When I served in the Air Force Reserves as Medic, one of the first things I learned in Emergency Medicine 101 is to first look for the site of the bleeding.  Then apply pressure-quick to stop the bleeding.

The U.S. spends more than $2.5 trillion on healthcare costs each year.  Of which, nearly half of the total costs are attributed to only five percent of the entire population.  Healthcare costs are highly concentrated with five percent of all Americans.  That’s the site of the fiscal bleeding.  That’s where healthcare reform needs to focus on first.

Both the House and the Senate’s Healthcare Reform Legislation fails to apply pressure at the site of the fiscal hemorrhage.  Instead, both bills prematurely zero in on expanding coverage to 30 million Americans without insurance.  This is a fatal misdiagnosis that will intensify the rate of red ink bleeding.  It’s a band-aid solution with catastrophic implications.  Until the U.S. reins in costs for the five percent of Americans insatiably consuming healthcare dollars, the fiscal bleeding will persist.