[The Pack Knight]

I guess when Obama said he was going to be the President for “Main Street”, he was referring to the bums, not the businesses.

[rarestia]

Who is John Galt?

[mgc1122]

Chicago politics on a national scale - all to benefit the largest corporations and screw the middle class and entrepreneurs.

[Sacajaweau]

There was a time when you went to the doctor and paid him for his services. THERE WAS NO HEALTH INSURANCE!!!!

[The Pack Knight]

The next sentence in the article is important and needs to be repeated as much as possible.

I've put "health insurance" in quotes because this program has nothing to do with actuarial risks or long-term investing. "Health insurance" as it works today is nothing more than a payment plan for health care.

That's the real reason behind out of control health care costs. We use the least efficient payment method for health care possible (other than the government), which does more to isolate consumers from the economic consequences of their health care choices than any other method (other than the government).

There are a lot of reasons for this, but one is the excessive number of "mandates" states put on insurance companies to require them to cover various procedures in every policy, whether the insuree wants it or not.

I have one modest proposal. Remember how Congress was all in a huff to require cable companies to offer "a la carte" programming packages? Why not the same thing for health insurance? Shouldn't I have a choice whether I want coverage for, say, hair transplants or not?

Of course, our politicians' M.O. for the last several decades has been to relentlessly interfere in the market, and then complain when the market "doesn't work", as if it has ever been given a chance to. Such is the case with our "health care crisis."