Haven't bothered to read this entire thread - I don't have the stamina - but to me it's helpful to remember these points.

1) Is healthcare a right or a privilege in wealthy (i.e., most OECD member countries)? But if it's a privilege, what/who decides who gets health care? Therefore, I believe:

2) Healthcare is DIFFERENT than everything else - it is NOT the same as selling cars, TV's, vacations, or anything else. In other words, wouldn't it be OK if THIS ONE THING wasn't a part of our capitalist/market-driven society? In other words, why can't healthcare be a not-for-profit endeavor, part of a basket of services provided by the government, like highways and airports and national defense?

3) Lastly - many seem to think a national healthcare program means healthcare delivered with the efficiency/empathy/service quality of the IRS, TSA, or (name your bureaucratic nightmare federal agency). WRONG! That would be like thinking that our fighter jets (bought and paid for by the US Government) are BUILT by the US Government - and of course, they are not - they are constructed by skilled private subcontractor companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, etc.

To bring it all home: I live in San Francisco, and receive healthcare via the non-profit foundation Kaiser Permanente. Is it perfect? No - but what is and it CERTAINLY IS GOOD ENOUGH!!! I and my wife have both had moderately serious health issues recently that were handled just fine. So tell me this: why can't the US Government simply contract out to K-P (and others with the same HMO/non-profit model), and provide healthcare to all? Please save the "we can't afford it" ignorance, and the "I want to pick my own doctor" thing is a luxury that needs to priced accordingly for those that want it.

And lastly: can anyone out there really convince me that the biggest problem in the United States is that poor people have too much power/have it too easy? Anyone that says that doesn't know anyone that's poor.