From Grants to Bills: The Hidden Economy of Medicine

The Insurance Paradox: Why does the U.S. Pay More for Less

Whenever people talk about health care in the United States, “insurance” shows up right away. You’d think insurance would be the safety net that keeps someone from choosing between medical care and groceries, but in practice it too often acts like a maze. The U.S. spends more on health care than almost any peer nation (well over 10% higher than comparable countries) and yet outcomes like life expectancy and maternal mortality lag behind many of them [1]. So how do we end up paying so much and getting so little?

One big problem is that the U.S. simply does not have universal coverage. Countries such as Canada, the U.K., and Germany pool risk across whole populations; in the U.S. we rely on a patchwork of employer plans, private insurers, and separate public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. That patchwork leaves large sections of the population vulnerable: recent polling shows that more than a third of adults report skipping or delaying needed care because of cost in the past year [2]. That isn’t a technicality; it’s the lived experience that drives people to the ER or to worse outcomes down the line.

The patchwork also creates insane administrative overhead. Hospitals and clinics spend huge sums negotiating with dozens of insurers, coding encounters, and fighting prior authorizations. A widely cited analysis comparing the U.S. and Canada found administrative spending in the U.S. amounted to roughly one-third of total health spending, far more than in single-payer systems, and that this gap largely reflects the inefficiency of a many-payer market [3]. Money spent on paperwork is money not spent on nurses, beds, community health, or prevention.

Another feature that locks this system in place is the fact that, in America, insurance is usually tied to employment. Employer-sponsored health insurance started as a labor policy experiment in the mid 1900s and eventually became the norm, but tying insurance to jobs makes coverage fragile; switch jobs and you might lose it or get a worse plan. Employer plans also vary widely in generosity, which makes health protection feel like an employee benefit rather than a social good, something other countries avoid through universal schemes [4].

Price is another big driver. Unlike most nations that negotiate national or regulated prices for procedures and facility fees, the U.S. lets hospitals, insurers, and drug companies set and bargain prices more freely. Comparative analyses show that U.S. prices for many common services are markedly higher than those in other countries [5]. Prescription drugs tell the same story. Recent analysis from the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research corporation, shows U.S. manufacturer gross prices for many drugs were multiple times higher than prices in other high-income nations, even after common adjustments [6]. Those higher prices feed back into premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket spending.

And even when you have insurance, the protection can be thin. High-deductible health plans are widespread; by one common measure nearly a third of covered workers were enrolled in a high-deductible plan in 2023, meaning patients are on the hook for sizable costs before insurance really kicks in [4]. For people with chronic disease, these costs add up fast and can mean skipping medication or tests that prevent worse problems later.

The system’s worst effects fall on the most vulnerable. States that chose not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act leave millions in a “coverage gap,” with about 1.4 million people estimated to be stuck between state rules and federal subsidy thresholds [7]. Uninsured and underinsured people are far more likely to delay care, to present with advanced disease, and to end up in medical debt.

The U.S. system, with its mix of private insurance, employer coverage, and public programs, spends more on administration and charges higher prices, which trickle down to patients through premiums and out-of-pocket costs. By contrast, countries with universal coverage or stronger price regulation generally spend less and face fewer access barriers [1,8]. These differences help explain why Americans often encounter medical debt or skipped care at higher rates than people in other wealthy nations.

Understanding those contrasts doesn’t provide an easy solution, but it does give context. When people talk about U.S. health insurance feeling complicated, expensive, or unpredictable, those feelings connect directly to the way the system is organized. Looking at other models helps show that things could be arranged differently and may guide the U.S. towards an improved healthcare system. 

Reviewed By: Jack Ringel

Designed By: Grey Dugdale

References:

[1] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2023). Health at a Glance 2023: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2023/11/health-at-a-glance-2023_e04f8239/full-report.html.

[2] Kaiser Family Foundation. (2025). Americans’ challenges with health care costs. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/.

[3] Himmelstein, D. U., Campbell, T., & Woolhandler, S. (2020). Health care administrative costs in the United States and Canada, 2017. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(2), 134–142. https://doi.org/10.7326/M19-2818.

[4] Kaiser Family Foundation. (2023). 2023 Employer Health Benefits Survey (Annual Survey). https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2023-employer-health-benefits-survey/.

[5] Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) / International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP). (2017). International comparisons of health care prices from the 2017 iFHP survey. https://healthcostinstitute.org/hcci-originals-dropdown/all-hcci-reports/international-comparisons-of-health-care-prices-2017-ifhp-survey.

[6] Mulcahy, A. W., Schwam, D., & Lovejoy, S. L. (2024). International prescription drug price comparisons: Estimates using 2022 data (RAND RRA788-3). RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA788-3.html.

[7] Kaiser Family Foundation. (2025). How many uninsured are in the coverage gap and how many could be eligible if all states adopted the Medicaid expansion? https://www.kff.org/medicaid/how-many-uninsured-are-in-the-coverage-gap-and-how-many-could-be-eligible-if-all-states-adopted-the-medicaid-expansion/.

[8] Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. (2025). How does cost affect access to healthcare? https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/cost-affect-access-care/.