I think you guys are missing the point here entirely.
I am a graduate student pursuing a master's degree in a specialized field. I pay taxes. I don't earn enough money to live off. I have to take out loans to pay for everything.
Obviously it is a totally useless field if you aren't earning enough money to make a living off of a bachelor's degree.
I don't have health insurance. I can't afford it. If I get sick, I can't go to the doctor.
The reason why is privatized insurance. Insurance companies exist to make a profit. They cannot by definition offer affordable health care because it would mean they don't make a profit.
Let me explain this to you in really simple terms, because I am convinced that you will not understand it, unless I do. Health Insurance is not Health Care. Do you understand the difference between them?
As far as your whining about not having health insurance, and thus it preventing you from getting medical care, stop making me laugh. I don't have medical insurance, and I'm not having a problem paying for medical care. Of course, I am paying out of pocket, but I'm not going to whine about it, because I'd much rather pay out of pocket, then have to go through the inconvenience of dealing with either a private or public health insurance company.
But the government can. The government doesn't need to operate on a profit-based system, and can therefore fund affordable insurance with the aid of taxpayer money.
No entity can operate at a loss indefinitely, not even the government. Sooner or later the debtors (Chinese) are going to either demand cash for their t-bonds, or they are going to dump them on the markets, and when that happens the house of Cards that the United States has built will collapse. The government will find itself in a crisis that makes this recession, and the Great Depression look like a joke. The belief that the government can operate at a loss demonstrates a level of gross stupidity not seen since FDR and Keynes.
If you make $5,000,000 a year, I think you should have to pay higher taxes to support this initiative. Our current free-market system allows certain individuals to make ridiculous amounts of money...the least they can do is give back one percent of that to help the general welfare of our country.
They already give back way more than that, dumb ass. Perhaps you are ignorant of the fact that they are the one's that actually provide a great many of the jobs in the United States? Thus they give back to their community by hiring people. To argue that they should have to give back even more is an argument of imbecility. Personally, if I was a businessman, I'd laugh my ass off, and close up shop right now. Especially if I knew that the community where I was located at was full of imbeciles like you that believed that I owed them more than I was already contributing.
And we could alleviate a huge amount of the medical issues in this country if people would take a few small steps to live healthier lives...for example, stop drinking 64 ounce soft drinks with every meal! Why do you think diabetes is the fastest growing disease in this country? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...and we all know a little about ounces and pounds around here!
A better solution would be for the government to butt out of everyone's lives, and stop violating the Constitution. Then there would be no debate about this, because no one would expect the government to take care of them. I got advice for you too, GROW UP!
Ultimately, my point is this--under the current system, I can't get insurance. If the government can provide me a low-cost alternative, something profit-based private insurance companies cannot, who are you to say it's a bad idea, or too expensive?
Am I not worth it?