Medical Care, Expenses, and Goals

Why is medical care in the United States so expensive? Why is reforming medical care so difficult?

Americans want something they can't have. They want both unlimited access to medical care and low cost. This is not realistic. Unlimited access guaranteed by government means the government will have unlimited access to your wealth through taxes.

Currently, medical costs are 17 percent of the GDP. This is much more than any other nation in the world. We have to decide if we are going to have unlimited access to care which means that costs will continue to rise; or, we have to decide if we want affordable medical care. We can't have them both.

If the American people decide they want affordable medical care, then they have two options. The first is socialized medicine where the government limits access to care through long lines, delays, and rationing. The second is a free market system where people pay for their own medical expenses and limit their own personal access to care for financial reasons.

This is the choice we have. Which would you choose? Which is most humane?