The medical events of the last two years of Mrs. Jones's life show the best and the worst of the American health-care system. She received good care, including a number of very new treatments, from three different hospitals and more than a dozen doctors in two different states. As her physical abilities declined, her middle-class family was able to find good facilities providing greater degrees of care. Medicare and her own private insurance paid most of the bills; she and her family paid the rest. Her many doctors, nurses, and other care givers were professional and kind.