[gshulegaard]

I think the point I was trying to address was the implied claim that we "can't afford" health care systems akin to other western examples. Arguments like:

> "Your tax rate is so high America would never vote for a similar tax."

> "Percentage wise those countries spend a lot more on health care than the US."

I would agree that our private health care system has perverse incentives. Combined with the degree of separation between cost and consumer due to our insurance system, this has resulted in general market failure.

Neither of these are directly economic or tax policy related (IMO). We already are being taxed and paying for health care...the issue is where is our health system failing to deliver value-per-dollar spent. Which generally might involve some economic policy overlap as far as market regulation, but I don't think it is the whole (or even the majority) of the story.