>When health care is subsidized, no one should be surprised that people demand more of it and that the costs to produce it increase.
>
>So we're back to the same question: why does healthcare cost so much less elsewhere in the first world where it is subsidized?

...and we're back to the same answer, rationing, price controls, uneven playing field, get what you pay for. The most basic of economic laws, supply and demand, dictate that as demand rises and supply drops, price increases. "Free" medical care increases demand. Price controls and a suffocating legal environment limit reward and thus reduce supply...hence the price increases. The State limits care to handle the potentially dramatic cost-overruns in single-payor systems. In the USA however, the State simply prints and borrows more money to cover all government provided health needs.

The correct question to ask is not why America's health care costs more than other nations, but rather why do those other nations cost so much? Why do the same procedures, office visits and prescriptions we've been using for years still cost the same or more? That's the opposite of proven free-market results. We should be moving to open the market more, not further suffocate it. As I posted in the other thread before I left : The US government accounts for roughly 45% of health expenditures in the US. Do you see any correlation or causation?