[decimon]

Your point is a good one, but when health care outlays are managed by a monolithic gummint rather than the private sector there is less room for bargaining. So, while private insurers will have to grapple with similar issues, I would rather deal with them...

Dealing with a government agency is usually the worst case. Unless you are for whom there are no rules.

The problems of medical life extension, and the cost of same, were predicted long ago. It was said that we would no longer be able to say "It's in God's hands now." once things fell into out hands.

[ClearCase_guy]

Stepping away from costs for a minute, more and more I have a problem with medical advances. Sure they do a lot of good things, and I would not want to slow down progress. But I have to say that they also introduce problems and I think society may want to revisit some assumptions and values.

We have a local case where a man killed his teenage daughter, then shot his wife in the face three tiems, then killed himself (financial trouble). The wife has been in critical care for a while and I don't know if she'll make it. If she survives, what will she wake up to? No husband, no daughter -- no face. And probably half a million in debt.

Advanced medical care saved her life. I won't say it's bad. I won't say it's good. I'll just say that I'm not very comfortable with where we are right now.