How out-of-control insurance warps health-care costs

Jonah Goldberg publish a column that reads, in part:
"...in 1940, 90 percent of Americans were uninsured, but by 1960, that number was down to 25 percent."

It can't be stated enough that there is an enormous difference between "health insurance" and "health care."

Prior to the explosion of insurance as an employment benefit, people paid out-of-pocket for most medical expenses.

The modern insanity of billing even routine events through insurance and the consequent insulation of consumers from the true costs of health care has caused ridiculous spiraling of health care costs.

Tomorrow I take a Belgian mare into the Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital's Equine Opthalmology clinic for removal and treatment of a probably Squamous Cell Carcinoma in her eye.

The worst-case estimate for delicate opthalmological surgery and radiation treatment? About $2500.

Similar treatment for a human would end up costing hundreds of thousands.

It is *not* hundreds of times more expensive to perform the surgery safely and effectively on a human than a horse.

Human healthcare costs are ridiculous because lots of people are profiting on them being ridiculous.

My family doesn't consume as much in health care as even my employee contributions for my employer-provided health in insurance.

It's a huge cash cow for a whole industry, because -- like our payroll tax withholding (another broken system) -- it's money we never really experience in the first place, so we don't feel the pain of losing it.

More health care needs to come out-of-pocket.

Health insurance should be for emergencies, major health crises.

If this were the case, we'd see routine procedures decreasing in price across the board and sanity returning to health care costs as hospitals and doctors, like other businesses had to deal with consumers saying "You want to charge me *what*?"

I had a farm accident last fall that required eight stitches. It cost me almost nothing out of pocket, but the insurance company was charged nearly $800 for the treatment. I didn't even realize it until weeks later when seeing the statement.

My local vet would have stitched the same wound up on one of my animals for a fraction of the real cost, and just as effectively.

Captcha: harp on