I agree with you guys. The system here is crazy. Was it much better 20, 30 years ago?

National competition between these companies would be good (as well as other public service companies). And no, this country cannot afford this reform. Why does Obama insist that the changes will not add the the deficit? If this can be paid for so easily by cutting down on fraud and 'waste' why the hell don't they do that first anyway? Not that I was a big fan (too young anyway), but Margret Thatcher said that socialism is doomed to fail because eventually you will run out of other people's money to spend!

One advantage I see of having government involvement in something like healthcare is that if you don't like what is being done, you can have your say on polling day. However, I don't think this is the right way to 'fix' the problem either. Perhaps some kind of independent body regulating health insurance and drug companies would be better. I don't know, healthcare seems to be a nightmare wherever you live...unless you don't mind paying 60+% income tax.