Aug 19th, 2009
What to make of the healthcare debate
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Sitting on the deck tonight, Mary and I discoursed on the topic of the day over a glass of chilled white wine: the much debated plan to reform health care.
It seems to be one of those issues that defies easy answers and avoids application of common sense solution. Even over a glass of wine. The crux of the problem, of course, is that healthcare costs have risen at an extraordinary rate, far greater than inflation. To be sure the quality of health care has improved as well, driven primarily by technological advances.
The question I have in all this is why does the cost of healthcare increase far faster than inflation? Higher education also seems to be on the same trajectory. Each year, we read about 10-15 percent increases in medical premiums and similar amounts in college tuitions. If only our salaries increased at this rate.
I think this bears more researching. Why, truly, are these cost going up at such a crazy pace, especially in a down economy? Is it greed or malpractice or just bad management? Whatever the case, I hope medical reform includes a stringent cost containment component.
