On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 6:18 AM, Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > John: With due respect, generalizing from Brazil is a mug's move. Why not > look at what happens in Scandanavia or, where I live, in Japan. Yes, it may > take an hour or two to see a doctor if you haven't made an appointment in > advance; but the same was true in the USA when my parents went for treatment > at their HMOs. > Didn't intend to be condescending. Should, however, have been clearer. Brazil is a case like China or India, where the rich and middle class are minorities piled on top of an impoverished population of very poor people. Predictably the poor will overwhelm any healthcare system to which they have access, and the middle and upper classes will resist funding improvements. There are those who argue that the USA is moving in a similar direction; but we are not quite there yet, making comparisons with Scandinavia, other parts of Europe or Japan more to the point. John -- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 http://www.wordworks.jp/