People always talk about the problems with health care systems as if it’s some kind of black-box mystery. But there was an article in the Winnipeg Free Press (which originally ran in the Chicago Tribune) a couple of days ago that made it pretty clear to me. The following line, I think, says it all:

“Now, spiking costs are forcing health-care providers to tighten surgical procedures aimed at making sure sponges are not left inside patients because retrieving a sponge in a re-do surgery can cost $50,000 or more.”

It seems to me that when your biggest concern with having cut open a patient to undo a mistake is the cost, you have fundamentally lost the whole point of having a health care system. Health care must be about health and patients and not about money, as much as the bean-counters and politicians would like you to believe otherwise.

Maybe I’m just a little too idealistic and sentimental, but it seems pretty obvious to me.