To grasp the sick state of health care in America, you could listen to the president of the United States. You could munch on numbers crunched by the insurance industry. You could gaze at the staggering profits posted by pharmaceutical companies. You could easily lose yourself in the blizzard of astronomical digits or get lost in the health care exchange maze of your choosing.

Or you could just listen to Joe.

Joe - Dr. Joseph Abate - is the medical director at Coeur d'Alene's Heritage Health and the guy who's leading a crusade to right what's wrong with health care nationally, at the local level.

"We spend a lot of money but we don't get good value from our health care dollars," he says simply.

Matter-of-factly, he'll put it another way: "Did your salary double in the last 10 years?" he'll ask you, and before you can answer, he'll say, "Not likely. But your health care costs did."

There you have it. In just one decade, the cost of taking care of yourself doubled. And what have you gotten in return? Double your expected longevity? Double your pleasure in whatever years are allotted to you?

Hardly. In his quest to enlighten the masses - a dozen or so citizens at a time - Abate unleashes some staggering facts:

* In a comparison of 20 of the world's wealthiest nations, the U.S. spends by far the most yet has the lowest life expectancy of the group. Abate shares this quote with his audiences: "In America, many people work long hours at jobs they can't stand in order to afford the health insurance they need...to treat the diseases they get from working long hours at jobs they can't stand."

* According to the Milliman Medical Index, an average family of four that shelled out $9,235 in annual health care expenditures in 2002 was spending $20,728 by 2012.

* In comparing the U.S. with Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Spain, all five nations average very similar per capita health care costs into citizens' mid-50s. But after that? Aging Americans leave their foreign counterparts far behind in spending, doing all they can to live better and longer. (As the first bullet point noted, it's not working.)

Abate has concluded that ours is a production/profit-oriented society that specializes, automates and maximizes efficiency and profits. While that does lead to Profits with a capital P, it also has a devastating downside, he believes: A monstrous, misplaced trust in technology and pharmacology.

We lead the world in producing numerous products, but not all of them are desirable or exportable, Abate asserts.

"America is in the business of manufacturing stressed out, anxious, stomach acid producing, overweight, depressed, chronic pain, diabetic, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease patients," he'll say.

That's not just a harsh theory, either. It's harsh reality backed by the National Institutes of Health which, in 2013, showed that among industrialized nations, the U.S. had the highest or near-highest prevalence of:

* obesity

* car accidents

* infant mortality

* heart and lung disease

* sexually transmitted infections

* adolescent pregnancies

* injuries

* homicides

* disability

So how are you feeling now? Not so good? Sorry, but as doctors sometimes tell us, it's going to get worse before it gets better. Tomorrow: Local health care CEOs share their observations about the state of American health care, as well as some suggestions.

TODAY: Spending our way to early death

Wednesday: CEOspeak: A 30,000-foot view

Thursday: We're fat, we're depressed. . .

Friday: . . . and we want our pills

Saturday: Help! Kroc to the Rxcue, Hope! A panoply of resources