Well, thanks for the answers....it seems like no one is having it 'easy' unless they are independently wealthy. The gap between the haves & have nots grows, hmmm?

One virtue of higher taxes and National Health Care is that sudden expenses are covered...but if the care is not well managed, it can be almost worse. With the advances in modern medicine, lots CAN be done, but some of the new treatments are very expensive, no matter how the payments are managed. (My wife takes anti-rejection pills that we could never afford if we hadn't been scrimping to pay private health insurance)...now we 'just' squeak by.

And the billions that could help fund a solution to this are being squandered in the dust of Iraq, doing nothing except making munitions makers happy....and the tensions resulting are driving up those creeping gas prices ever higher....

.................phooh!