As Congress and its super committee try to work out how to cut the deficit, I would suggest a quick visit to France. France has been ranked as having the best health care system in the world, while the United States was ranked 37th. The ranking is all the more surprising because the United States spends 16 percent of its gross domestic product on health care and, by comparison, France spends a mere 10.7 percent.

Like the American system, the French system is a combination of private and government insurance, with most citizens receiving their insurance through their employer. The French system is Medicare expanded to cover the whole population and costing much less.

While France has universal health care, patients have their choice of doctors and if they pay a premium, can self refer to a specialist of their choice. People who have chronic diseases, which makes their medical care expensive, have 100 percent of their medical expenses paid for. The French are much happier with their health care system than we are in the United States.

The most magnificent component of the French medical system is the "Carte Vitale." This looks like a credit card and is given to the physician by the patient. It is inserted into a computer allowing the physician to review the patient's basic medical history and is also used for billing the patients visit to the government. The patient thus controls his or her own health records, maintaining privacy.

The geriatric referral centers available to the general practitioners are among the best in the world.

France has shown that universal health care can be affordable and of high quality. Hopefully, Congress will realize that their 'slash and burn" approach will in the end cost more than developing a civilized health care system. We should take a lesson from the French.

SLUCare physician John Morley is director of geriatrics at St. Louis University and a geriatrician at St. Louis University Hospital and Des Peres Hospital. Email him at morley@slu.edu. The Aging Successfully column for older people rotates each week with XX Files, a women's health column.