Reform and Your Premiums

Why is the debate about making health insurance affordable and not making health care affordable? Where is the analysis of what is driving up the costs of health care, making it unaffordable, and addressing the underlying issues? - free care by hospital ERs (the most expensive place for us to deliver free care), malpractice insurance/tort reform (also contributing to unnecessary procedures), the army of bureaucrats within hospitals and physician groups to deal with the various insurance companies (including Medicare), drug pricing, common medical errors and hospital acquired infections, lack of quality/price transparency...I'm sure the list goes on. Those who have insurance, myself included, have no idea what the costs are of various procedures or the disparities between providers. Therefore, there's no incentive question them or to shop around. For example, I recently learned that my child's pediatric dentist charges $150 per tooth for a sealant intended to prevent cavities because her teeth are grooved (aren't they all?). My own dentist, performing the procedure on adult permanent teeth, charges $75 per tooth. Not only is there a significant price disparity, but I as a consumer am not convinced that the procedure is really necessary since she will lose these teeth in a couple of years. How much of us really know what's being paid on our behalf for routine medical checks or procedures? Everyone's answer to this is single payer, but I don't trust a national system subject to shifting political ideology and Congressional oversight...particularly when there seems to be no discussion of government officials taking part in this system. I agree the insurance companies need to be removed from the equation, but in order to also address all the others feeding at the trough there needs to be more personal responsibility for health care and its costs - perhaps that means paying for it like any other consumer service.