More than 90 percent of the hospital bills I've audited have gross overcharges.

[Before going in for a scheduled surgery or procedure, make sure that all of the specialists who will work on you, such as the anesthesiologist or radiologist, are in your insurance network or charge you only in-network rates.] Just because the hospital is in-network doesn't mean the [specialist] doctors are, ... This can mean a savings of $20,000 to $30,000.

About 98 percent of villagers first come to me when they get sick. They only go to a county hospital when I can't cure their illness.

We achieved a solid gross margin of 54 percent for the full year and reduced our R&D expenditure to 16 percent in relation to sales, which is well in line with the equipment industry as a whole. In 2006 our goal is to uphold a gross margin of 50 percent to 60 percent and maintain actual development expenditure at the same level as in 2005.

What it means is another year sort of like last year, when gross domestic product grew 2.4 percent. That means another year during which the job market doesn't get a whole lot better, but also doesn't collapse. It means another year during which promises of a strong economic rebound are postponed, but so are fears of a double-dip recession. Another year, that is, that will stump the doomsayers even while it fails to inspire us to party like it's 1999.

Growth in real gross domestic product amounted to 4.5 percent in 2004, and preliminary anecdotal evidence suggests that this performance may have been exceeded somewhat in 2005.