The fragmented US Healthcare system wastes billions just trying to collect bills.

Because the US healthcare system is a mess, it requires armies of people just to figure out who pays what. Those hours and hours of work are a tax on the system, making every interaction more expensive, according to a study recently published in the journal of the American Medical Association.  

As the LA Times notes:

The unnecessarily complex, fragmented, and inefficient system of billing, coding, and claims negotiations in the US health care system employs enough people to populate small nations," the pair wrote in an editorial that accompanied the study.
There is no apparent reason for this, they argued. Outside the healthcare industry, it might take about 100 full-time workers to collect $1 billion worth of bills. But when doctors are involved, it takes "an astounding 770 full-time equivalents" to collect the same amount of money, they wrote.
"The process of moving money from payer to hospitals and physicians in the United States consumes an estimated $500 billion per year," they continued.

Read it: 

Administrative Costs Associated With Physician Billing and Insurance-Related Activities at an Academic Health Care System