[Alberta's Child]

The problem, in my ever humble opinion, with your system is that it has come to be controlled by insurance interests ( and H.M.O's) and this has driven the cost of health care ever upwards.

Mr. Canadian is absolutely wrong about this. The primary factor in the dramatic escalation in health care costs has been the dramatic escalation in the quality of care and the development of new technology and treatments on an ongoing basis.

In other words, we are paying a lot more for our health care mainly because we are getting a lot more. That's why you never hear about someone buying a $45,000 SUV and then complaining that it is about eight times more expensive than the Yugo he bought 20 years ago.

[cinives]

That's somewhat true - BUT you will never know the true cost of all health services because government/medicare and insurance companies get in the way of market-led system efficiencies. The patient is cut out of the responsibility loop. There is so much defensive medicine practiced today that you don't know if a test was ordered by the doctor because of need or because of malpractice defensiveness.

As a personal aside, I have high deductible insurance, which means I do not run off to the doctor for my smallest sniffle. The yearly checkup I do go for costs me $75 out of pocket, with no insurance company hassle, or wait for payment, for the doctor. Plus I pay for these services with before-tax dollars using an HSA account. My doctor bills the insurance companies of those with low-deductible insurance $250 for the same services. What does that tell you ? Most patients are overpaying for services because of medical malpractice defensiveness and insurance company paperwork.

Bush has a good answer to health insurance proiblems with high deductible insurance coupled with HSAs.