What I am convinced of-after two surgeries, four hospital admissions, chemotherapy, a cadre of skilled physicians, a blessing of caring nurses, an emergency room visit, two blood transfusions and countless humiliating intrusions on personal privacy-is that we are not asking the right questions about the Clintons' health care plan.

The health care system does need changing. Administration now eats up one health care dollar in four. An estimated 37 million people lack health insurance. Health benefits have become an increasingly burdensome expense to employers and a drag on job growth. Serious debate is heating up about when medical treatment should be withheld as futile or cost-ineffective. President Clinton is proposing to exclude the nation's more than 3 million illegal immigrants from coverage, despite warnings this could endanger public health.

Health care cost this nation $832 billion last year, 13.4 percent of the gross national product, a per-capita spending higher than in other industrialized countries. Medicaid is stretching state budgets out of shape. White House officials are considering proposals to chop $100 billion more out of Medicare spending over the next few years. Debate is intensifying over such cost-saving ideas as global budgeting, spending caps, rationing and expenditure targets.