It is absurd that any government entity, state and federal, thinks that paying high priced premiums to insurance companies is going to make a difference in health care services. The biggest problem in health care is the actual services cost that are inflated and the patients are being gouged with excessive cost. The government needs to restrict and constrol services and investors profiteering on the backs of people that need health care. "For profit" health care has killed the health care for insured as well the uninsured people. The insurance companies problem is they don't question the cost of services even if corruption is taking place in the service and health care providers, it's much cheaper and easier to deny insurance coverage than it is to fight corporte hospitals and care givers for the amount patients are charged. If government was trully concerned about health care they would be going after the corporate hospital systems that have caused the problem of health care to the american people. Government needs to nationalize hospitals and health care, as much as I hate to say it, but corruption in hospitals and investors are at the root of excessive health care costs.

The more government becomes involved in health care the more expensive it will be, and quality will erode. Health care was quite reasonable before Medicaid came on the scene.

The way I see it there are 3 main problmes that cause the high health care costs. In order to reduce costs all 3 must be addressed.

1. Malpractice lawsuits against doctors have made it so that the insurance that the doctors carry costs them a lot of money.
2. Excessive uninsured people using the emergency room. Since hospitals try to make enough money to cover their costs they have to charge more per procedure to cover thier costs.
3. Government control. Whenever government regulation is involved, it rarely stays on the sidelines. It always comes out to dominate the system. The government, no matter how well intentioned, is never efficient and not always the best solution for any problem.

If something could be done to address these three problems the cost for health care would significantly decrease. Unfortunately society will not allow that, they want to slow the system down by having it taken over an inefficient government system.

Utah is a conservative state and it is hard for conservatives to accept that the private health care industry has failed to meet the needs of Americans. Part of the reason for this is that the administrative costs associated with meeting the demands of Medicare, Medicaid and private industry carrier is the highest in the world, bar none. This is the number one reason our insurance costs are higher than in country's offering nationally funded health insurance. Unfortunately, the proposals being considered in Utah do not address this issue. However, they are a huge step in the right direction in that they create a large risk pool This means that insurance companies can no longer single out individuals and small businesses and claim that they are a higher risk and, therefore, must pay huge fees. Kudos to the Governor and Legislature for their efforts. This is one case where the public really needs to understand that the complexities of this issue are huge and they need to back off and trust those working to resolve the problems. I know it is hard to trust the government, but there is no reason private industry would want to resolve this matter.

"literally eat the economy"

That would be difficult. The economy is an abstract concept, not something concrete, such as a sandwich. Like the typographical or grammatical errors scattered throughout this article ("Many businesses have dealt with rising costs of insurance premiums that past few years by dropping medical benefits altogether.") this sentence tips off a reader used to reading the Washington Post and the New York Times online that the Desert News is not a national outlet for news.

Also, an article about signing a reputedly innovative health bill into law might have provided some insight into specifics about the law.