On Mar 11, 2010, at 1:29 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Medical costs include insurance, cost of
> administration of insurance, office ovehead for physicians in handling
> insurance, etc etc. Perhaps Doug or someone knows the factual material
> here, but my impression is that the medical professionis being
> gradually, and in some instances rapidly, proletarianiszed. ER
> physicians work killing hours and I'm not sure their pay isall that
> high.
Medical costs are inflated in every aspect in the U.S. The major problem isn't docs' salaries, but they're still high by international standards. Yes, they're being second-guessed by inscos all the time, and they're losing a lot of their former professional autonomy, but they're a long way from proles. Still, something like a third of U.S. health expenditures go to administrative costs, which means mostly insurance companies and their requirements - that's the major prob.