Some are resigned to this new regulation, arguing: if government is assigned the role of paying for health care, it is entitled to intervene to reduce the risks of disease and thus reduce the costs.

Read the above JRS. Tell me again why socialized national health care is a brilliant idea.

Eric:

Read the above and tell me why privatized healthcare is a brilliant idea. Aren't private companies in the business of making money, which would entail intervention to reduce the risks and thus reduce the costs?

One country, one payer, one set of rules that applies to everyone, regardless of economic background, and a private employer's complete loss of his ability to tell you that you can't smoke because it's costing him too much money. The idea that private employers, who already have enough on their plate as it is, should subsidize his employees' healthcare is absurd.

Imagine fracturing your ankle while base jumping (certainly a risky behavior, just like smoking), being taken to an emergency room, having your ankle set, then spending a few days in the hospital, and never receiving a bill. Or, imagine the same scenario where the government pays 85% of your medical bills, leaving you with the remaining 15%, which is easily covered by an inexpensive rider policy that most, if not all, citizens can afford. Imagine fracturing your ankle base jumping in, say, Spain, and the US government flying you back to the US where it can take care of you in a more cost-effective, yet just as medically advanced, way. Imagine not having to shop around to see which pharmacy has the best price on Percodan to help you with your post-fracture pain.

These scenarios already exist, just not in the US.