Saline is one of the most basic and common items used in modern medicine. It's an incredibly simple solution that has two ingredients: water and salt. This makes it all the more baffling that, since the start of this year, America's doctors have been fighting an infuriating IV saline shortage. Cancer centers, which often administer saline administering other IV therapies, are keeping strict inventories of how many bags they have on site. Things got so bad that, in late March, the Obama administration began importing additional saline from Norway. We are literally flying salt water thousands of miles across an ocean, because we can't make enough in the United States.