> Health care is not becoming more affordable. The rate of inflation in health care is significantly higher than the US inflation rate. I think healthcare has

> Health care is not becoming more affordable. The rate of inflation in health care is significantly higher than the US inflation rate. I think healthcare has become a jobs project. As manufacturing employment decreased, many found replacement jobs in an ever-expanding health care industry. There is no incentive for anyone to get medical costs under control. The health care delivery system has every incentive to use the "blank checks" offered by the insurance industry. The insurance industry makes a certain percentage off whatever they pay out in claims, so their incentive is to pay as much as possible. Patients want to feel better, and aren't in a position to evaluate whether the recommended treatments are actually their best option. > But point this out, and everyone starts their partisan bickering and nothing gets done at all. In the early days of medicare the government's costs quickly got out of control. The first reform was to figure out what a procedure should actually cost. It's been "trench warfare" between doctors and payers ever since. I have some anecdotes from my passengers and friends that would hopefully sidestep the bickering to point out that the status quo is quite harmful to the health industry's customers... Iatrogenic conditions are exceedingly common. These are conditions caused (or worsened) by the treatment provided. For example, hospitalists (doctors who manage patients' care in a hospital) are starting to look at old patients' pile of prescriptions to figure out which ones are actually necessary [1]. [1] When less is more: De-prescribing medications - http://www.acphospitalist.org/archives/2016/05/deprescribing-hospitalist.htm http://www.acphospitalist.org/archives/2016/05/deprescribing...