Now Clinton supporters resort to stabbing Obama supporters? Who are the real zealots?

There should be a few bucks from defunding the Iraq War.

Isn't the private health insurance industry government regulated in the US?

Well, one of the reasons this country is so rich with the most resources etc.. is because we are a Democracy and have a 'work for what you have' mentality. Socialized medicine kind of starts the road of destroying that. Lots of doctors and medical facilities will probably go out of business with universal healthcare, and getting a medical degree won't be such a great thing anymore, because you won't be making any more money than any other doctor - no matter how much you study to be the best in your field with additional courses etc... They also need to address how malpractice insurance will affect things.

As I said, I would really love to see the specifics of whatever plan they want to enforce so that we can possibly see the consequences that come with it, because I am sure there are many.

Haha, I know, right? Unfortunately they will probably tax us. At least, that's what they have said they would do.

Now Clinton is demonstrating the latest Saturday Night Live as evidence of bias against Clinton. Funny, unless one can say that a show Tina Fey making the best pro-Clinton statement of anyone else in the campaign season and Barack Obama in Blackface (ok, Indianface) exhibited signs of bias against Clinton.

I think I have more respect for Tina Fey, than Ted Kennedy.

Many of our NHS doctors also work in the private sector. We have socialised medicine, with everyone guaranteed medical care regardless of income; however, we also have private medicine for those who can afford it and choose to use it. Many jobs carry private medical insurance as one of their perks. Just because there is socialised medicine doesn't mean doctors can't make a mint.

Actually, the Washington Post, in its style section, dug around for a silly picture of Clinton it could run in order to compare something to the Obama photo.

They found this one to run.

Those are the worst Halloween Conehead costumes I've ever seen.

Even the process of regulation would be a nightmare. Which part are we going to regulate the hell out of and which part of the system (think business) are we going to allow to tank. There are so many elements involved. The providers are only one link in the chain. I don't have the answers but since I work in health care I see the problems every day.

All aspects of any insurance industry are regulated by the State. But that is a loose term, regulate, in the since they can charge what the market will tolerate, but they cannot over charge or discriminate in how they charge.

And if we go to universal care we will get the same thing. Just what people here are bitching about. A two tiered system. Sure you can get that knee replaced in 9 months, or you can go down the street to my office when I get off at noon and we can do it next week.

I know, I'm just trying to imagine a third, less evil option than the two evils that are always debated.

If the current system is said to be greed-driven, and a socialized system is foreseen as being operationally hamstrung, then maybe we could keep the operational structure of our current system but remove some of the profit motive. I know, that takes us out of the free-market, may-the-best-man-win arena, but in this case it's a response to the observation that maybe medicine shouldn't be treated like any other for-profit consumer product. And, in response to the observation that the government can't manage a business effectively (we all know to ship by UPS or Fed Ex, not the post office) we let the business continue to be handled by people who do business. The better players will adapt to the new rules, and rise to the top.

On a detailed level, I have no idea how you would accomplish this. But I know that there are problems with the current system that lead people to discuss the possibility of socialized medicine. And I know that there is strong, well-founded resistance to socialized medicine. Maybe, my thought is, there could be some kind of hybrid system. Let business do what it does, and the government do what it does.

There is precedent for the government "interfering" with business, for the common good. This would be a case where I think we could apply that.

The hybrid system you are talking about is sort of the ideas being floated by both the Demoncrats running now. A lot of people do not understand how the system works now other than there are people who are insured and those who are not, and that the poor get free care now, while those who work and pay taxes do not. This is the bit we need to fix and continue to keep it profitable for those of us who do it for a living to make a living. The system is so very complicated. The idea that we can in some way adopt a system from a country with the GDP of Vermont is fantasy. It isn't going to happen. So many other parts of our system would be effected by a radical systemic change. I say we work towards some sort of coverage like GAP insurance or something government sponsored and fix our TAX system, see where things fall out from that. I don't know the answers but I know where it is broken.