rshoffer and linda,
...excellent points made in an excellent way. The term "socialized medicine" is simply a political term used to scare and polarize people. We are talking about the need for a national insurance program, and no it wont be perfect either but it is immanent. The question is can we address it now in an intelligent fashion or wait until our present system completes its' steady collapse, and then have the typical reactionary inneffective political response we have been used to seeing?
People with the money to do so will always go where they can get the care they want
when they want it. We as americans will have to realisticly restructure some of our expectations to create a more efficient and realistic program.