Originally Posted By: L. Brown
Cost of health care . . . if we add the taxes we pay to the insurance premiums we pay, I wonder how that compares to the taxes Europeans pay, to cover--among other things--their health care?

Larry - total per capita costs (including insurance and/or taxes) were included in the World Health Organization's 2000 study ranking national health care systems. The US ranked number 1 in per capita cost among the nations of the world, and number 1 in health care expenditures as a percent of GDP. Yet we ranked a dismal 37th in overall health system performance - better than Slovenia, but not quite as good as Costa Rica.

Here's an eye-opening report from the University of Maine: http://dll.umaine.edu/ble/U.S.%20HCweb.pdf

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