Gregory Warner of Marketplace takes a look at the complicated role that health care plays in the economy. He visits Oakland County, Mich., where local officials see building hospitals as a way to boost the economy by creating recession-proof jobs. The problem, critics say, is that having half-full hospitals competing for the same privately insured patients runs up medical costs, and that makes it harder for businesses and governments to pay for health insurance.
For a fictional, animated version, watch this animated short film Warner made about the medical arms race and its implications.