Hey, folks: What's the number-one women's health issue, in terms of publicity? It's breast cancer. The pink breast cancer awareness ribbons became fashion statements in the 1990s. Hundreds of marches took place every year promoting "breast cancer awareness." Constant public service ads urge women to get regular mammograms because early diagnosis can save lives.

Well, here's the rub. According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Brown and Harvard universities found that women will not get tested if they have to pay for it! You heard right: Breast cancer screening rates are dramatically lower when women have to contribute a "co-payment."

We're not talking a lot of money here, folks; I mean, most insurance plans ask for a $20 co-pay. But even when the payment is as little as $12, there are significant drops in the number who get screened. So the researchers advocate the elimination of all co-payments! Of course!

Every liberal on the campaign trail has a plan to deliver free -- socialized -- medicine. But no country on earth, folks, can possibly pay for every test for everybody without going bankrupt. Yet, as this study demonstrates, the entitlement mentality is so pervasive regarding health care that even 12 measly dollars is too high a price to save your life for people who are already insured! If it's not free, it's not worth it?

The last thing we need is more "entitlements," and this study ought to raise a big red flag -- well, a "pink flag"... to everybody.