Reply #160: And remember, Sicko is about people WITH insurance!

[TexasBushwhacker]

That's what is so stunning about it. As much as people talk about how much it will cost, I would think that taking the profit motive out of the mix would save enough to cover it. Not to mention the cost of treating uninsured people in emergency rooms for non-emergency ailments - we all pay for that. Think of the cost in real dollars of lost productivity and permanent disability because people can get the care they need WHEN THEY NEED IT. I don't know of anyone who has surgery for fun. People taking multiple prescriptions of non-generic drugs are because their doctors write the scripts for stuff that big pharma pushes.

Make it like Medicare - everyone pays. Let the health insurance companies administrate it (as they do Medicare) and sell supplemental policies. It should be our national shame that every developed country on the planet has universal health care except for the US, and tieing health insurance to your employer makes about as much sense and tieing your auto insurance to them. I can assure you that most, if not all, employers would love to get out of the health insurance administration business. Most doctors hate dealing with insurance companies, and doctors, hospitals and drug companies would all make more money IF EVERYONE WAS COVERED.