Small Group of Patients Accounts for Large Chunk of Healthcare Costs--Report

From HealthDay News (part of a news roundup).

"Only 10 percent of the population accounted for nearly two-thirds of all health care costs in the United States in 2008, a federal government report says.

The average annual cost for each patient in that group totaled nearly $24,000, which included costs covered by insurance and paid out of pocket, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

About 45 percent of those patients remained in that 10 percent of the population in 2009.

Among the 10 percent of patients with the highest health costs in both 2008 and 2009: nearly 60 percent were women; more than 40 percent were 65 or older; only 3 percent were ages 18 to 29; more than 80 percent were white; only 2 percent were Asian."

This may be old news, but I still have to ask: is it really necessary to tear our current healthcare system apart for that 10%? Are their votes THAT important?