My younger brother was self employed, and paid a huge monthly health insurance payment for insurance with a very high deductible. He developed a painful kidney stone, and went to a urologist, who told him he needed a cat scan. It was late March, and he knew that April 15 was coming, with a large tax bill due, so he attempted to treat the condition himself, by taking a "natural" remedy which was supposed to help dissolve the kidney stone. It was a powerful diuretic, and he was drinking huge quantities of water. He had been doing this for three weeks, when his girlfriend came for a weekend visit. They went out for lunch, and went back to his house when he said he needed to lie down. Moments later, he had a massive heart attack, which the coroner said was most likely caused by an electrolyte imbalance, such as what happens to runners who die from sweating and drinking too much water without replacing their electrolytes. They did find a small amount of plaque in his arteries, but for the most part he was was a healthy 57-year-old who took good care of himself. He left two daughters, 12 and 14, heart broken. His insurance company made tens of thousands of dollars from him over the years, but his deductible kept getting bigger, to the point that it killed him. In virtually any other developed country, my brother would be alive today, because he would have been able to seek care without worrying about whether he could pay for it. I lived in the UK for 8 years, under the National Health system. It wasn't perfect -- a lot of the hospitals were extremely old, but I received excellent care. I had great doctors, and never waited for very long to see one. And at one point,when I was between jobs, I needed to have a procedure in the hospital, and it cost me nothing. I still have my National Health card, and I know that if I were there and became ill, I would be treated, no cost. My insurance payment came out of my paycheck every month, and I knew that if I needed care, I would get it. For people who talk about "government bureaucrats" dictating their health care, I wonder -- haven't these people ever had to argue with an insurance company over what is or isn't covered? I certainly have, and it was obvious that their directive was "try not to pay." Any system that's based on health care decisions being made by a for-profit industry is inherantly biased against the patient. The insurance company gets to keep all your payments if you die, and when you're dead, there aren't any more hospital bills. Ask my brother -- oh, sorry, you can't.