It is simply not true that we are paying twice as much as any other industrialized nation and yet getting worse care. As this column and others have noted, the most common metrics used to compare U.S. health outcomes with those of other countries are life expectancy and infant mortality. Both are fatuous comparisons. The U.S. has a high murder rate, for example, which influences life expectancy statistics, not to mention an obesity epidemic. We also have more teenagers giving birth. And we count infant deaths differently from many other countries, including even the most severely premature babies in our statistics.
When you compare survival rates after a cancer diagnosis -- a much better gauge of health care quality -- the U.S. leads the world.
Are we spending too much on health care? Well, that much is true. But again, Democrats refuse to see that government incentives contributed to the problem. Making health insurance plans deductible for employers but not for individuals has encouraged a "third party payer" system that insulates people from the cost of their care. Surprise! This leads to overconsumption.
By encouraging a free-for-all liability system (half of all doctors are sued at least once) that enriches their chief donors, the trial lawyers, the Democrats have added billions to the cost of medical care by forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine.
Further, governments have jacked up the price of medical insurance by piling mandates on insurance companies, forcing them to cover everything from psychotherapy to IVF. Some states permit companies to sell basic catastrophic coverage, and it is quite affordable. If the government permitted interstate sales of health insurance, nearly everyone would be able to find affordable plans. But rather than consider a reform that would bring health insurance rates down, Speaker Pelosi prefers to demonize insurance companies as "villains," while President Obama rails at them for "holding us hostage."
Having misdiagnosed what ails us, the Nurse Ratched Democrats are now poised to administer their remedy. To fix an overly bureaucratic, regulated, and entitlement-heavy system, the Democrats are delivering much, much more of the same. If we were facing a likely fiscal train wreck before Barack Obama took office, we are facing a certainty now.