squeezing the insurer who will squeeze the patient all that much harder when it comes time to settle the monthly fees.
The US system is absolutely lousy with corruption and ends up diverting a large amount of money toward marketing which is rather baffling - whether a treatment is appropriate or not is a decision I'd rather my doctor made on the basis of efficacy - not because one of the companies had a catchy jingle or because one of them recently took him out to lunch.
Hospital administration does cost a fair amount, but be careful here - it's like education - some of those administrators have moved up the seniority chain to positions where they essentially do nothing and get paid for having their ass in a chair - but a lot of that administration goes to fighting against the extremely aggressive tactics of insurers and manufacturers. While those administrators would ideally be unnecessary due to better regulations being in place they do provide justifiable savings for the hospital (it's cheaper than not having them in many cases) under the current system.
The US system is absolutely lousy with corruption and ends up diverting a large amount of money toward marketing which is rather baffling - whether a treatment is appropriate or not is a decision I'd rather my doctor made on the basis of efficacy - not because one of the companies had a catchy jingle or because one of them recently took him out to lunch.
Hospital administration does cost a fair amount, but be careful here - it's like education - some of those administrators have moved up the seniority chain to positions where they essentially do nothing and get paid for having their ass in a chair - but a lot of that administration goes to fighting against the extremely aggressive tactics of insurers and manufacturers. While those administrators would ideally be unnecessary due to better regulations being in place they do provide justifiable savings for the hospital (it's cheaper than not having them in many cases) under the current system.
It's all really complicated and murky.