Did anyone watch the PBS Frontline special on health care in England, Japan, Taiwan and Germany? Do you have any opinions? I will start with the comment that the Japanese personally maintain a much lower standard of living than what is considered as "middle class" in the US, but their higher tax contributions give them health care, public transportation and access to higher education. Yet Japan is a very capitalistic nation. The Japanese set priorities and consider health care a high priority. The Japanese are willing to pay taxes and ride public transportation, which is excellent there, while families in the US try to maintain three cars (or even more), and then the money for health care isn't there. A comment on Germany: I think they do a better job at prevention. People in Germany eat meat for breakfast, whereas we eat eggs, which have six times the cholesterol as in meat. So their costs for heart disease could be lower. The American diet, of eggs, sugar in everything, and wheat, and carbs carbs carbs is driving up the cost of health care.