[BenFranklin100]

It’s not pharma that’s driving rising medical costs, it’s hospitals:

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-cancer-drug-markups/

Another contributing factor is that Americans consume a LOT of healthcare, often well past the point of diminishing returns:

“Why conventional wisdom on health care is wrong (a primer)”

https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/why-conventional-wisdom-o...

Finally, basic preventative health care — at least for children — could save more than it costs when we take into account the overall economic effects of poor health outcomes. We should consider making it an entitlement.

[Eddy_Viscosity2]

If medical care is a for-profit industry, wouldn't it be in their interest to reduce preventative care, especially for children, so they will have overall greater health care needs (and bills!) later on?

Individual doctors and nurses etc may very well want people to get good treatment, especially children. But they are just the hired labor, the owners of the medical services and insurance industries just want the money and so likely lobby for the worse outcomes. It also has the bonus of further tying people to their employers who offer health plans making them more pliant workers.

[qcnguy]

No, health insurers are motivated to keep their premium payers healthy and have a long track record of funding programmes to improve the health of the population. Think about how insurance works. Where I live they paid for the creation of outdoor gyms.

> Individual doctors and nurses etc may very well want people to get good treatment, especially children

It's individual doctors and nurses who are most incentivized to over-treat. They make more money the more healthcare is consumed. It's insurers who have an incentive to keep healthcare costs under control. A big part of the reason US health insurance is so expensive compared to the rest of the world is that Americans stage a massive freakout every time insurers try to control costs. It's a cultural thing and done by both Democrats and Republicans, look at how they call the UK's NICE committee a "death panel".

[HDThoreaun]

Insurers are the only ones trying to control costs in healthcare.