Healthcare is in the air

Get your healthcare musings: here, here, here, here and here. And if that's not enough, check out the Healthcare Blog. All healthcare, all the time. I think we're seeing a big improvement in the discourse over our healthcare, at least in the blogisphere. If nothing else, that old canard that our frankencare system is not perfect, but still better than anybody elses has been firmly put to rest. (Apart from among the "America Numba One!" crowd, but what are you going to do?) Those who want social medicine are not happy for sure, but neither are the free marketers. Doctors aren't happy, neither are patients. You can argue that the insurance companies are winners, yet they also have to contend their own market pressures. Bureaucracy is rampant and sucking down valuable dollars while frustrating caregivers and patients alike. Perverse incentives are flying every which way.

Something's got to be done. But what? Well, our current system is so dysfunctional that there are actually quite a few routes to improvement. In fact, one probably have to think a great deal harder to come up with a system that is less efficient and more ruinous. We might argue vigorously among ourselves whether it's better to take a left turn (a la France) or a right turn. The point is, whichever direction we go in, we're likely to reap benefits because right now we're getting the worst of both worlds.