Comment by kalap_ur

I did a calculation once. US spends $4.9T on healthcare: $2T on personnel, $500B on non-acute drugs (ie OTC + prescribed) and $2.4T on something else. Germany spends $550B on healthcare: $430B on personnel, $80B on non-acute drugs and $31B on something else. My guess is that the "something else", which is non transparent, is actually private insurance jacking prices up.