personally, the whole idea of it stinks. The less the gov't controls the better. the last thing anyone needs is some petty paper pusher deciding if you need an angiogram ar an antacid. pretty scary to think that it could be that way.I think half the reason healthcare in this country is so expensive in the first place, is because we need insurance for it at all. the insurance companies will only pay a % of what the dr. charges, therefore, in order to make any money the dr. needs to raise thier rates.
Don't get me wrong, I have pretty good coverage that is 100% employer payed, as it is now we are on the brink of loosing it because of the ever increasing costs. so I'm not to into introducing a whole new system that would end up costing the middle class untold sums of our hard earned $$$. as if we aren't already giving it up to just about everyone else who can't manage thier own businesses.
        I sure wish I had an answer, but until then I'll just hope that someone a whole lot smarter than me figures it out. The future looks pretty scary it sure doesn't look like its going to get any easier any time soon.
small incremental steps toward tyranny are far more insidious than one large one. this is just one step we won't know when its to late to change things until it is. but that is just my opinion

I think everyone forgets that we already have universal health care in the fact that emergency rooms don't have right of refusal, the cost of the uninsured is covered by higher premiums for the insured. and emergency room visits are much more expensive than preventive health care like regular physicals and medication.

also we  subsidize lower cost prescription medication overseas because UH systems in other countries can negotiate lower costs through bulk purchasing. Pharmaceuticals offset this by charging individuals (read us in the US) a higher cost.

while philosophically I agree that in general most markets are better as free markets health care is not one of those systems. Fundamentally it would work a lot better if everyone had health insurance, but for the unemployed or those below the poverty line often this is not a realistic option.

AT any rate something has to be done, while traditionally American health care has done better in some areas such as cancer treatment we spend far more than any industrialized nation to cover not even our whole population, is this something to be proud of? apparently that uninsured percentage is all lazy? but why does it cost us soo much more to insure so few?

"...Health care is one of the most expensive items of both nations' budgets. The U.S. government spends more per capita on health care than the government does in Canada. In 2004, the government of Canada spent $2,120 (in US dollars) per person on health care, while the United States government spent $2,724.[11]
However, U.S. government spending covers less than half of all health care costs. Private spending for health care is also far greater in the U.S. than in Canada. In Canada, an average of $917 was spent annually by individuals or private insurance companies for health care, including dental, eye care, and drugs. In the U.S., this sum is $3,372.[11] In 2006, health care consumed 15.3% of U.S. annual GDP. In Canada, only 10% of GDP was spent on health care.[5] This difference is a relatively recent development. In 1971 the nations were much closer, with Canada spending 7.1% of GDP on health while the U.S. spent 7.6%."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared#Coverage_and_access
are you saying we can't meet or beat the canadians in service while spending billions more?

I don't think I have heard Obama saying he wants the gov't to provide the health insurance.  He is suggesting some kind of private insurance where everyone could be covered - just like our car insurance system.  If there is more regulation, maybe health care could become more affordable.  Right now, it is an unfair system.  The people who CAN PAY pay for those who CANNOT PAY.  The insurance companies get huge discounts, while the uninsured pay through the nose.  I just had $240 worth of blood lab work done.  My insurance company got the PPO discount and only paid $40.  Now what if I did not have that insurance?  Then too, insurance companies can just refuse to pay out on their own whims, so having "private" insurance is sometimes not a lot better than having "socialized medicine".  A guy I work with had a heart attack on the weekend.  The people at the insurance company were not manning the phones, and did not "approve" his hospital admission.  They refused payment on a $10K hospital bill!  He sued of course and won the lawsuit, but it cost him around $3400 to pay for the lawyer to recover his $10K.  Now, how is that any better than so called "socialized" medicine?  We need better laws to protect the healthcare consumer before it gets any better.