— Cost per day for inpatient hospital stay: $5.49 in Cuba; $1,994 in the U.S.

— Inpatient hernia surgery: $14.59 in Cuba; $12,489 in the U.S.

— Hip-fracture repair: $72.15 in Cuba; $14,263 in the U.S.

— Kidney transplant: $4,902 in Cuba; $48,758 in the U.S.

How so? The vast bulk of corporate executive pay today comes in the form of stock awards. The higher a company’s share price, the heftier the CEO’s compensation. This stock connection encourages CEOs to single-mindedly focus on raising their company share prices by any means necessary.Among those any means: Pharmaceutical CEOs will jack up prices on prescription drugs and do whatever they can to get doctors to prescribe more pills. Health providers will push unnecessary tests and procedures. Hospital chiefs will downsize support staffs for patients. All these decisions fatten corporate bottom lines, pump up corporate share prices, and leave our health care downgraded.How could health care get better? Blue-ribbon commissions have all sorts of suggestions. They urge us to eliminate unnecessary procedures, tests, and devices. We need to better coordinate care, they add, and lower prices.

Source: We Get Sick, They Get Rich | Informed Comment