A Land Unfit for the Peasant.

I went into the travel agent today, to enquire about the cost of travel insurance in case I decide to go to New York.

The woman told me they had three levels ranging from £40-£60 for a short trip, but said that the highest level is recommended for trips to America. That’s because it provides medical cover up to £10m, whereas the lowest only goes up to £2½m. My mouth was never so agape.

‘Two and a half million pounds is considered inadequate?’

‘Medical treatment in America is horrendously expensive.’

Well, of course it is. I wasn’t giving due attention to the fact that I’ve always regarded the terms ‘health care’ and ‘industry’ to be flagrantly incongruous, and the marriage of the two a match made in hell. So, silly me. OK.

But now I’m wondering whether a trip to New York is really to be countenanced. I get a nagging sense that being poor is the one crime that isn’t on the American statute book simply because it’s so obviously axiomatic. And would I want to go to a place where I’d be a criminal by default?