Why are U.S. medical costs high?

Open the newspaper. I've got the Columbus Dispatch in front of me.

1. Cordray opposes Medicaid break for Nebraska. The Cornhusker Kickback made headlines, but this kind of bribery is rampant in all legislation--sometimes it goes to big Pharma, sometimes to the states.

2. Latex paint will no longer be accepted by SWACO (toxic cleanup). I'm sure there were research grants to determine if latex paint leaches into the ground water system, but I'm also sure in 10 years some green non-profit will be filing a lawsuit and we tax payers will be paying to clean it up.

3. Ratus Norvegicus (brown rat) control program has been cut, despite an increase in the income-tax rate to handle these problems. It's below 2%, so no action is needed. Listen up OSU students--clean up your own fast food trash and beer bottles you leave in the streets and alleys. Don't let the rats return to your neighborhood!

4. Blake Haxton's parents are suing for medical negligance the very doctors and hospital who saved their son's life after he developed flesh eating bacteria (not at the hospital) and had to have his legs amputated with less than a 20% chance to live. He's now attending college.

5. An auto accident kills one, injures two, destroys 3 autos. A man stops to help an 18 year old in a ditch and is hit by another driver who lost control and hit them both.

6. Two owners of dogs are sued under dog bite statute. No pictures of a child's face torn apart by a dog and the resulting surgeries, but you can find them on the web. Don't ever, ever say, "Oh, he won't bite." All dogs will bite, given a reason, some of which only they know.

7. EPA grant to make school buses in Olentangy School District more "environmentally friendly." Retrofitted to reduce fine particulate emissions.

8. Central Ohio Technical College is expanding into Pataskala (already has locations in Columbus, Mt. Vernon, Newark and Coshocton)--nursing, lab tech, public safety programs. Health care is a growth industry. Purchased a former banquet hall and remodeled it.

Then turn the page and find. . .

9. A man shot in an SUV (why the auto make is significant, I don't know--I think because SUVs aren't "green" and therefore they contribute to gunshot wounds) but he was declared dead at the hospital.

10. Red Cross Clinics taking blood and H1N1 clinics dispensing vaccines. I've seen the cost figures for UK and Canada--can't find them for the U.S. Frankly, I think vaccines are worth the cost of development and marketing, but this one was definitely confusing and. . . botched. People have become so distrustful there will probably be millions of doses and billions of dollars lost.

11. Joe Montgomery, former OSU running back, is suing OSU over false information in his medical records while he was a player which is now cutting into his disability claim. Ah, more lawyers involved in our "health care" and nary a senator to take a peek.

And that was just one day, and I didn't even read the entire paper--like the obituaries!