Princeton University economists and Nobel Prize winners Anne Case, PhD, and Angus Deaton, PhD, have some choice words about physicians and their contribution to the healthcare cost problem in the U.S.
The duo spoke at the American Economic Association's annual meeting on Jan. 4 about the unnecessarily high cost of healthcare in the U.S., according to The Washington Post. They noted that the cost is so high that American households currently pay $8,000 more each year for healthcare than the Swiss, who have the second most expensive healthcare system in the world.
Drs. Case and Deaton hold all healthcare stakeholders responsible for this cost differential but are "especially critical" of physicians and their income levels.
"We have half as many physicians per head as most European countries, yet they get paid two times as much, on average," Dr. Deaton said, according to The Washington Post. "Physicians are a giant rent-seeking conspiracy that's taking money away from the rest of us, and yet everybody loves physicians. You can't touch them."
Read more here.
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