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A new study published in the journal Health Affairs out of Columbia University takes a look at where high health care costs in America come from. The study concludes it comes largely from high doctors' fees, and is not as related to higher costs of medical practice, higher volume of services, or higher med school tuition.
The average salaries of orthopedic surgeons and primary care doctors were examined from data on practitioners in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The price of basic office visits and hip replacement surgery were scrutinized based on the fees paid by both public and private insurers. Both primary care and orthopedic salaries were found to be much higher for US doctors than for their international counterparts, presumably because of the share of their incomes, which come from private insurance.
Fee reimbursements are scheduled to decrease almost 30% next year from Medicare. Medicaid payments have already been cut or frozen in many states. Still, the journal recommends a closer focus on doctors' fees when considering cutting medical spending.
Another interesting statistic was that the income gap between orthopedic doctors -- or specialists in general -- and primary care doctors is higher in the United States than elsew
here.
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