What is the likelihood of real Healthcare Reform?

Implications: What is the chance of real Healthcare reform in the US when major insurers turn huge profits and support a massive lobbyist effort in Washington? Hospitals and doctors are presented as the main cause for spiraling healthcare costs. As modality vendors release newer products like 256 slice scanners, etc. there is an impression that a 64 slice scanner can no longer provide imagery to properly diagnose.

Analysis: Regardless of the chest beating in Washington, healthcare reform is a pipe dream when insurance companies, turning record profits maintain a massive lobby effort in Washington and the healthcare providers, with limited funds available, are unable to counter their efforts.

As healthcare technology advances, modalities become more expensive, and it becomes a medical arms race to keep up with competitors across town. If you want to capture the more of the MRI market share, you'd damn well better have an equal or superior MRI in place.

As vendors present new technology implants to surgeons, that drives those physicians to request the latest Knee or hip implant, which invariably costs more than the previous implant. As we have recently seen with Ceramic headed hip implants, new and more expensive is not always better.