Lots to agree with here... I find it absolutely fascinating how difficult it is for people to talk objectively about the "cost of saving a life" issue, which ultimately must be discussed and understood for real cost savings to happen.

You have people who are sick, and they and their loved ones will want every option exhausted. This includes not just medicines and procedurs, but batteries of expensive tests. The 4 doctors in my family (all red-state, anti-"obamacare") universally rail on about how much $$$ they are "required" to spend stretching out the last few months of peoples lives.

I, for one, think that "death panels" and "rationing" are a good idea (obviously minus the pejorative name). So is end-of-life counseling. To demonize these things is to perpetuate our current path of exploding costs.