[Pandajuice]

Health insurance in the US is pretty screwed up at the moment, you're right. The government really needs to get in there and reform it so these companies can't take advantage of what is basically a required service in the US.

It's still the best health system in the world though as far as I'm concerned, and that's thanks to privatisation and medical professionals who are compensated appropriately for the hard work they do and level of education required. Not to mention that it's a better quality of health care all the way around.

I live in a country that has universal, free healthcare and having seen and experienced both alternatives (private and universal), it's pretty awful. It's abused pretty badly by a lot of people (mostly immigrants who only came to the country to abuse the free healthcare), and to have even the most routine visit to a GP takes weeks of waiting and lot of red-tape/phone calls; let alone seeing a specialist.
Even as screwed up as the HMOs are in America, it's still a better option in my opinion than universal health care.