Balanced view

The Washington Post takes a balanced view on both the Bush and Kerry plans for health care. It also gets to the root of increasing health care costs:

To be serious would require admitting that the basic problem does not lie with insurance companies, trial lawyers, hospitals or any of the usual suspects. It lies with public opinion. We Americans want the impossible. We want our health care system to: (a) provide everyone with good care covered by comprehensive insurance; (b) prevent insurance companies or government bureaucrats from dictating our choice of doctors, hospitals or treatments; and (c) hold down costs. Well, we can have any two of these goals “” but not all three. If everyone has coverage and choice, costs will skyrocket . . .

The real causes of higher spending are stubborn: We’re an aging society; science continually creates new drugs, diagnostics and treatments; and people want the latest and best “” at someone else’s expense.