In response to people coming from Canada for better health care...

I know quite a few people who cross the other way to get their medication at reasonable prices.

http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/Canada/Tax_-_Calculators_-_2005_Personal_Tax

The average tax rate for $75 k a year in Canada is anywhere from 21% to 32%

Our federal tax rate in that bracket is 28% http://taxes.yahoo.com/rates.html

(not counting state income taxes. So depending on where you live and what exemptions you have, you could be paying fewer taxes in Canada than in the US. (Now if you count their medical deductions then be sure and count ours both employer and employee and count L&I, etc).

Go to the CIA world factbook and look up life expectancies and infant mortality rates etc. I find it interesting that with our Bible Belt and Christian values, we have 6 times the % of people living with AIDS than Sweden where Gay marriage is legal (but I digress).

This is all academic. The point you are trying to make is a philosophical one. The government is trying to take control of our health care and somehow thereby our lives. I find this hard to believe --it seems to me there’s more motivation for ceos of health insurance companies to spend money scare us. I mean if we have universal health care, does Hilary Clinton get a huge bonus? What happens to her stock options? I don't think changing how our health money is handled to a possibly more efficient system is as much an invasion of our freedom as say The Patriot Act.

The government of this country IS the people. Therefore what you are saying is you don't want the American people controlling their health care, but rather some insurance conglomerates. At least the politicians you can vote out of office