I’m having a bit of trouble breathing right now. Literally. I think I may be catching another cold which always jumpstarts my asthma.

The solution? A $178 Flovent inhaler…and that’s the Costco price. How do I know? Because I was there on Monday to pick it up and, when I found out the price, I left it there. Great drug. I’m guessing it costs about $4 to make and package and market and ship. Maybe a bit less.

So with a great job, in a great country, with a new little baby, and with a great low-cost drug available, I’m having trouble breathing. Flovent is low “cost”, but not low “price.” And this isn’t the company GlaxoSmithKline’s fault — an English company. In England, I would be very surprised if you had to pay a pound. This is the unregulated health care system that we have allowed to define the rules, or lack of them.

And I’m holding my breath until Obama takes our health care system into the “20th century” — all the while a small, but very rich, loud, and calculated minority go kicking and screaming and playing commercials and having lunch with Rush Limbaugh.