Socialized Health Care in the USA

[--Pete]

Hi,

But that is not what has driven up the price of health insurance.

How much has the cost of insurance really gone up in terms of constant dollars?

How much of what is paid to the medical profession goes to support a broken tort system?

How much of the medical expenses incurred by individuals are caused by unnecessary tests ordered so that doctors can cover themselves from liability?

How much does the competition to have all the cutting edge technology at *every* facility add to medical costs? And how many tests using this technology are ordered to cover the cost of buying and running these machines?

Those are just a few of the questions whose answers I really don't know.

What I do know is simpler -- the USA has an expensive and inefficient medical system. Our infant mortality rate is terrible, our life expectancy is poor. If we didn't spend more than anyone else on medical care, that might be understandable -- but we don't. The free market had its chance, and it failed. Instead of supplying coverage for all, it focused on profits for a few. Letting people 'take care of their own' is great in principle, but it fails in practice as more and more people lack 'their own' to care for them.

So, the real question is: does a compassionate society take care of its members, or does it let them suffer for some idealized concept of 'rugged independence'?

Perhaps, more fundamental still: are we a compassionate society?

--Pete