Why our health care system is so bad

Paul Krugman connects the dots in a clear column about why our health care system doesn't work.

The United States spends far more on health care than other advanced countries. Yet we don't appear to receive more medical services. And we have lower life-expectancy and higher infant-mortality rates than countries that spend less than half as much per person. How do we do it?

An important part of the answer is that much of our health care spending is devoted to passing the buck: trying to get someone else to pay the bills.

It's a great column, and I urge you to read the whole thing.