American health care

[Suzanne]

This summary evaluates the causes of the perilous situation of US health care, and provides some eye-popping graphics.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2012/01/31/healthcares-medical-gluttony/

[catherine]

Suzanne, this is great, and it's what I've always maintained: The US healthcare system has sort of evolved haphazardly, so that now it's like a building that started out a small cabin and had one addition put on, then another, and then some extras tacked on and now it's a bunch of hodge-podge units that are not cohesive and lack functionality--with lots of wind drafts and other inefficiencies that cost a lot of money. The only way to make the healthcare "building" functional is to push it down and start over. It's the only way.

Instead of working off of anachronistic assumptions, we have to start with today's realities and work from there to build something that makes sense, rewards the right things, and makes ALL parties accountable.