"They say this for two reasons, and I know this is against the conventional wisdom. But number one, they say that it does actually make sense for a society as it becomes richer, wealthier, that it will want to spend more on health care," explains Dr. Walden, an economist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

"That is to say we are in total a much richer country today than we were, say, 30 years ago -- total as well as on a per person basis," he says. "And there's no rule that says we have to spend the same percentage of that wealth on health care. In fact there would be a lot to suggest that people would want to spend more. So that's point number one."

"Point number two is that we want to look at, yes, we may be spending a lot on health care, but what are we getting back in return?" Walden adds. "Some economists who've looked at that say we are getting a lot back in terms of prolonging life, treating illnesses and injuries.

"So you want to look at that payoff, and that payoff may be very high."