There really is no judgment here.  Over the last few years we've seen our largest employer in the community take away health care coverage for workers--just too expensive to maintain.  We've seen persons who used to go to the clinic when they were sick switch to being persons who don't go until they are very, very, very sick--and sometimes that's to the ER.  We, as a congregation, have come to the aid of persons facing medical bills they will never get out from under.

And, really, there is no judgment here.  There's enough blame to go around--insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, people abusing the system seeking unnecessary treatment, persons who have great insurance not willing to give any portion of that up for some "common good," and a governmental system of bureaucracy that makes it nearly impossible to keep records.  It's a mess.

And it's an expensive mess.

This is a comparison of US costs with other countries in the Western World.  Very interesting.  See the full sized one on DataVis.