And what really makes me sick is...

Though in my previous post I expressed my support for a government-controlled universal health insurance system and pointed at other countries' lower health care costs, I felt I should clarify that I do not believe our current system is entirely to blame for high costs. In great part, I feel we ourselves are.

Read this great piece at the NYTimes about Americans' mania with being diagnosed with any disorder they can come up with. I would imagine that few Europeans find themselves diagnosed with "Restless Leg Syndrome." I doubt that 4 in 10 children in other industrialized nations are on chronic perscription meds. Nor do I believe that doctors in most other nations order every test possible because the alternative is likely a lawsuit.

It's a classic American problem. We want every medicine, every test, every diagnosis we can get our hands on, and then we complain that health care costs are too high. I remember a commercial for Tums a few years back, in which a man eats two chili dogs in 30 seconds and then complains about his heartburn. If you don't want heartburn, I would say there's a very easy solution.

I'm not sure exactly what the policy implications of this little rant are. But it's something I think is useful to keep in mind.