SICK  (CONT)

sions of biology, that may soon be a problem too). No, we Americans just couldn't figure out the technology of distributing healthcare to the people who need it. We left the whole business to business -- both of the profit-making and private "nonprofit" variety -- and business screwed it up.

The abolition of the American healthcare system will lead to some difficult readjustments, of course. Our doctors, nurses and technicians, who are among the best-trained in the world, will have to seek work in the emerging Asian centers of medical tourism. As for the estimated 2 million to 3 million insurance company functionaries whose sole business it is to turn down your claims, these folks may be a bit harder to reemploy because they have no counterpart in any civilized, health-providing nation.

Barbara Ehrenreich is the author, most recently, of "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" (Owl Books, 2002).

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