"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 09:51:18 -0400, "Vito" said:

The costs are staggering only because all medical care in the US is a rip
off.

Shouldn't be any surprise, but calling the high costs a "rip off" is just
plain simple-minded. The costs are staggering because for some 60 years
this
country has adopted a series of policies that remove the usual market
incentives from this sector of the economy. .....

The root cause is the people who lobbied these policies into effect. Blaming
"policies" is almost as "simple minded" as blaming guns for shootings. If
we'd admit that AMA is a union, as controlled by criminals as the Teamsters
were under Hoffa, and prosecute the leaders under price-fixing and RICO laws
we might see changes.