Sitting for hours and hours at New Orleans' Charity Hospital, with all the other poor folks, when you're already feeling awful... sucks. And paying for prescriptions can be crippling.

So when I got violently ill in Thailand back in December of 2001... and this was the kind of sickness I couldn't just sleep off (like I usually try to do) because of the searing headaches and explosive diarrhea... I had to go to the hospital.

Now, Thailand is a country where many of the people still live in grass huts, so even though I was in Bangkok, I was kind of expecting a Thai version of Charity Hospital. I was also very concerned about being able to afford it or the medicine I might need. But my friend Ken assured me that Thai healthcare is free and efficient... not just for Thai citizens, but ANYONE in the country visiting as well.

Indeed, the hospital was clean and calm... and in less than 45 minutes I had seen a doctor, was given a shot and some prescriptions (which incidentally were dirt cheap and they absolutely worked) to fill... and I felt better.

It seems to me that if Thailand could provide such competent and complimentary care for its people and tourists... then the United States of America (supposedly the richest and "best" country in the world) should be able to do that, too. But sadly, American doctors, pharmecutical agents and political leaders care less about helping people that they do about money.

I think that if people in the U.S. (who have only ever known expensive and complicated medical treatment) knew that healthcare could be free... that they would demand it.

So, now you know.

Demand it.