If you're interested in promoting healthcare reform, copy this paragraph somewhere, then paste it whenever an argument about healthcare reform comes up. Or better yet, start a blog or send an e-mail.

Why is the U.S. healthcare system so expensive? Administrative costs, marketing and profits account for 22 to 31 percent of the U.S. healthcare dollar (I recently heard Edward Kennedy say these costs were 33 percent, but I have not seen documentation of that number). By contrast, overhead costs in single-payer systems (including Medicare) typically are 3 percent.