I'm not claiming that socialized medicine or government subsidization of healthcare is the only answer, but the current system is hopelessly broken and needs to be fixed.

Good ideas are to:

1) Enact regulations that prevent insurance companies from discriminating against those who want insurance and unreasonably discriminating on price rates.

Some fluctuation based on the specific person/age/etc. is reasonable, but flat out denying coverage is unreasonable. If you have the money, and you are willing to pay it, they should be legally obligated to insure you. There is even a constitutional issue raised by this discrimination.

2) Enact regulations and/or oversight as to the pricing practices of insurance companies.

Insurance companies have really gotten out of hand in terms of how much they charge. In this country we pay more for healthcare than France, Britain, and many other countries per capita (almost double in some instances), yet our healthcare system is ranked lower than theirs are.

Well, it's ranked lower if you include affordability.

For rich people, the U.S. is the place to be when you're sick.

The question is, how do we make it more accessible with out lowering some expectations. (Hint: you can't. Sucks.)

All i can say is im pleased UK has National Health Service. Unique system in world, however does cost £100,000,000 or $177,000,000 a day to keep going.

Umm, In reference to That Guy's discussion. I'm kinda lost here. I guess you answered the OP, ok. The thing is, there already are Income tax, sales tax in most states, Property tax and State tax on top of FICA, not to mention Soviet Security. I pay over 30% of my paycheck in various taxes and well, the US still sucks. Taking more money will suck more. so I'm not sure what your point was, but, there ya have it.

Soviet Security, that's a good one. Say it again when you're 70.

The American people are fine, it's our political and economic system which is fundamentally broken. How broken? Let us count the ways...

1. Trillion dollar Imperial war machine, despite no Cold War enemies - we can't afford this, and military power is useless in 4th generation, 21st century conflicts anyway.

2. Broken health care system - the rich get treatment, the poor die. The US has some of the worst infant mortality and life expectancy indexes of any industrial country - people in Canada live 2 years longer on average than we do. Millions go bankrupt paying medical bills, unlike Canada, Japan or the EU. The US system is stupefyingly expensive - 15% of GDP, far more than Germany (8% GDP). The cost doesn't give us better care, it's waste, drained away by a parasitic insurance and pharmaceutical industry.

3. Broken media system - giant corporations own the media and spin the news, lie us into evil colonial wars, blame poor people instead of the real corporate welfare queens (otherwise known as military-industrial contractors)

4. Broken industrial base - US ruling elites smashed unions, underfunded schools, and offshored factories overseas, forcing the US to run gargantuan trade deficits (i.e. buy products from economies which DID invest in their workers), paid for by huge amounts of debt from China, Japan, Russia, petro-states galore

5. Broken financial system: free market fundamentalists claimed the welfare state was evil and doomed, and everyone would get rich on 401Ks and rising housing prices. Instead, Social Security is rocksolid as ever, while the US middle class is seeing its retirement funds and home value annihilated in the Great Crash

6. Broken social contract: for 35 years, the rich have been getting richer and richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class squeezed - real hourly wages have declined for 70% of non-supervisory workers since 1973 (BLS data). Result: the middle class worked longer hours, went deeper and deeper into debt, to buy homes, pay bills, get medical care, go to college. Wall Street bankers made trillions packaging loans for the middle class, hooking them on debt, while schoolteachers had to scrimp for pennies. Now the whole house of credit cards is collapsing.

The good news is, it looks like the American people are finally waking up to their plight and realizing THINGS DONT NEED TO BE THIS WAY. We can have a different economy, which is fairer for all, but we're going to have to fight for it.

United Kingdom [24]	0,20,40%
Burundi[5]	35%
Guyana[10]	33⅓%
Sweden	28.89%-59.09%[19][20]
Latvia	25%
Barbados[4]	25%-40%
Belgium	25-50%
Italy	23-43%
Estonia	22%
Austria	21-50%
Cyprus	20-30%
Ireland	20-41%
Slovakia	19%
Poland	19-40%
Hungary	18% and 36%
South Africa	18-40%
Gibraltar	17-40%
Romania	16%
Slovenia	16-41%
Czech Republic	15%
Montenegro	15%
Tanzania	15%-30%
Lithuania	15%/24%
Peru[2]	15-27%
Canada[6]	15-29% (federal) 4-17.95% (provincial)
Guatemala[2]	15-31%
Turkey	15-35%
Croatia[2]	15-45%
Russia	13%
Ukraine[2]	13%[23]
Uzbekistan[2]	13-30%
Georgia[2]	12%
Belarus[2]	12-30%
Portugal	10.5-40%
Bulgaria	10%
Nepal	10% to 25%[13]
Egypt	10-20%
India	10-30%	Taxation in India Income tax in India
Zambia	10-30%
Cameroon[2]	10-35%
Israel	10-47%
Cuba[2]	10-50%
France	10-50%	Taxation in France
Serbia	10/14%
South Korea[2]	9%-21.375% + 36% excess
Finland	9-32% national, 16-21% municipal
Argentina	9-35%	Taxation in Argentina
Pakistan	7.5-35%
Venezuela[2]	6-34%
Luxembourg	6-38.95%
Republic of China	6-40%
Syria[2]	5-15%
Jordan[2]	5-30%
Philippines	5-32%
Indonesia	5-35%	Taxation in Indonesia
Thailand	5-37%
Japan	5-40%
China	5-45%	Tax system in China
Singapore	3.5%-20%	Income tax in Singapore Goods and Services Tax (Singapore)
Mexico	3-29%
Lebanon[2]	2-20%
Colombia[2]	0.29-38.5%	Taxation in Colombia
Monaco	0%
United Arab Emirates[2]	0%
British Virgin Islands	0%	Taxation in the British Virgin Islands
Switzerland[2]	0-13.2% (federal)	Taxation in Switzerland
Hong Kong[11]	0-15%	Taxation in Hong Kong Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong)
Bangladesh[2]	0-25%
El Salvador	0-25%
Panama[2]	0-27%
Brazil	0-27.5%
Malaysia[2]	0-28%
Azerbaijan[2]	0-35%
Iran	0-35%	Taxation in Iran
Malta	0-35%
Tunisia[2]	0-35%
United States[25][26][27][28][29]	0-35% (federal) 0-10.3% (state)	Taxation in the U.S. Income taxes in the U.S.

A whole lotta taxes, for so little in return. (Unless you count the war as a positive return.)

Yea Steven, we do so well with the taxes we collect. Let's give more money to them and see what that does.

Germany not included in that list as it would look ridiculous.

and also, is that Taxes or is it social insurance/ health insurance payments that usually go on top of official state taxes?