The High Cost of American Health Care

I took a book out of the library on mutual fund investing titled “100 Best Mutual Funds.”  Just inside the first few pages was the author’s argument for making investments in equities (another word for stocks) rather than bonds or CDs.  The contention is that stocks are responsive to inflation thus are the better investment.  To indicate the significance of inflation the author provided these startling facts on the costs of things we all want or need.

Sources: U.S. Postal service, U.S. Census Bureau, and the Wall Street Journal, April 2002

I was astonished to see that the cost of hospitalization had inflated at a rate of 17 times faster than the cost of cars.  There is no doubt that health care has become an extraordinary burden on our country.  The question is how do we bring this ballooning expense under control?

The Los Angeles Times article about a woman’s need for surgery that would have taken a waiting time of 39 months in Canada as opposed to two days in the United States tells me that nationalized health care will not provide the solution we need.

Forget the plans for health care that have been discussed in the House and Senate.  This nation has a serious problem.  No single person and no political party has all the answers.  We need people of good will and intent to meet together to stop this outrageous theft of income.  The sad fact is that we do not have the kind of people in our congress that will sit together to find a reasonable solution.  Is it the people we elected, the political parties, or the lobbyists who are stopping the process?

Political parties do not matter.  Electing people to office that really care about America’s needs ought to be job one.