You're right -- the answer is "False"!  But we didn't offer much choice, did we?  There is no excuse for inaction.  Minnesota can't solve these problems for the whole country, but we can help find the way. Health care in Japan consumes a mere one-third (1/3) of the money per capita that we spend each year in the U.S.  To see how Japan structures its univeral health care system, click here to go to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare website.  Anyone who has visited Japan knows that most things there are more expensive than here in the U.S., yet they can afford universal health care at a fraction of our cost.  Norway (as discussed in Question #2) has a universal health care program that spends two-thirds (2/3) what the U.S. spends, per capita, and includes expenditures in their health care numbers that we don't.   How can other countries that are economically comparable to the U.S. consistently get better outcomes on life expectancy and infant mortality; show such impressive per capita numbers on infrastructure and personnel; and do it with such economical levels of spending?  Clearly, waste and misallocation of money has to be part of the answer to that question.  Among other forms of waste, HMOs are also well known for high compensation for executive officers.    Click here to see the 2004 IRS 990 forms for HMOs operating in Minnesota!  (You'll have to go down more than a few pages to find the pages for executive compensations.) Americans rightfully claim many "firsts": in science research, military power, economic might -- but our country is far from first in taking care of it's people's health care needs.  We consider that affordable health care is a right for our senior citizens, and we provide it through taxpayer supported Medicare.  Why isn't decent, affordable health care a right for everyone?  If we find ways to eliminate the overhead currently wasted by high administrative costs and executive compensations of HMOs (about 20% versus 2% for Medicare), we can receive more of the health care coverage that we're paying for (but not getting).   Where to start?   First, we need to start thinking of affordable health care as a right, not a privilege.  Then we need to start finding ways to make it a reality.  A Single Payer plan may be the best goal.  Similar to the national plans of other countries, and to Medicare, Single Payer is the ultimate bargaining group.  It would allow us to get full value for our health care dollar, so that we can spend less money for equal or better health care than we currently get.  We would stop paying for health insurance out of our paychecks, and it would come out of taxes, instead. An important starting point is to roll back the reduction in affordable coverage provided to low-income people, coverage that has been lost to many people due to Minnesota's budget constraints.   In the 1990's, the State of Minnesota handed over management of our health care programs for low-income people (Medical Assistance, MinnesotaCare (MnCare) and General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) to the HMOs.  Ostensibly, this was done because the HMOs claimed that they could do the job cheaper.  Yet, we have seen that HMOs are less efficient at allocating money for the management of health care than a public agency like Medicare.  To provide universal coverage to all Minnesotans, we need to de-privatize low-income health insurance, and use the savings to provide affordable (not necessarily free) health care to everyone in need.  Click here for a short explanation of the Minnesota low-income health care programs. The State of Minnesota should remove every barrier to forming non- profit self-insurance groups, and do what it can to promote these groups.  Some companies already are self-insured -- others have banded together to form bigger groups, with more bargaining power with respect to health care providers and drug purchases.  Economies to scale in self-insuring groups can help drive down the costs of medical care, and avoid the waste inherent in HMOs.  Self-insurance groups can also be an approach to ultimately achieving a Single Payer system. Unburden Business Employers!  Work toward Single Payer Health Insurance!  A Single Payer system would cut the connection we currently have between health insurance and jobs.  What is the real connection between employing people and giving them health care?  There is no necessary connection.  The sooner we get the health insurance burden off of the backs of employers, the sooner companies that currently do provide health insurance benefits can level the playing field against competition from companies that don't provide health insurance benefits.