Amazing How That Single Payer Thing Works

In the USA, any woman who once has a Caesarean birth automatically gets a Caesarean the next time she has a baby. That's because it has been declared by the medical establishment to the best i.e. safest way to do it, even though it is much more expensive, and not a great choice for the mother, and often not even necessary. There is a hospital in New Mexico that does not routinely do Caesareans second time around, and in fact has the lowest Caesarean rate in the country. The hospital is successful because it uses midwives, it has doctors close at hand at all times, and it does not have a profit motive for doing Caesarean births. The hospital serves Native American communities (mostly Navajo and Hopi) an it is entirely funded by the federal government. It's a single payer system, and it works to hold down the cost of services while maximizing the benefits to the patients. You can read all about it in the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/health/07birth.html?scp=1&sq=hopi%20hospital&st=cse