Comparing private medical insurance with Medicaid or Medicare within the same system doesn't tell you much. Whether you pay several thousand dollars a year in premiums or are in an economic bracket that qualifies you for Medicaid or Medicare, you should get comparable medical care. The best medical care the system has to offer in either case.

It would be much more revealing to compare the cost to the individual in premiums in the American system with the cost in taxes paid by the individual in, say, France, Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. And then compare the quality of health care.

In terms of health statistics, we are way to hell and gone behind most other industrialized countries in the world, where the individual gets better health care at much lower cost. Hell, we're even behind Thailand!

Don Firth