Sick Money

Our health care industry is $2.3 Trillion per year -- that's 16% of our $14 trillion GDP. ... About one dollar out of every six dollars goes towards health care. Apparently we are one sick country. While its true that we need to improve our overall health, the vital signs of our health care industry are problematic. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 30% of all spending was wasted:

"The CBO suggested that $700 billion of the approximately $2.3 trillion spent on health care in 2008 was wasted on treatments that did not improve health outcomes." 

The health care industry is taking us all for a ride through inefficiency, overpricing, and a complex payment system in which no one is accountable. A properly functioning system should put incentives on serving patients' needs most quickly and cost-effectively. On the contrary, our system is making money off of keeping us sick, and milking our wallets (and our nation's future) by driving up costs. Hospitals push costs higher, insurance companies have no incentive to keep them low, and they simply pass the pay hike on to employers -- creating a huge burden on businesses. 

Why should companies pay for our health care anyway? ... We could have a more efficient, cost-effective system if it weren't tied up with employment benefits. Let's cut the government largesse and regulation, and the twisted system that's poisoning our financial health to benefit its own bottom line.

Read more at:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22852/