“Health care” is one of those politician/media-generated terms that has long since had all substantive meaning Hoovered out of it. So let’s start calling this debate what it really is: an argument over who’s going to pay the hospital bills. Traditionally, the answer to that question has been “anybody but me” — as if it were the ultimate in crassness and insensitivity even to suggest that the person who receives a medical treatment should be the one expected to pay for that procedure.

At least, with the evolution of the debate from “health care” to “health insurance”, we are finally edging closer to being willing — however reluctantly — to acknowledge that fact.

Oh, and by the way, Owen: life-expectancy figures are a questionable criterion for comparing the medical-care systems of various countries, since there are many other factors in determining life expectancy (violent crime rates, to offer one example), not all of which can be directly correlated to “health care”. If you want to compare the efficacy of a country’s “health care” system, look at the survival rates for various diseases: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, even AIDS; i.e., areas in which the quality and delivery efficiency of medical treatment has a direct bearing. You’ll find that the United States is right near the top.