GraniteGrok

Edwards said his mandatory health care plan would cover preventive, chronic and long-term health care. The plan would include mental health care as well as dental and vision coverage for all Americans.

"The whole idea is a continuum of care, basically from birth to death," he said. 

She hits it on the head. Why should government be responsible for my healthcare?  After all, look at Katrina - one of the worst failures of government at all levels that has been seen recently. And you want government to be in charge of your family's well being? And if need be, in a hurry (wanna start looking at some stats, Chaz)?

While Chaz says that government can be an agent of good (which it can be, given a topic like the military), is he willing or advocating for the all-encompassing intrusiveness of government into our individual lives to make that good possible? 

Gee, I thought those on the Left were against Government spying on people?  And this would require it legally - can you say doubleplus ungood?

Why SHOULD government ALWAYS be looked upon as THE solution agent?  Chaz, read Dr. Arthur Brooke's book!  Frankly, I loathe the idea that my solutions should be come from my government and in my philosophy,  that's not being self-reliant and being responsible for myself.

While it may be altruistic to believe that government can be all good to all people, it is a truism that cannot hold true in practice.  Can you imagine the amount of regulations, oversight, and red tape that would be needed to do this?  And trust me, it will be far in excess of anything that is now in place.

Last thought - Practical?  I want to hear this defined, explained, and detailed examples given, as I cannot see figure out how, in this are, government can do better than free markets if

Government gets out of the way and quits distorting the marketplace!

After all, it was because of FDR's wage freeze policy that gave rise to present malfunctioning healthcare insurance in the first place.  Insurance premiums too high?  Stop government from ladling on forced mandates. Let small business's aggregate purchasing power.  Let people buy across state lines.  Move it from an employer based system to an individual / family based one (like it used to be).  Broaden out HSAs.

Pro Choice people are usually Left leaning ones who advocate that abortion is between a women and her doctor - why force government into the breech for all healthcare if you are advocating for government to stay out of it in that case?

Cognitive dissonance, any one?

Competition works - just look at the price, quality, and function of consumer electronics!  That can happen in healthcare too - just give it a chance by getting government out of the way except for the needed safety net (and making SCHIP available to kids in $80K/year families is not a safety net for the poor!)

Univeral healthcare is just another code phrase for "we want you to be more dependant on government largess (after it takes the coins from your purse to begin with).