Necessary Commodity vs. Necessary Evil

Ditto to the comment posted by M. Arias. Americans will swipe and pay for the latest and most up-to- date gadgets, cars, fashion, make-up, surgery etc. The escalating amount spent on health care perpetuates because health, like gas (or clothing, a beautiful home, a lap top , ipod), is a necessary commodity valued by Americans which will be purchased at any cost. CEO's of HMO's are aware that increasing the tag price on a needed surgery or an MRI or a medication for a chronic disease will not turn away its customers, so why not hike up the digits on health which is gauranteed to be paid for by desperately ill consumers who need the service to survive. The health care system can be compared to economics as stated by White (2007) in "Health Care Spending Growth: How Different is the United States from the Rest of the OECD?". Health care is a commodity that possesses a very high demand: mothers, children, and elderly are in constat need of medical attention. The high demand of health care and the desperation to attain it gives HMO's the power to rasie prices at their own will. Treatment, medication, and the service to care for the ill is a necessary commodity to survice. The necessary evil is acquiring those services through filters here in the U.S.: HMO's, private insurance.