[roamer_1]

The major cause of exploding U.S. heath care costs is the third-party payer system,[...] Because private insurance companies or the government generally pick up most of the tab for medical services, patients don’t have the normal incentive to seek out value.

This is exactly right. Perfectly right. And it is best evidenced by the fact that it (health) is the only segment in our economy where cash on the barrel-head is worth less in payment than if one happens to be signed to an insurance policy. Everywhere else, cash is king. The best deal should always be cash on the barrel-head.

When it all comes down to brass tacks, it cannot be cheaper for someone else to pay your bills for you - There has to be profit in it for them too.

Government intrusion will only calcify the props that hold this sector up - causing them to continue, rather than breaking them down.

[Still Thinking]

Exactly. Dems are right when they say health care is broken. But the problems are the direct result of market distortions introduced by....the government. And the low quality of service in that sector is because the insurers have a business model eerily reminiscent of....the government. So the chances that more....government....is the solution are nil.

I stand with Barack Obama when he says that if a certain group of people caused a problem, they don't get to claim they have the solution. He has the right principle, just applies it to the wrong bogeymen.