5. MEDICAL SYSTEM - What are the problems faced by the medical system in the US? Do you think the country is likely to move toward socialized medicine? Do you think the country is likely to move toward national insurance? Would you vote for socialized medicine or national insurance if you knew it would increase your taxes?

Medical System- Easy to say. Our health Care system needs alot of work and some how more medical care insurance for everyone should be available.
JAMES W

The Medical System in this country faces major problems. Cost to patients are skyrocketing, some of this is  from greed, some from government regulations. Malpractice cost to doctors have caused them to have to raise cost to pay for the insurance. This is brought about by the amount of lawsuits in this country. I hope this country is able to solve these problems with innovative solutions, not by turning to socialized medicine or national insurance. Patients would be the losers if this country went to socialized medicine and I would not be for it.

Renee R

I could talk for days about the medical system. I had a $174,000 bill in 2005. And in 2006 I had $130,000 bill. We can safely say I am in the hole. It costs too much to get sick in this country. I think we need legislation to deal with escalating costs of being in the hospitals and simple procedures. The bad news is that it keeps going up. So when is it going to top off. Before long no one is going to be able to afford to get sick. We have going without treatment because they can't afford it. The insurance premiums are out of this world. You work 40 hours just to pay premiums. We need some kind of system that will protect all of us from the high cost of getting sick. If state funding for insurance is a way to curtail the costs, that's the way to go. There's a lot of people that disagree with that.

Jennifer R

COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS IN AUSTRIA

In Austria, every family gets a certain amount of money per month for every child in the family. Even social insurance is provided by the state. The health system is also completely different. To sum it up, I think the Austrian government provides more financial aid for families, especially for challenged families.