>The merit of our system is that the NHS covers everybody and any other >treatment/insurance is private and (almost always) separate from NHS >treatment and NHS premises; so there's a clear separation between NHS >provision, paid for by taxes and NI contributions, and private provision, >paid for separately and "privately". It's simply NOT economical to buy private health insurance in a company that is less than about 50 employees. We have 4, sometimes 5 employees. Unless we were always sick and with bad backs and rotten teeth, it wouldn't even NEARLY pay for itself. The cost of even a bargain basement insurance plan is $168/employee/month. It'd do me well if I was a myopic diabetic with osteoporosis and degenerative heart-disease with three sick kids; but I haven't been to any outside medical services in the last 15 years. I'd love a new pair of glasses now and again and I could do with some tooth work, but it's simply not in the budget. So... the upshot is... we have to pay out-of-pocket, in after tax dollars for things that we could get if we had a health plan. As a result, we DON'T. Paul ########## Paul Stone pas@xxxxxxxx Kingsville, ON, Canada ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html