Hospitals complain that Medicare and Medicaid underpay, but it's a modest amount, not something that explains the very high costs for other patients: https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2020-01-07-fact-sheet-underp...
Also in the Hospital context there are other factors that drive up the costs. Keep in mind that about 70-80% of all US Hospitals are non-profit
Which are these developed nations? Because to give my annecdotal perspective it isn't the case in Belgium or others that i know of (With minor exceptions like recently where orthodontists couldn't handle anyone but the most urgent due to covid measures and now have a backlog of patients.)
>and semiprivate rooms normally with no more than 2 people to a room, though 4 to a room has become more popular in some regions.
Every bedroom in every hospital i've been to has been double or single though i have no experience on that front in surrounding countries. Most are double with the single ones being for special cases or people willing to dish out or with great insurance.
If you are a white-collar worker you'll usually have a private health insurance so that you won't have to wait in line for public care.
hmm I wonder if there might be a connection there... as other nation implement price controls a larger part of the R&D and the costs associated with that are born by the US
Further Medicare / medicaid price controls to keep the cost of the entitlement program from going bankrupt has transferred the cost to patients not on those programs
Third leg of this stool is standard of care, American patients have a high exception for standard of care then in "most other developed" nations where waiting months for a specialist is accepted as normal, or having ward style hospital rooms is normal as well. Where the US we expect must faster treatment times, and semiprivate rooms normally with no more than 2 people to a room, though 4 to a room has become more popular in some regions. This increases costs