There was a moment in the last debate between John McCain and Barack Obama when the Republican candidate took Obama to task for his health care plan, calling it a "single payer system." "If you like that, you'll love Canada and England," McCain shot.

I would love Canada and England! I recently left my cushy job with benefits to hit the freelance lifestyle, with its attendant flexibility in spending waking hours with my three young children. I'm the primary breadwinner in my household, to boot, so I've been hemming and hawing over what I need in my budget. Cable's out, and I'm considering saying goodbye to the Blackberry (ohhh!). We don't drive, but I have a little in the budget for bike lights and the occasional replacement inner tube. I'll be honest: I wasn't thinking that much about health care costs. Maybe it was one of those fingers-in-the-ears moments, squeezing my eyes shut and saying "nahnahnahnahnah!" every time the topic came up.

I got my COBRA paperwork today, and just for health care, I'd be spending $1,036 a month; more than my mortgage payment (if you exclude taxes). I wrote about this on a local mamas' site, threatening to go without insurance and pay out of pocket for well baby visits and such, and was immediately begged (literally "please please PLEASE") to buy health insurance. I started griping about the costs and the cheated feeling I have: essentially I'm being asked to pay thousands each year to protect me from total bankruptcy, should there be a health crisis in my family. Tracy Coenen suggested I post here about what I'd like instead.

It turns out, neither Obama's nor McCain's plan would be ideal (though, for the record, McCain's would be completely unhelpful, especially for parents who work for small businesses). Instead, here is how I'd structure the health care system:

Americans spent more than $2.3 trillion on health care last year. That's more than $7,600 per person -- and it's going to get worse! The government projects that in less than a decade, you'll spend 20% of your annual income on health care.

Health care has been a major theme during this year's Presidential election, and we're paying close attention to the Presidential candidates' plans for how they will fix our badly broken health care system. But let's be honest here: The odds of any real change happening anytime soon are slim to none, so let us help you deal with this budget buster. We're going to show you how to save big bucks on your health care costs right now.

This weekend, my 14-month-old, Monroe, had a terrible accident. I'd just finished taking out the recycling, and he and his brothers were playing. I heard glass bumping against glass. Strange, I thought, I got it all, didn't I? A moment later, a sound of broken glass, then my oldest son yelling, then screams. Really, really serious screams. Then there was blood. Lots, and lots of blood.

One 911 call and an ambulance ride later, I was thanking all applicable heavenly bodies that, firstly, the enormous gaping cut to his eyelid was not life- or vision-threatening and second, that I had two weeks left of health care insurance. I'm leaving full-time employment to do the freelance thing, and along with it will go my full complement of benefits. I had considered going without for a few months, but this weekend's excitement and the realization that I have three of these danger-prone little boys has me decided to buy emergency health insurance, that will pay out for extreme costs. I'll pay out-of-pocket for regular well-baby visits and my own extremely rare visits to the doctor.

And then I'll be taking the Great American Risk along with dozens of my friends and millions of other Americans: gambling that my kids' health needs aren't more than a $100 here and there. I can't really afford the enormous cost of individual health insurance for my family; depending on the plan the cost starts at $400 a month and skyrocket from there. $5,000 a year plus I have to pay $1,500 to $5,000 deductible? No way man. I'm rolling the dice, hoping my family doesn't end up with any life-threatening diseases, hoping I don't get pregnant again. Forget penny stocks or mortgage-backed securities; the stakes are way higher here in the living rooms and basements of the Regular American. I'd love to hear from other freelancers and part-time parents out there: what have you done?

Time and time again we focus on our salaries when thinking of how much we are valued by our employers, but the thought that money alone is the only incentive companies can use to keep employees is ridiculous. While everyone enjoys a good old-fashioned raise, many times employers can use other means to reward employees and improve job satisfaction. In tight times when even Uncle Sam is counting on an absence of raises, these methods are especially prudent. My Two Dollars provides employees and employers with some excellent ways to compensate employees without opening the checkbook too wide.

If there is anything I have learned in my 25 years on this planet, it is that everyone has different motivators, and the quicker you figure out what the appropriate carrot at the end of the stick is, the better your business or your career will go!

Providing employees with the opportunity to use flextime to better mesh their personal life with work is a great way to increase overall employee job satisfaction.

Other suggestions, such as sincerely thanking employees and paying for health insurance for the entire family, can be excellent ways of compensating good employees. Working in a non profit has made me well aware of how these non-dollar-focused benefits can make a difference in job satisfaction. I thoroughly enjoy the good amount of vacation and the tuition reimbursement that I have received over the past few years.

As I've mentioned before, I used to teach college. Although I still gripe from time to time about the downsides of teaching -- the poor pay, the administration, the poor pay, the push for political correctness, the poor pay -- I have to admit that there were a few bright aspects. I loved working with students, I enjoyed having a big office, and I really, really appreciated the health care.

Working for a state-supported university in Virginia, my health care was very cheap. In return for a premium of less than $100 a month, my wife, daughter, and I all received medical and dental benefits that, in retrospect, were pretty outstanding. To give you an idea, my daughter's birth cost my wife and I less than $300; taking into account all the prenatal visits and whatnot, I think it still came out to under $500.

Recently, I've been having some dental work done. Now that I am no longer employed by the state, I have come to realize just how great my deal was. As a further lesson, my sister has been in and out of the hospital for the past few months with a chronic liver problem that she has had since she was a baby. As an artist, she makes very little money, but, luckily, Pennsylvania's Medicaid is outstanding, as are the programs at the Geisinger Clinic, the hospital that is treating her. Otherwise, she would probably be in debt for the rest of her life.

Now that tax season is officially over, you may be looking forward to getting back to the business of living your life, free from the distasteful chores of searching for W2s, collecting receipts and sharpening number two pencils.

Not so fast. It appears that "the cruelest month" just got a little crueler.

Toady, April 16, marks the first-ever National Healthcare Decisions Day, a countrywide initiative wherein healthcare providers, personal attorneys, chaplains and others highlight the importance of advance healthcare decision-making.

Maybe I should be writing this from an underground bunker. It's true that I have an overactive imagination, but I can't help but half-wonder if the American pharmaceutical industry will read this post and then send some overgrown thug named Knuckles to have a talk with me.

Because, you know, they tend to not like it when Americans go get their medications from Canada. But, oh, well, here it is.

I recently learned about eDrugSearch, a free search engine where you can shop for medications with vetted pharmacies in Canada and other nations.

These pharmacies are all licensed and accredited, and of course, the appeal to going to a web site like this is, as spokesperson Melissa Syphrett told me, "so you can be sure you're dealing with a true pharmacy and not a storefront selling fake drugs."

It does sound like a smart place for consumers to go, given all the confusion that can result from looking on your own for a pharmacy that has a non-American address. But if you do explore the Internet on your own, looking for prescription drugs sold internationally, eDrugSearch.com's founder Cary Byrd, who is based in San Antonio, has the following five tips:

When my sister Ella first started having liver problems in December 2007, I went out to visit her. When I got to her hospital room, she was trying to be brave, but was deeply worried. In addition to her fears about treatment, Ella was terrified about her finances. As a graduate teaching assistant, she didn't have very much money, and she wasn't insured; frankly, she had no idea how she was going to pay for the drugs and medical care that she needed to save her life.

A few days later, when the hospital released Ella, they gave her prescriptions for Ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic, and Percocet, a painkiller. While we were in Wal-Mart picking up a huge pile of assorted health-care paraphernalia, she dropped off her order at the pharmacy counter. When we picked it up a half-hour later, we had a huge surprise: Ella's medications came to less than $15.

Later on, discussing this with Ella's doctors, we realized that the low cost of her meds wasn't an accident. Understanding her financial situation, her health-care team had carefully chosen Ella's drugs. Taking into account both efficacy and cost, they had determined that Cipro and Percocet would not only do the job medically, but would also minimize the strain on my sister's wallet. Apparently, the Geisinger clinic had consulted with Wal-Mart, determined which medications were less expensive, and was careful to prescribe them whenever possible.

A recent federal study projects government health care spending nearly doubling to some $2 trillion by 2017. It puts lots of blame on aging Boomers, predicting that Medicare will consume a whopping 20.7% of national health spending by that time.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report says it's a private affair, too, predicting overall healthcare spending to balloon to $4.3 trillion by 2017 -- doubling the current tally, and equating to more than 20% of gross domestic product.

The healthcare debate is shaping up as a major flashpoint in the election, as any bona fide national crisis should. You can argue the candidates' positions till the cows come home, but I can tell you even offshore gambling websites wouldn't lay odds on any plan's chance of success.

My 6-year-old daughter was at a Super Bowl party less than 10 minutes when she jumped off a foot-high trampoline and twisted her ankle, causing it to swell. First thing monday morning, we headed to the orthopedic surgeon's office to confirm that Katie had a small fracture. She thinks the neon pink cast is really cool and she loved looking at the x-rays, but so far, her little spill cost me $1,000, which our health insurance, Anthem, should cover.

Aside from being relieved that the break wasn't worse, I can't help but think about what it must be like for the 45 million Americans without health insurance who must worry incessantly that an accident or illness could set them back tens of thousands of dollars.

Just last week, I watched a CNN newscast by medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who reported that health costs are the number one reason Americans file for bankruptcy. Voters' views on the healthcare crisis will likely play a role in the outcome on SuperTuesday, when 24 states hold primaries or caucuses to elect presidential nominees.

It never fails... the weekend comes and the doctor's office is closed, and you get stricken with the plague. I'm not talking about a little sneezing and coughing and blowing your nose. (Shut up. Quit being such a baby. Go to bed.) I mean the kind of sick where you feel like you're on your deathbed, with serious coughing or other really scary symptoms. The kind of symptoms that really need to be checked out by a doctor.

Going to a hospital emergency room is stupid unless you really think your life is in danger. It's going to cost you a ton of money. You're going to wait for hours while they treat all the sicker people first. And you'll probably come out sicker than when you went in from being exposed to everyone else's germs.

So walk-in clinics and urgent care clinics are the answer, right? Well maybe, and maybe not. While they seem to be the logical choice, they're not always as cost-effective or patient-friendly as you might think. Here are some tips for deciding whether or not to go the walk-in clinic route:

Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) handed down a ruling that will allow employers to treat younger and older retirees differently. What once might have been seen as age discrimination is now OK, according to the EEOC.

What does this mean to the retirees? Well, some workers retire from their jobs with promises of ongoing healthcare benefits. This ruling allows employers to cut off those benefits (even if they were promised) for the older retirees who are eligible for Medicare.

Since there are some things that Medicare doesn't cover, it is often preferable for a retiree to stay on a company health insurance plan as long as possible. But the employers argued that the cost of covering older retirees is too expensive. Rather than cease providing health care to all retirees because of this cost, the employers successfully argued to the EEOC that they should be allowed to drop coverage for those eligible for Medicare (and who are typically the most expensive to insure).

I've launched into a personal project to eat more sustainably, and I'm taking my whole family of five along with me. Though I have always believed in the good things that can come from simple, healthy food and have oft-repeated the mantra "eat close to the earth," it's only been in the past few months that I've put my family's eating habits into context with our lives, and the world. Reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle convinced me I should stop eating feedlot-raised meats, choosing instead animal products from range-grown cows, pigs, and chickens; reading Plenty, the tale of the 100-mile diet, convinced me of the importance and essential economy of eating in my own "foodshed."

But it was Michael Pollan who reminded me that spending more on food could actually save me money.

The first and loudest response to the prospect of eating sustainably is, "I can't afford it!" And it's true, by and large, purchasing meats, vegetables, fruits and dairy products that are produced by smaller, more sustainable farms will set you back anywhere from a little bit to a LOT more than buying from industrial monocultures and foreign factory farms. Got rice? It's $6 for a packet of wild rice from Oregon in my favorite gourmet market, compared to less than a dollar a pound for white rice from China. Ground beef: $2.99 a pound at Safeway. Ground buffalo grown on the open range in central Oregon: $8.99 a pound at my farmer's market, AND I have to wait in line 20 minutes.

But, let's think about this Pollan-style.