Basic thoughts about health-care

Back in June, I was reporting an article from the Economist stating that the US spends 15.4% of GDP on health care, including government and private expenses. This gets us 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people, 3.3 hospital beds and we live to an average age of 78.2.
This contrasted to the whole of Europe where 9.6% of GDP is spent on health care, where there are 3.9 doctors per 1,000 people, 6.6 hospital beds and its citizens live to 81.15 years.

Okay, the basic picture here is that we could save 6% of GDP, which is almost $1 trillion and we'd all be better off than we're today. If we manufactured Boeing planes or Apple products 60% more expensive than Airbuses or Philips products, we'd very quickly be wiped out economically and closed for business forever. We've already lost most of our manufacturing base and soaring health care costs will soon cripple the rest of our economy. That's a simple of that.

We need to place price controls on the medical profession and push insurance companies out of insuring health care and replace them with a single payer system. We should in the process limit malpractice law-suits, make medical school tuition free to unburden physicians with disabling student loans, and make sure that “big Pharma” sells its products for no more here at home than it does elsewhere. The trillion dollar saved would more than pay for transitioning to a great health care system. The problem is crystal clear; it's all about excess greed, bribed congressmen and a nation that keeps its head stuck deep in the sand.