“A sobering report from the Commonwealth Fund released July 17 says a lot about the shameful state of our healthcare system and the abysmal failure of our elected leaders to enact meaningful reform. The United States spends more than twice as much per person on healthcare as most other industrialized countries — but it has plunged to last among those nations in preventing deaths through timely and effective medical care. … Remember all those horror stories about the long waits for care in countries like Canada and Britain? Less than half of Americans with health problems were able to get a rapid appointment with a physician when sick.” [editor’s note: Impassioned pleas that open by citing blatantly distorted data (Commonwealth Fund) do not persuade very well; this is no exception - SAT] (07/25/08)