"Hawke" wrote in message
...

Lets not get sidetracked into the health insurance debate for it
masks
the underlying problem. The fundamental problem is that our health
care
system has been hijacked by corporate powers making healthcare too
expensive.

Nonsense. The main thing that makes it so expensive is that medical
technology marches forward, not backward, and there's always more
stuff
to
apply to medical problems -- increasingly expensive stuff.

That is one factor but there are many others such as malpractice
insurance
but the overriding component is that a corporate monopoly has seized
control of the industry at large.

Sure, Curley, malpractice insurance is a factor, and there are many other
factors. It's not a single thing that's done all of it. But if you spend
some time sorting out where the costs are you'll see that most of it
boils
down to the fact that doctors can -- and do -- employ more expensive
drugs,
procedures, and so on.

I don't agree. It's all about treating a population and most of the
population is healthy and doesn't require a lot of expensive procedures
and
medications. I think some amazing amount of health care dollars are spent
on
people in the last five years of their lives and something like the last
six
months equals more than what they spent on health care in their entire
lives. So most people are not getting a lot of expensive procedures that
cost an arm and a leg. g

It doesn't matter. The expensive procedures and pills ($850 per person) are
still being used, no matter who they're being used on. That's why our
fundamental health costs are so high and getting higher.

--
Ed Huntress