To: tejek who wrote (459331 ) 2/25/2009 2:29:13 PM From: i-node Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1578616 And you've been told over and over again that life longevity is one measure of the quality of health care in a country. Yes, it is one measure out of thousands. And a not-very-important one because longevity is influenced heavily by things that have nothing to do with health care. Things like how violent the society is, how many miles we drive versus other cultures, things like what we eat, how we eat, how little exercise we get versus others, the fact that American black males, as a group, have no respect for human life and kill each other indiscriminantly, the fact that we have areas like NOLA with massive crime problems, the list goes on. Longevity is ONE TINY, UNIMPORTANT factor.F. Fawcett, the hollywood actor, is going to Germany to get specialized cancer care that she can't get here. If there is a treatment she "can't get here" it is because OUR GOVERNMENT (the organization you view as the solution to our health care problems) PREVENTS IT OR, MORE LIKELY, IT HAS NOT BEEN SHOWN TO BE AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT. I work with a number of oncology clinics and most are deeply involved in the clinical trials process which is the way new cancer cures are found. These clinics have entire segments of their office devoted to research departments and many thousands of dollars worth of up to the second IT that are in use in their facilities. The Farrah Fawcett situation is sad in that she has probably lost her battle with cancer and I'm sure she is looking for whatever treatments she can find. That's fine for her, but going to Germany or Mexico or wherever to find last-ditch treatments is not indicative of the quality of health care in any sense.