Ed,

I'm saying that for a good number of the uninsured it does come down to a choice.  They'd rather drive a Nissan Xterra and have the latest picture taking celphone than give two hoots about health care.  Yes, it's a problem because when they do eventually need to be seen in a crisis situation we all pay the price.  How do you compell these same people to be responsible for themselves? 

What's driving up the cost of health care?  Ask John Edwards and maybe he'll give you a look at his latest bank statement to give you a clue.  It seems to me I've heard quite a bit over the years about doctors being forced out of practice because they couldn't keep up with the liability insurance costs and those who do stay have had to pass those costs on to you and me.  This is a big problem and one which needs to be addressed.

Another area we need to think about is when one gets to the end of their natural life.  We've now got the means in many cases to keep a person alive much longer than ever, usually at great expense.  How far do we take our ability to sustain life? 

I remember a while back Gene had some interesting thoughts on much of this.  Gene...care to chime in? 

Kevin g