$636,687.75 or How American Health Care Killed My Father

Recently I'd seen several commentators (both liberal and conservative) write that this article by David Goldhill was the best single thing they had read on the problems of the American health care system. That got my attention. So today I printed it out and sat down and read it. It's a lengthy piece. It took me a good 25-30 minutes to read it, but it was time well spent. Provoked by the death of his father by a preventable hospital-borne infection Goldhill undertook a personal investigation of the in's and out's of the current system. The result is this piece, a comprehensive critique that gives no comfort to either supporters or opponents of the legislation now taking shape on Capitol Hill. Goldhill believes that "the 'comprehensive' reform being contemplated merely cements in place the current system—insurance-based, employment-centered, administratively complex. It addresses the underlying causes of our health-care crisis only obliquely, if at all; indeed, by extending the current system to more people, it will likely increase the ultimate cost of true reform."

Depressing? Yes. But the more Americans educate themselves to the true hidden costs of the current system, and the terrible return consumers are getting for what they're paying, the more chance there will be for meaningful reform the next time around.