Don't feel bad. We don't insure sick children either.

Martin Baxter wrote:
The US spends more, per capita on health than any other industrialized
nation in the world, yet it manages to deliver that health care to a
lower percentage of the population than those same nations. The Infant
mortality rate is alway interesting to look at, US=6.82 per 1000 live
births, Cuba=6.45, Aruba 6.02, Canada 4.82, France 4.31, Czech Republic
3.97, Iceland 3.31........there at least 36 countries that do better
than the US.


Yep. It's rather pathetic. However, all the usual rhetoric doesn't
begin to reflect the reality.

The U.S. delivers billions of dollars of free health care to low-
income people... the problem is that much of it is "delivered" via
emergency rooms & tertiary care centers, very very inefficient. And
since it also unreimbursed, the provider has to charge everybody else
more, or go out of business (it's happening... about a dozen big-city
emergency rooms have closed their doors in the past year).

Another issue is that a large percent of U.S. health-care dollars go
to pay lawsuits and insurance against lawsuits. Our legal system makes
more money off "health care" than doctors do; and we've substituted a
winner-take-all lottery for sensible standard-of-care risk management.

And you will never, never, never, hear either of these issues (among
many other root problems) addressed by politicians (who are lawyers
themselves, remember) who want to "fix health care" for you.

Regards
Doug King