What should we do about the US healthcare system?

can i just ask so im clear on this, how do you get healthcare cover in america? do you generally get it through your employer?

My wife and I ran into this problem. I was a full time student working part time, and she was working full time at one job and part time at another. We got pregnant, and started freaking out about paying for all the medical stuff. We decided to get insurance, but with the monthly payments, we had to go with a $5000 deductable, paying $250 a month. She miscarried, and we ended up footing the entire bill, because we didn't meet the deductable, plus, we were out 250 dollars a month for 3 months. We would have been better off without the insurance. As it is, we're still in debt because of that, and that was over a year ago. Now, with me working full time, I've got company insurance, and it pays for everything. We have a baby due at the end of march, and there's no worries about paying for this one, except for the massive debt we acquired last time. Insurance needs to be affordable, and it needs to actually pay for healthcare.

Millions live without health care but there are emergency precautions for them. Medicare and Medicaid are there. Our health system is the most advanced in the world. The real issue is that Americans want health care provided by the government, but are unwilling to pay for it. Its the whole independence and fear of socialism that keeps America from implementing a NHS.

Those who honestly can not afforded should be helped out. However, I believe the honest truth is not that they can not afford it, I think they just choose not to. Case in point, a young professional with a college degree working as a sales professional making 30,000 in the Midwest, pays Car Insurance, Cell Phone, House Mortgage or Rent. Here is the question. What kind of car does he drive? Wouldn't it be more prudent to drive a better gas mileage car and one that costs less in insurance and have health insurance? Or is it best to have the best "ride" and no health insurance. What one can and can't afford really comes down to choice.

I wish I had an answer to this. I do know that it is something that desparately needs to addressed. The cost is so high that most people can not afford it and if you have a pre-exisiting condition you are pretty much out of luck unless you have at least $600 to $700 a month or more to put into it. It is a sad state of affairs when something so neccesary is so unattainable.