Kristof in NYTimes asks the same questions again about the stalled health care reform deal and comes back with the same dismal assessment: We can't afford not to reform the system if we want to live in a sane world. Which doesn't explain obstructionism and the head in the sand attitudes of the nay-sayers who say everything is just fine...Those on Medicare know there is a good and decent way to handle health care in the US. And the song goes on. BP

U.S. performance not only is poor at any given moment but also is improving much more slowly than that of other countries over time,? the medical journal reported.

So don?t believe the canard that health reform is unaffordable. Last year, we spent 17.3 percent of gross domestic product on health care, about double what many other industrialized countries pay. The share is rising by more than one-quarter of a percentage point per year.

At the present rate, by my calculations, in the year 2303 every penny of our G.D.P. will go to health care. At that time, we?ll probably get daily M.R.I.?s and CAT scans, even as we starve naked in caves.

So the question isn?t: Can we afford to reform health care? Rather: Can we afford not to?

Nick Kristof   NYTimes 2-18-10

 

?