Destroyed, yes. Irrevocably destroyed, no. The best thing that could happen to U.S. health care would be for it to be completely destroyed in the hopes that rises from the ashes actually works.
Consider: I had a heart scare earlier this year and spent a day and a night in the hospital. They took four blood samples and monitored me. That is it. The bill came to $18,000 of which $12,000 was written off by the insurance company. What was the real cost of that service? By comparison I had one of my horses spend the night at the vet on IV fluids. The bill for that was $1,800. The vet made money at that rate and the two services were not substantially different - IV and observation. Add to this the cost of litigation and malpractice insurance and medical costs rapidly soar far past the point of being able to afford them.
Reform needs to address insurance, which tends to greatly inflate prices in any market they are the prime payer, litigation and actual healthcare costs.
