Health care costs in this country are astronomical and they in no way reflect the actual costs incurred by hospitals and other health care facilities. Many so called nonprofit hospitals have operating profits larger than major oil companies. Medicare pays hospitals prices for services based on the actual overhead for that service incurred by the hospital and yet these same hospitals charge 5 times or more what medicare would allow for people on private insurance plans or with no insurance. In Spain annual spending for health care per person is roughly 3 thousand U.S. dollars, and the average life expectancy is 82. In the U.S. annual spending for health care per person is over 8 thousand dollars, and our average life expectancy is 79. This overpriced health care system must change.



