i have recently learned the main reason for the high costs of doctor visits in this country. ready gene, it is because of Medicaid/Medicare.
an example.
before there was Medicaid/Medicare. the doctors in Dallas where charging 20 dollars a visit.
how ever the doctors in Waco where taking chickens for pay.
when Medicaid/Medicare came out they told all of the doctors that they would pay 20 per visit. so the doctor in Waco stopped taking chickens and started charging 20 per visit to everybody.
every year Medicaid/Medicare funding goes up an automatic 3%(or what ever the real percent is). this means that doctors are getting a pay raise of 3% every year. ie the price to go and see a doctor is going up fast.
the reason that medicines cost so much in this country and not in Canada is because, every other country on the planet has a profit cap on medicines. the people who make the medicines are in it to make a profit. partly so they can use that profit to come up with better medicines. and since the USA is the only country where they can make a real profit. they have to charge enough to make up for the lack of profit from the rest of the world.
in other words we are partly paying for the medicines in Canada.