There are a few notable exceptions, but as far as international comparisons we're way up there at the top of the pack in our access.
If we didn't go to an e-passport, our concern was partly that we would face more visa requests from more countries. As part of their border security initiative, the United States required many countries that had visa access to go to e-passports sooner rather than later. Part of our concern was that if we didn't go to an e-passport that might be one of the countries where we would need visas, and they're very expensive.