Eliz. Henry - you forget the geographic problem that exists in Alaska.  The towns and cities, a la neighborhoods are far flung and cost more than double to operate in remote Alaska.  The numbers don't pencil out, I believe.  But I do agree on the single payer system, which doesn't address ridiculous pricing systems that aren't transparent on a non-existent open health care market.                                                                                                       It is interesting to note that the article quotes actual numbers for every user group under the header/paragraphs "Medicaid" except for Native American user groups. "Medicaid is also the spending conduit for the Indian Health Service, by which many Alaska Natives receive health insurance. More than one quarter of Native adults are covered by Medicaid, and two-thirds of Native children, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation."