Originally Posted by SteveZ

I agree with most of your comment, except the "we will all end up sacrificing..." line. The "we" is going to be the one/third who actually pay taxes, and the remaining two/thirds will be there either with their hand extended palm-up or watching from the sidelines.

Health care is one of those emotionally-charged items used by politicians to raise the fear-level. Of the 45 million claimed by some to not have health insurance, this includes roughly 15 million or so illegal aliens, and why should citizens and legal residents be responsible for them anyway?

The remaining 30 million (which includes head-of-household, spouse and children) constitute approximately 10% of the population. With an unemployment rate average of 5% (yeah, it's higher now, but the concept isn't affected), an insurance plan which covers only those (and their family members) who are receiving unemployment benefits would cover a sizable number.

Now, the balance of uninsured folk have been whittled down to a number which offers even more flexible choices which are more logical than nationalizing (and actually diluting services) the health care industry.

I knows this seems like a very simple approach to what has been marketed as a complex problem. However, until we examine the actual numbers in relation to the entire population, a true solution cannot occur.

For those who say that their health care premiums are too high, that solution is also straightforward. If we can give tax credits for a myriad of things from "green" programs to kid quantum, then providing dollar-for-dollar (or other ratio) reduction in income tax for paying health care premiums is an option. This keeps folk with their coverage without increasing the size of the federal government to "run" a program with the typical government "efficiency" when government inserts itself into the private marketplace.

However, the current administration seems hell-bent on establishing a "health czar" office which would need assets to manage in order to "czar" over an empire. As those federal assets don't currently exist except for selected portions of the population, the need for more federal offices to be created becomes inherent to czar-ism.

In the end, as health care, banking, and other industries are nationalized one-by-one, we would all be working for the government. That's the ultimate socialist goal.....