The poorest of the poor have healthare thru medicaid. The well to do can afford private insurance. The middle class simply need a boost in the form of a tax break or some government loophole which will enable them to purchase health insurance cheaper.
It goes beyond that, people need to be able to have more choice when it comes to health care.
For example, it is ILLEGAL for me to purchase insurance in Indiana. I am forced to buy it in my own State. What sense does that make? If insurance was able to compete nationwide you'd see a dramatic drop in prices (competition does that).
Also, when you buy insurance you have to be covered for everything. You can't customize your coverage, my 52 year old mother has to be covered for child birth expenses, what the hell for? If you could buy custom plans, you'd be able to drop all the unnecessary shit and make it that much more affordable. I'm a 27 year old male, I'm probably not going to suffer from cardiovascular disease anytime soon, but yet I have to be covered for it. Why can't I just buy a cheap "disaster" insurance that'll cover me if I injure myself (much more likely).
Think of it in terms of car insurance, you don't use your car insurance when you change your oil do you? No, that would make it retarded expensive, but that's what we do with our medical insurance. If we had to pay for our own maintenance care out of pocket we'd shop around and be much more aware of the cost of our care. Since we don't have to worry about it because insurance covers it, costs are out of control.
Another thing is taxes, businesses can claim their health insurance as a tax credit, individuals can't, why the hell not?
We can make simple common sense changes here and save a lot of time and money. The answer is giving people more choices in their medical care, not less.
