Frum: Somebody Has to Drive Down Healthcare Costs

In an article at the Daily Beast, David Frum asks the question: who will drive down healthcare costs? Will it be a Sam Walton-like individual in private enterprise  or the federal government?

From an economic perspective, the health care industry is inefficient in so many ways, and this results in our paying way too much while not always getting what we need. As an example, Frum cites Ezra Klein's blog post about a single 15-minute toenail clipping that a hospital charged $1,206 for.

I agree with Frum's implication that we cannot afford this over the long haul and necessity, if nothing else, will drive us to a solution.

Making the industry more competitive will reap tremendous benefits in terms of lower cost and improved service, but the magic silver bullet exists and can be found elsewhere. Look for an upcoming Reasonable Conversation article about that.

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