Here's an interesting article on how and why healthcare costs have so dramatically outpaced inflation in the US. It offers a solution I partially agree with. Not a super long read, but worth your time, I think. =]
Not a bad article overall, but it was very superficial and did not really get into the nitty-gritty of the reality of the situation in terms of the legal code, the insurance industry, and the application within the healthcare community. It's a good start, like a quip on the back jacket of a book, or one minor portion of an abstract in a proper paper, though. Sourcing, was a bit lazy on their part however.
A good article with some good suggestions. If you compare the rise in prices in the medical industry, which is highly regulated and subsidized by taxes, with more unregulated industries, such as technology, you will see that in the more unregulated, unsubsidized industries, prices lower over time.
And yet, Germany, with all their layers of regulations, manages to provide ridiculously affordable healthcare to everyone. I had a friend whose mom collapsed in her first night visiting my friend in Germany. Mom had a helicopter ride to hospital, ER visit, 4 nights in ICU, multitudes of tests, 3 more nights in a regular room, they didn't purchase insurance because - I don't even know why - and the total bill, from end to end, was €1200.00. This was in 2008, when I lived there.