Health Care Costs: The 8000 Pound Gorilla

There is a very interesting and informative article in the New York Times today ( Monday, March 3, 2008, p. A16) entitled “About Those Health Care Plans By the Democrats….” The article was written by Robert Pear and doesn’t really have much of anything to do with politics despite the title.

The article is a concise discussion about what I believe is the single most pressing issue (among many pressing issues) facing our health care system, that of costs. Mr. Pear presents compelling data, none of it new, that obtaining universal health care may be important, but it pales next to the issue of rapidly rising costs of our health care system. He makes the case that unless we can get a handle on the costs, and soon, we will have chaos. I believe him. You should read this article, regardless of what your heath care insurance situation might be or your political/philosophical point of view about health care issues. I am quite confident that the dire political consequences of seriously addressing how to deal with the health care cost crisis will keep all but the bravest or most foolhardy candidates far from meaningful discussions of the issue, at least pre-election.

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