The European IGM Experts Panel was polled on the following proposition:

Higher quality-adjusted US healthcare prices contribute relatively more to the extra US spending than does the combination of higher quantity and quality of US care (interpreting quantity and quality to reflect both greater American healthcare needs due to underlying population health and the delivery of more or better healthcare services to Americans).

Of those voicing an opinion, those who agree outnumber those who disagree by almost 5 to 1.

They are wrong. The amazing blogger at Random Critical Analysis (who is this person? I am dying to know) takes down the “it’s the prices, stupid” claim. Just one of the many statistics the blogger cites is

The human health share of total employment also explains a fair amount of the variance in the HCE [Health Care Expenditure] share of GDP and the US, unsurprisingly, has a proportionally larger health workforce.

In other words, using the size of the workforce in the health care sector as a measure, or at least an indicator, of the amount of real resources devoted to health care, then if you want to explain what makes the U.S. an outlier, it’s the quantities, stupid.