Wasting Money

An interesting chart from Aaron Carroll with the following description (h/t the Dish):

Notice two things, however.  The first is that Norway and Luxembourg (the two countries farthest to the right), fall below the line.  This is because – presumably – at some point you can spend more money, but what’s the point? The drugs won’t work better, the advice is still the same, and the doctors can’t do any more.  At some point, spending more is just waste, because the outcomes don’t get any better.
The second thing to notice is the US.  You can’t miss it. It’s the big red dot that’s way at the top. We’ve chosen to ignore what I just said.

At some point, we are going to have to have a grown-up discussion about this without people screaming "socialism" and "death panel" like a bunch of freaks.