Nobody is argueing that.  Hell, people that believe that should actually be AGAINST this bill... since all estimates of this bill suggests that this will raise the cost of healthcare paid per GDP... even the white house estimates.  Though... does money spent as a % of GDP really matter that much as a statistic I wonder.  I mean, healthcare is a local phenomena afterall.  It's buisness that can't be outsourced.  It's money going to other americans who will be using that money to buy stuff and pay off loans.  The % of GDP isn't so much the problem as % out of the average persons wallet.  For what it's worth it's actually now 17.3% though... what due to the recession yet people still needing healthcare.

Here is something I don't get. These two bullets would help. How much it will help, is unknown, but there is no reason it would not help:

• Allow any insurance company in any state to sell insurance to anyone. We do this for all other forms of insurance, and I don't see anyone in an uproar, because my auto insurance company is not in my state.
• Limit the amount a lawsuit settlement can be for pain and suffering to $250,000. Allow real issues to have unlimited compensation. Like if I lose my legs due to a doctor's incompetence, allow a 20 million dollar settlement if that makes sense. But, if I was told I was going to die, only to find out later that I am fine (actually happened to me), limit the claim one can receive.

Why don't they just pass those? Don't worry about some 2,700 page bill. Just vote on those two things as two little bills, and continue to work on whatever healthcare thing you want to work on.

I would bet those two things would go a long way, and cost nothing to do. Where did common sense go in Washington?

Let me second that. Good positive news does not sell. Especially in the UK. Everyone I've known has not had any big problems with the NHS. I won't pretend it's perfect but those with problems have only been minor.

You also have the option of going private in the UK. Bupa which was started up at the same time as the NHS to offer an alternative for those willing to pay which I believe is now the owner of the 4th largest private medical insurance provider in America but I can't find the link where I read that. All I know is they own Amedex.

If you do get the proposed health care bill you will still be able to go private.

This is from your own government health department:

In Patient:
The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of January 2010 was 67,700, an increase of 10,100 (17.5%) from December 2009, and a rise of 22,100 (48.4%) from January 2009.

Out Patient:
The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of January 2010 was 74,100, which is the same as December 2009, and a rise of 28,200 (61.5%) from January 2009.

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_112795

Yeah 67,700 had to wait over 13 weeks to get treatment for a heart attack.

You havbe a serious problem and you get seen immediately. Lesser, yeah you wait though 67,700 out of 56 million isn't bad. Or you can go private if you want.

I agree. goverment run healthcare would create more problems and headaches then we really need.

great, so now if I have a problem that doesn't seem serious on ther surface but really is I have a 13 week crapshoot to see if I die or not rather than getting preventative care.

As stated above, we Americans don't want socialized care, we want less restriction, less friviolous lawsuits (suing for millions over a failed elective cosmetic surgery), more competition, and lower prices (due to competition). I find it funny how everyone preaches more competition = good in videogames, yet when it comes to healthcare on this same forum we now must rely on a socialist program run by the government with no competition.

Go to your doctor. You'll get seen that day and they'll do the test.
then once the test are done they'll review the data and know if it's serious or not.

I see you've bought into the NHS or government run health care is crap you've been reading about.
Let me tell you as someone who uses it it's not like that. You don't go to the doctors receptionist and say I want an appointment and she says "sure 16 weeks ok for you?"

The wait is for treatment for known minor issues or follow up care for something that has been treated and even then those are the far ends of the spectrum. Most likely you'll be seen very quickly. They do the test immediately to make sure it's not just an on the surface diagnosis.

If Yanks don't want"socialised" health care fine. It's your choice but please don't automatically assume it's crap and only works in worst case senarios.

You bring up a very good point that all the costs of healthcare stay within the system. However this will only increase an already large gap between the rich and the poor. As someone said, can't remember who, "rich people are rich because they know how to keep their money and not spend it." I have never bought into the "give rich people more money so it trickles down" because if even a single person decided to spend $10 mil on a private jet, that'd be enough for 10 people's salary for 10 years, and that's if those people are in the very above average pay grade of $100k-ish a year.

No need to get so offensive. agree to disagree good sir.