Healthcare spending is way too high in the US: as of 2016, $3.3 trillion or $10,348 per person. That’s about 18% of US GDP, almost twice as much as what most other rich countries pay. Drug and insurance companies are often blamed for this state of affairs but they're just easy targets. The following chart tells a fuller story:
Source: Hospitals and doctors: Is their role in soaring health care costs overlooked? by Trudy Lieberman https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2017/10/how-to-find-hidden-story-gems-on-the-less-scrutinized-health-care-costs-hospitals-and-doctors/
Sure, the average profit margin for drug companies is currently about 17% , but in the overall scheme of things that accounts for just 1.7% of US healthcare spending. Average profit margins for insurance companies have hovered around 3% for years. That's not wasted money, though; in our current healthcare system, insurance companies play a vital role: they rein in providers who are prone to over-treat and over-test. Which is why so many doctors complain endlessly about them. It's hard being a claims adjuster.
And yet $210 billion was still spent on unnecessary procedures in 2015 - almost 7% of overall healthcare spending. Tackling this source of waste should be a priority in healthcare spending reform, one that requires taking on the legal and medical establishment. We could start by replacing our current medical malpractice system with something like Denmark’s no-fault, non-adversarial national compensation program. That alone would greatly reduce the prevalence of defensive medicine. And then we should greatly expand the use of nurse practitioners as gatekeepers to specialized care.