Must read about health care myths

Stumbling On Truth has an amusing and devastating deconstruction of the myths fueling the Democratic side of the health care debate.  (Hat tip:  gpc31)  Here’s just a small sample of this longer article:

Myth #1 Health Care Costs are Soaring

No, they are not. The amount we spend on health care has indeed risen, in absolute terms, after inflation, and as a percentage of our incomes and GDP. That does not mean costs are soaring.

You cannot judge the “cost” of something by simply what you spend. You must also judge what you get. I’m reasonably certain the cost of 1950’s level health care has dropped in real terms over the last 60 years (and you can probably have a barber from the year 1500 bleed you for almost nothing nowadays). Of course, with 1950’s health care, lots of things will kill you that 2009 health care could prevent. Also, your quality of life, in many instances, would be far worse, but you will have a little bit more change in your pocket as the cost will be lower. Want to take the deal? In fact, nobody in the US really wants 1950’s health care (or even 1990’s health care). They just want to pay 1950 prices for 2009 health care. They want the latest pills, techniques, therapies, general genius discoveries, and highly skilled labor that would make today’s health care seem like science fiction a few years ago. But alas, successful science fiction costs a lot.

Just one note:  I’m not sure that the link I found is a permalink.  If you go to the link and can’t immediately find the article on “Health Care Mythology,” I believe that, if you look on the upper left side of the blog, you’ll find a pdf link on the same topic.  In other words, if you can’t find the article immediately, don’t abandon hope.  Just look around a bit.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWxcv0Dummk[/youtube]