Analysis: You Have No Idea What Health Costs – washingtonpost.com

For many, it’s among the largest investments we’ll make, on par, even, with the money we spend on a house or tuck away for retirement. But while it’s easy to track our stock portfolios as they tank along with the market, our outlay for health care is less obvious. Employers pay some, and so do individuals, and taxpayers. And some even hides behind the deficit. As such, few of us see the full picture. But to make sense of the proposals for reform, getting a grasp of the cost is critical.

While this piece was written before the final legislation, it is still the smartest piece I have read on the problem of why people do not have the same sense of urgency government does about this issue and why, in the end, what we got was a watered down bill that helps virtually nothing.