We all want retirees cared for but any nation that ignores the wage earners themselves will pay dearly.

computerized info is pretty standard here too. My doctors send all their files (scans, MRI) that way as well. It's very helpful when you need to communicate info fast.

I would be interested to know more about your organisation and your role in it. Thanks for writing..

I had to decide where to have our child for instance, and it was just going to be too expensive to do it in the US (7 years ago). That's another story entirely but it was another case where I saw that the French state just steps in and takes care of people who need the health system for more than a scratch on the knee.

thanks for your message and for your questions. I wish you well in own health emergency and hope it isn't life threatening.

To answer your first quesiton, illnesses that are "in no way the fault of the patient" is not a good choice of words on my part, because what the French call ALD (Long Term (health) Affection) in French kicks in no matter what the cause is, even lung cancer for tobacco smokers, but since cancer is the most frequent ALD, (and its causes are often unknown and unrelated to lifestyle) it often appears in official texts here to define who is eligible.

Question 2: who is accepted? There are about thirty illnesses (diabetes, cancer and heart disease among them) and any number of traumas that fall into the category of ALD. There is little debate as far as I know about what qualifies as an ALD here because the list covers the most known conditions that require sustained treatment.

Question 3: delay time. This was my BIG concern as well because in the beginning I was taking alot of expensive tests (MRI, bone scans, etc.) and I had not gotten word yet. My doctor waited to bill for some of the tests because the ALD approval was almost garanteed and it's considered pretty bad here to make an ALD applicant pay excessive costs. The labs asked for a copy of my ALD application and had me pay the 30 percent I normally pay (all citizens here are covered for 70 percent). That cost 600 euros for one battery of tests and gave me a little jolt! We were seriously worried about the delay.

But I was accepted after a three week delay and the coverage is retro-active, so I was reiumbursed even for the initial biopsies.

I think that's fair. There was some inconvencience but it wasn't excessive and the sytem has thus far been very humane to me. And the quality of care is quite good.

Hope this helps. And I'll look for your posts on this or other subjects.

We are all in this together. Even if I'm not on that side of the Atlantic now, my family is there and my heart is too.

I am deeply touched by your post and by others here. thanks...

Chemotherapy medicine cost hospitals in France about 1200 Euros per cure (the average patient is in treatment for 6 months.

Since the state takes over the patient's file and handles payment, the public and private hospitals here don't bill for this (1500 dollars every 10 days will give anyone pause, even an executive). So insurance companies (I do have insurance as well) instead pay for other aspects of treatment like psychological care, etc. It's a huge relief for anyone to have these very big expenses paid by an independent system that doesn't depend on insurance.

As for your position on the photos and what Obama should do with the military, isn't "purging" the military prcisely the kind of behavior that is most "Bushlike"? I'm not saying Obama shouldn't act, but you're taking two steps back if you undo the wrongs of your predecessor by doing the same thing.

And I honestly personally don't know if the photos should or should not be released. But I think that is a distraction from the real issue (Josh Marshall has been following) of the Iraq-Al Quaida link Cheney probably wanted to establish through these heinous practices. Declassifying the memos might be more important than any of this.

why not translate the following ones for instance?:

Obama is right to do this...there are two criminal acts here 1) the abuse itself 2 the sordid diffusion of this abuse to the media...(Thierry H.)

Or this one?
The proper place to see these photos should be the courts, not the tabloid press!
(Martine D.)

We can't count them if you like but the majority of these notes support Obama.

As for the Muslim view of things, I live in Paris in front of the Mosque, and since Muslims in your country don't generally express their views in your newspapers, either as reporters or as commentators, I asked them. I asked the epicier and the women who beg on the corner and men going to prayers.

Voilà...je ne parle pas dans le vide.

Few people writing here believe the abuse was legal and most want investigation and prosecution. the problem is knowing what to do with the information, which is painful to the victims and to the populations involved.

This has nothing to do with Republican judges or with Republicans in general even if they want these images concealed for other reasons.

There is nothing illegal about what Obama is doing even if he may have as you say "reneged on a commitment" (fortunately this is not illegal, think of how many of us would be in jail at this moment).

What is illegal is the abuse itself, which requires prosecution and investigation, not press visibility. American rape victims have protection from this, why not these detainees?

And why assume this issue is simply an American problem? These crimes occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan and they concern populations that are not American. Can you imagine how we would react if American civilians had been tortured by say, the French and the French government was having a public debate about whether to release the pictures without even considering how Americans feel about it first?

I just blogged about this. I think Americans should consider how this is affecting those most concerned before trying to satisfy the public conscience.