Hospitals, not drugs, are the
big driver of health-care costs

They're missing a huge chunk of the costs. Yes, staff is expensive. But so is treating people who they know cant or wont ever pay, and paying lawsuits that come up every time a doctor can't perform a miracle. Then there is all the staff they have to have for administrative purposes to keep a paper trail for the lawsuits, and the lawyers they have to have on hand to answer them. A great deal of medicine has nothing to do with medicine.

My husband had emergency gallbladder surgery last July. He spent three days in the hospital, one and a half days were spent simply waiting for the surgery, then, the day of the surgery, and home mid-morning the next day. The cost just for the hospital stay $38,000. The ER and the various doctors came to about $5,000 more. The surgery went perfectly, everyone involved could not have been kinder or more professional. My husband had virtually no pain following the laparoscopic surgery and was back at work after one week. We are very thankful to God and the skill of the professionals involved. But...what the heck made this short and uncomplicated adventure cost almost $50.000?

#2, see #1.

And don't forget the leftard government interference by mandating (unconstitutionally) that hospitals must treat everyone who shows up, regardless of ability to pay. Get government OUT of our economic lives (cause that's the route they took (commerce clause) to claim they could enforce such a law).

Because of lack of transparency, and lack of competition.

Like "Big Education" is not about imparting knowledge, "Big Medicine" is not about healing. It's all about the money people are willing to toss at them. Those Taj Mahal "medical centers" don't come cheap!

Yep, when you put an organization neck-deep in regulations, make it treat people who can't/won't pay (and use the emergency room for primary care) and pay ridiculous settlements for frivolous lawsuits, you will definitely increase costs for hospitals. That's just the tip of the iceberg. An increasing number of doctors have been folding up their tent, due to the expense and time of complying with federal regulations and mandates, and going on hospital staff, or other cost-sharing group. If you trust someone to cut you open, why do you need bureaucrats and lawyers interfering? Prosecute the crooked medical people, wherever you find them, and leave everyone else alone!

Technically this is correct, it's all in the cost breakdown. A prescription drug normally is priced about ten times what it costs somebody like Merck or Pfizer to make and they add in a healthy amount to that drug to finance future research on drugs that do not yet exist. The long patent period ensures that nobody else is allowed to make it cheaper. After that you have just the shipping and handling. The question of excessive profit is answered when you notice that ninety percent of the commercials on TV are for drugs, most of them being less effective than advertised and loaded with serious side effects. The bill for a hospital stay includes paying for the building and everything in it, the parking lot, the attendants, every doctor who talks to you and his education, every nurse, orderly, front desk people, every medical advice, water, power, night cleaning crew, administration, the accounting department and the cafeteria workers. One day of this and your bill is already in the thousands. If only sick and injured people visited hospitals there would be vacant rooms everywhere but those who refuse to take care of themselves, plus get their treatment for free are a big burden on the system. Oh, did I mention the obscene profits made by the medical insurance companies? They don't get to own large modern buildings in the middle of cities because they charge reasonable prices. The system has been upside down for a long time.

Somebody needs to audit the whole medical industry. Everybody just accepts that things really cost that much, but do they? Where does the money go? #auditthenmed

Using different measuring systems in a comparison is usually a sign that rhetorical sleight of hand is being tried. Cost of drugs: "declined 1.0 percent". Cost of hospitals "rose at about the same rate as in 2017, to $1.2 trillion". Why the hand-waving effort to avoid just giving a percent increase? Why refer to 2018 for one and 2017 for the other? Tired of spin.

I had one wide-awake outpatient procedure in my medical journey that retailed at $250,000. Costs are attributable to many things, but the biggest by far is administrative cost at hospitals and insurance companies. I once drove past a corporate HQ of an insurance company and being marveled at the vast complex recognizing it as a massive "dollar sponge." The health industry is bloated, overly-complicated, and worthy of death to make way for a more nimble, competitive, and diverse system to lower costs for all who participate. Make it cheap enough and they will come.

I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express but I have had some expensive treatments/surgery. Moreover, I am subjected to governmental health care (VA) so I have seen it from a couple of different points of view. All good points here and I agree with them. The doctors and the others involved in my care are for the most part (but not so much with the VA) have been excellent. So for my two pennies worth - free market capitalism and a return of our liberty would do much to heal (snicker) the [problem. The government has no business being involved in a doc/pat relationship. A large chunk of the costs, as others have pointed out, are generated by Big Gov sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong. I know, we need to be protected from the criminal doctors - and here is about where they inject (snicker) the fear inducing horror stories - that make perfectly sane people go nuts over the horrible possibilities that "could" happen to them without BigG. The fear mongering provides a very inviting platform for BigG to subvert our power. The one that names us owner of the power. Every bit of power they take from us becomes theirs. When I step back and look at the big picture it is not a pretty one.