Richie: No doubt about it - you bring up a good point and I'm glad you did - no, I'm NOT being sarcastic.

You're right, the UK *is* worried about costs. They spend between $2500 and $3000 per capita on health care depending on how you tally the numbers (I've seen some as low as $2300 but I think those were old numbers). On the same site where the $2300 number was (possibly lowballing the estimate), the US is reported to spend $5,700 per capita.

As a percentage of GDP, the US is around 15% while the UK is under 8%.

Think about that for a minute. Their government, which covers all their citizens (and there's a HUGE undercurrent of unrest about covering illegals - something I picked up from talking to the locals while I was in London a few months ago) spend something like HALF what we spend and they think THAT is too much!

And I know I sound like a broken record on this, but WHY, if we're supposedly trying to contain costs, are we putting the system (except for those under Medicare) in the hands of people who's first loyalty is FOR THE FINANCIAL GAIN OF THEIR SHAREHOLDERS and who's long-term planning consists of MAKING THE NUMBERS FOR THE NEXT QUARTER? AND - on top of that - FORCING our population to buy from them?????: