Tamar,

>>To my knowledge only the US and south africa (maybe Jos might chime in) do not have an medical health care coverage provided by the government. From my pov I don't understand why not, except that the american people are being scared by FUD saying that it will be unafordable and will make healthcare even more expensive. Of course that assumption is completely false as proven by virtually all other western countries.

>The real issue here is cultural. National health care smacks of socialism and that's a bad word to many Americans. In addition, we have this whole culture of "pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps" that makes a lot of people think that government involvement in daily living is wrong.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. That indeed is the main problem, and is a direct consequence of "The american dream". Maybe we should ask every american the question what would happen if there was no government at all.

Walter,