Where is the money going?

I have often wondered about malpractice in the US. One of the articles mentioned that doctors spend roughly 3% on medical malpractice insurance, but I wonder where else does this hit the patients? I understand physicians practicing defensive medicine, and think its stupid that so many extra tests, over prescribed drugs, and other unnecessary procedures go into covering the doctors from our sometimes litigation happy population. Does the cost of malpractice help to drive up the cost of procedures as well?

Secondly, what about health administration is so expensive? Do we need a better system that requires less paperwork, and relies more on technology? How can we fix this system so it is less wasteful. Why are we the patients paying for a system that seems rather ineffective.

I am all for advances in technology, and believe that sometimes even the smallest decrease in the chance of mortality makes a new treatment or procedure worthwhile. I do wonder however why medical technology does not seem to follow the trend of other technology. When the iphone first came out it was over 500 dollars, but as time has gone on the radio constantly advertises specials as AT&T tries to move this technology. Another student mention this as well, but they seemed to believe that over time this would happen. With cell phones and other technology the markdown seems to happen within months, how long are we willing to wait for this to happen with medical technology. Do we need a system that helps to drive down these prices, or does the government need to help regulate costs like they do in other countries.

To me good healthcare is available and affordable to all. There is a focus on prevention rather then treatment, and high quality care is available without unnecessary burden on the population. Let change the current system. Many changes to make the current system less wasteful could probably begin before an overall healthcare system reform. We can't afford to be this wasteful, and still not receive the level of medical care that other countries who pay far less then the US population do.