John wrote
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.
The majority of Americans believe that the US should have some form of guaranteed universal care; they would also be willing to pay more in taxes to fund it.
So, this is not predictable at all. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/washington/02poll.html?_r=1&oref=sloginOther polls show much the same thing. As a Democrat Abroad, John, you must know what the party's position on this is!
To your health! Robert Paul Reed College ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html