Within the next few years the U.S. is going to have a nationwide, single-payer system

Here in lies the problem. Everyone will not be paying into it. Thsoe who will use the system the most will pay into it the least. You try to do single payer and we will get endless media stories aon how so and so doesn't have the money to afford the premiums and they should get it for free. We already have so many freebies and giveaways for the poor it is ridiculous.

If this happens it will be the end of the excellent healthcare we have as we know it.
Nationlized healthcare is worthless, long waits for treatment, denial of services, look at britian and canada. Heard on the radio that 70,000 britons left the country last year for procedures they could not get in Britian. When I was in Great Falls, Montana, late 80's/early 90's, every weekend we were invaded by canadiens seeking healthcare and prescription medicines they could not get in thier own country with its nationalized medicine.

I think that what you are really seeing in the push for single-payor/socialized medicine is the lower- to middle- income families who are either not offered healthcare through their jobs or cannot afford healthcare. I was a single mother for four years, and the cost of 'family' insurance at my job was overwhelming. The job paid none of my insurance cost (worked at a LTC facility), and for me to adequately cover myself and my children would have run approximately $300 per check. I made approximately $34,000 per year, too much to qualify for any state assistance, and too much to qualify for subsidized ER care. This ended up with the common sum (nurse)+(single mother)*(semi-tolerable income)+(asthmatic child)= multiple ER Visits and hospital bills paid at $10-$20 per month, which let me tell you is not enough to keep you off the collection agency rolls.

Lower middle-class families who simply can't afford health insurance are left completely out of the 'most wonderful healthcare system in the world.' I (a nurse) have not had a pap smear for five years, have had debilitating migraines treated with excedrin and prayer, have had extremely limited access to the health system due to my financial inability to pay, and the ability to not be turned away at the ER means absolutely nothing to me since I am still going to be expected to pay those bills when they come in.

Socialized medicine or a single-payor plan--is it going to provide ideal, utopian care for everyone in the US? Probably not. Is it going to be better than what I had for the last five years? My initial guess is yes.

Dierdre,

I understand your plight, and agree that people in your circumstances need help in obtaining healthcare. But I don't believe that it is necessary or desirable to renovate our entire system to provide you with the assistance you need.