If you add your out-of-pocket insurance expenses to your taxes that support existing government health care programs, you’ll probably find that you’re already paying plenty for health care, more than enough to cover actual medical expenses. So converting to a universal system is really more a matter of getting the money we already pay devoted to the care, rather than the middlemen.

~ Excerpt from my weekly Sunday column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune for Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, the second of a two-part look at local health care issues. Find my weekly column at www.minnesotabrown.com. This week’s column is archived here.