Study: 25% of U.S. health care spending is wasteful

A study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA finds that up to a quarter of all United States health care spending is wasteful.

Researchers found that $760 billion to $935 billion health care dollars are wasted every year.

The study cited multiple reasons for wasteful spending. The biggest driver was administrative issues related to billing and coding. That represented 28% to 35% of total waste.

The second greatest contributor was what the authors called “pricing failure.” This was described as waste related to the price of drugs and services “because of the absence of effective transparency and competitive markets.”

Other factors are over-treatment, unnecessary hospital visits, and lack of preventative care.

The U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other developed nation.

CNN