Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corp. told the U.S. Senate Finance Committee it would be spending $1 billion a year on health care soon, and that “we’ve just been writing checks,” and that those days are coming to an end.

The President of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association noted that the employer has been “a heretofore passive partner in this.” This, of course, is the ever expanding cost of health care — and it is clear, or should be clear, that there are some in the health industry that do not want the rate of increase of health care costs to decrease.

Am I saying everyone is not for affordable health care?

Yes.

Really?

Really, really.

Prove it.

OK, from Forbes Magazine: “Wellpoint’s earnings would suffer if the upward march of health care costs (and the corresponding insurance premiums) collapsed from its 8% annual rate to the 2.5% inflation rate,” said Wellpoint’s finance chief.

If the lion’s share of health care inflation comes from hospitals jacking up their prices because they market will pay whatever they charge, since no one knows what medical goods and services actually cost, why would the insurers want the hospitals to bring down their prices?

If Craig Barrett of Intel wants to focus on cost, he should look at the report done by CalPERS and the Pacific Business Group on Health on hospital pricing. Here is what the study concluded:

“A new study designed to uncover the key to understanding hospital prices confirms what large purchasers have long suspected: A disturbing number of hospitals appear to be grossly overcharging and not being held accountable.”

If employers are waiting for insurers to contain hospital costs, effectively, the employers really are “just writing checks.”

Meanwhile, back in the Real Health Care Economy

This health care economy exists in the real world, with real prices and real paying customers who pay for a service when they get it and with real competition over service, privacy and, yes, prices.

Yes, this mythical health care economy does really exist.

There are more than 60 Any Lab Test Now franchises in the United States. Founded by Dr. David Perlow in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992, they perform accurate and cost-effective lab tests in a “fast, efficient and discreet manner.”

In another related development of an actual health care economy with prices for services, by the end of this year, between 1,500 and 1,800 in store health clinics will open in Wal-Marts, Targets and grocery and pharmacies, according to Sarah McIntosh, writing in the Wichita Eagle.

I love going to the MinuteClinic in the CVS near my house. The last time I was there I had bronchitis and I signed in, got a flu shot (even though you really are not supposed to if you are sick — don’t worry, I’m fine) and got the prescription in about 10 minutes. All-in, the visit, with the flu shot cost about $70. And I walked into the clinic. I did not wait. It was a Friday and I did not want to wait until I could get a doctor’s appointment on Monday, and be even more sick, and then get the prescription. Filling the prescription took longer than going to the MinuteClinic. This is how the real health care market place works, it is cheaper, it is faster, and it is more convenient.