Sickening

A little off-topic but everyone should read this (part of the educated citizen thing).

Time Magazine has a big cover story on the high cost of healthcare in the US. As usual the examples are shocking.

From the high costs of basic items (aspirin with a 10,000% markup) to the high wages at "non-profits" (14 administrators at New York City’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a non-profit, who are paid over $500,000 a year, including six who make over $1 million). However the saddest part of this story is that the HIGHEST costs of healthcare are often borne by those LEAST able to pay.


If you are confused by the notion that those least able to pay are the ones singled out to pay the highest rates, welcome to the American medical marketplace.

Well worth a read. So why is the system so hard to change? Because there is so much money being made the healthcare industry as a whole not only spends the most on lobbying (the 2012 figures are below) but also come 12th, 14th and 16th for good measure. 2012 wasn't an unusual year either. Since 1998 the healthcare industry has spent 5.36 BILLION dollars on lobbying. That's more than twice as much as defense and oil & gas lobbyists combined.