Health insurance is a perennial issue in elections, but it tends to fall out of public discussion in general. In case you've forgotten the staggering stats, there are more than 45 million uninsured Americans. But, in this week's New Yorker, Atul Gawande presents the economics of health care from the physician's perspective, and reveals something perhaps even more grim: without serious reform, the insurance system as a whole is unsustainable in the long term.

For-profit insurance companies wrangle with the best-paid doctors in the world for revenue, while insurance premiums rise by close to 10% a year. But we can't afford to pay doctors less --they are already earning a lower return on their educational investments than lawyers or businesspeople -- and our piecemeal combination of private and pubic insurance leaves 1 in 7 Americans without coverage.

I dare any laissez faire conservative who reads this site dismissively to propose a solution that doesn't involve expansion of Medicare and Medicaid. Simultaneously, I dare any pro-business coservative to suggest one that doesn't involve removing special privileges for pharmeceutical companies. We all know that the answer, if there is one, involves using the power of the government to more effectively and fairly direct the power of the market. Let's hope we find it soon. Preferably before I graduate, lose my parents' insurance, and find out that my little blogging gig at Campus Progress doesn't come with benefits.