>>She is, but she's not practicing. IOW, she does anything but, which includes a lot of reading and trying out things. She's had good results with acupuncture, lately with herbs - mostly for cosmetics and treating burns. She's come to some conclusions (I wouldn't get into details as I don't want to get into a flame war with a billion dollar campaign) - the net result being that we're healthy and it costs us almost nothing. Actually there is a price: total rejection of the health system (or remainders thereof) here, or the health industry while we were there.

None of my business, but- IMHO you want to consider medical *insurance* in the proper sense of the word. In some jurisdictions insurance is regarded as a target for consumption that needs to exceed what you paid or you've missed out- but the best insurance is for people like you who make few claims but want options if/when the serious stuff makes an appearance. None of us lives forever and there's no doubt that modern medicine can make a big difference to quality of life, as long as you can access the right options. Having a physician wife must help- but unless she can internally fix a fracture or plant a radioactive pellet directly where it needs to go, might pay to have some form of insurance. JMHO.

>>Too bad, the system used to work rather well until the nineties, when it was summarily looted, and then never given a chance to recover.

Sad. I do see that there are moves afoot to end the corruption.

>>Every country has the crap it deserves, eh?

So it seems. Which is as good a point as any to wish a heathen like you a Merry Christmas! ;-)