Thoughtful people should be asking why the U.S.'s health care costs are so exorbitantly high compared to every other developed nation. Our health care costs are higher and more people in the US have indecent health care. That means something is pretty badly wrong with our system of health care provision.
Many on the left have argued that what is wrong is that we need to treat health care as a public utility and regulate the pay of doctors (they are currently paid too much) and the role of private insurers (they currently play much too central a role in deciding who gets what care, and they add their profit-taking onto the problems of the health care system) and the role of for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals (the one charges too much, and the other operates with a public subsidy without providing much of a public benefit to compensate).
Here's what BadTux has to say about the issue.
Health care inherently cannot be responsive to market forces. If you choose a shoddy mechanic because he's cheaper and he ruins your car, you shrug and buy another car. If you choose a shoddy doctor because he's cheaper and he ruins your cancer treatment, you lose your life. And you can't buy another life. In short, because health care is all about something literally of infinite value to you -- your life -- health care providers are in the situation of being able to play Central Park mugger and say, "Your money, or your life." And they do. They do.
Finally, regarding costs: Yes, health care has risen in cost everywhere because of medical innovation. But the U.S. is in a unique position where its health care costs have gone up even higher. The only difference between the U.S. situation and other Western nations is that the U.S. for some reason thinks "Your money, or your life" is a viable strategy for arriving at health care costs, while every other Western nation treats that as akin to a Central Park mugging, i.e., as a crime. And what happens if you allow a crime to continue unpunished? Hint... you get MORE of it! And as long as providers are allowed to continue to say, "Your money, or your life", there will be no end to it.
Comment on May 28, 2011 at 3:54 pm to economist's view, We have no idea what the inflation rates for health care expenditures really are
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