Healthcare - Cost Benefit Analysis

People complain about HMO's and “drive-by medicine." They say that hospital stays should be longer and more comprehensive. But what happens when the controls are released and the floodgates are open? Let’s say that an indigent mother gives birth to a premature child. We have the medical technology to save the child. But at what cost? $100,000 to $1,000,000 is not uncommon for this type of service today. Perhaps you think it's ok for the taxpayer to foot this bill at this level. But, what happens when it becomes $10,000,000?

We have not come to the point of accepting that actuarial decisions MUST be part of health care. If you have X dollars to spend and there is a request for $1,000,000 in treatment for a single case, it has to be determined how that money is best spent. A bleeding heart liberal would say the insurance companies make too much profit so make them save everyone. But the insurance companies just pass those costs on to the consumers, which is our current problem.

On a related note, will someone please take Sarah Palin moose hunting and not bring her tired ass back? Her idiocy in blabbering about supposed “Death Panels” was the stupidest thing that a conservative could have done. End of life counseling was the one sound fiscally conservative aspect of the heath care reform bill. But no, politics are more important than real reform.