So then what your saying is that personal choice is not yours to make because you may or may not go to the Emergency Room is that correct? Your assumption is based on the premise that everyone defaults that doesn't have insurance, and also is based on the premise that the high costs of medical care are a result of those defaults. This is true jillian for every single business venture from credit cards to car ownership, so perhaps based on that logic we should mandate that everyone carry bankruptcy insurance now to because they may or may not someday default on a credit card or default on a car. The facts are in a Free society and a market based economy default costs on Everything generally are passed along to the consumer. Healthcare is no different in that respect. That is the price you pay for living in a FREE society and my suggestion is that in order to bring about reform you regulate the reasons for the rise in costs and not subvert the constitution by taking away a persons freedom to choose their own destiny. If you and others who believe as you do really want to bring down the costs of healthcare then address the real issues of healthcare costs or perhaps, go to your state houses and ask your state legislature place on your states ballot universal healthcare and let the individual states make that choice for themselves and not by some Federal fiat that is clearly outside the bounds of their charter.
I understand what you're saying. Really... but I can't get past the fact that we're the only "civilized" nation that doesn't care for it's people. It makes no sense to me and it's making it so we can't compete in the global marketplace.
As for health provision on a state by state basis, seems to me this would be covered by the commerce clause.
Besides, if you ask your state senator, the LAST thing they want is for the state to have to pay for this without the feds.
jillian , I invite you to look at 3 states and notice the difference if you will, one is my state Arizona and look at the recently passed healthcare freedom of choice proposal. The other is Tenn. called Cover Tennessee, and the the last is Mass. what they all reflect is the the feelings of the citizens of those states and are exactly as the founders intended. Still one other thing I have suggested over many months of this debate is that if people really wanted this to be a "RIGHT" then they would go about it under the Amendment process and let's really see how the citizens feel about healthcare.