Some problems are so extensive and so complex, solutions are elusive.
The difficulty is readily apparent in recent discussion and debate on efforts to provide comprehensive health care to an increasing - and increasingly aging - population.
The U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments on whether President Obama's Affordable Care Act - sometimes referred to as Obamacare - can require every American to carry health insurance.
Closer to home, state senators gave first-round approval to a measure to exempt employers from providing mandatory coverage for procedures they oppose based on moral or religious reasons. The focal point of those procedures is contraceptive services - including family planning, sterilization and abortion.
While senators deliberated, Missourians from across the state gathered for a "Rally for Religious Liberty."
The magnitude of providing health care is illustrated by a few facts.
• The U.S. population is in the range of 313 million people.
• Life expectancy is projected in to increase from 76.0 years in 1993 to 82.6 years in 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Health care spending in the United States totals $2.6 trillion, about 18 percent of the annual gross domestic product. The total translates into about $8,402 per person.
The costs will trend upward, as we continue to live longer and medical breakthroughs continue to provide new, improved and more expensive treatment.
The key question - the $2.6 trillion question, if you like - is how do we pay for it?
The established private model is participation in group health care insurance plans offered as a benefit by employers.
Can government require insurers to offer specific coverage?
Yes, in some instances. Recall, for example, the state Legislature in 2010 passed a law that required group insurance companies regulated by the state to cover specified behavioral therapy for autistic children.
Can government require employers to offer health insurance?
No. It remains a benefit some employers - particularly small businesses - do not provide.
Can government require every American to have health insurance?
That is a question now being explored by our nation's highest court.
Without even addressing government health care programs - Medicare and Medicaid - those are among the overriding questions. As always, however, the proverbial devil is in the details.
Among those details: Who pays the costs when an uninsured shooting victim arrives at a hospital emergency room? Or who pays the costs when the child of unemployed parents needs surgery to repair a heart defect?