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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> John Clark <johnkclark@gmail.com> <br><b>…</b></span></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 5:36</span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>PM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span class=m-7816027795110537719gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>></span></b></span><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>></span></b></span><span class=m-7816027795110537719gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>…Per capita the US spends $14,885 per capita on healthcare each year and has a life expectancy of 79.6 years, Albania spends $414 per capita on healthcare each year and has a life expectancy of 80 years</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>. …. J<span class=m-7816027795110537719gmaildefault>ohn K Clark</span></span></b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span></b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span class=gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>> </span></i></span><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>OK. Let’s send our medical students to Albania, and do it their way.</span></i><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…Let me see if I've got this straight, after you studied those 3 lists you concluded that the way the USA handles healthcare is better than the way any other country in the world does, even though it spends FAR FAR more on it than any other country on planet earth<span class=gmaildefault> </span>and yet 47 countries have longer life expectancy than the USA….<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>John, there is a lot more to life expectancy than the quality of healthcare. An example: pharmaceutical companies invest enormous sums to get a new medication thru the approval process to gain access to the highly profitable US market. They can’t charge as much outside the USA because companies will just figure out what is in the medication and make their own knockoff. Here we have strong intellectual property rights which prevents that. Consequence: our drugs cost a lot more here, a looooot more. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>That is just one example however. Albania has a longer life expectancy, but there is more to life expectancy than the quality of medical care. I will let you run with the ball on that if you wish.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>… eliminate the one remaining subsidy that slightly helped Americans pay their astronomically huge medical bills….<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>It was called the Affordable Care Act. It failed John. Health care didn’t become more affordable, it became waaaay less affordable. The “plan” that replaces it will also fail if it makes you feel any better.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p></div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span></b><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>></span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span></b><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I rather suspect they don’t do much for sick people in Albania.</span></i><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>>…It's not just Albania you need to dismiss with a<span class=gmaildefault> </span>wave of your hand,<span class=gmaildefault> there are 46 other countries that get <u>FAR</u> more out of their healthcare dollars than we do…. John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Again, you assume a correlation between quality of healthcare and life expectancy. Health care is part of it. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>