It costs the private health care industry about $400 billion/year to handle the paperwork associated with billing people. It would cost less than that to cover every American in a non-profit social health care system! Check it out:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=8800

For reference, here’s the link to a summary of the non-profit health care bill introduced by Representatives Kucinich (the presidential candidate), Conyers, McDermot, and Christensen:

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676_2.htm
(United States National Health Insurance Act)

If you want it, write to your senators (Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez) and your Congresswoman (Corrine Brown). There’s a contact form for the Senators here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=FL

Corrine Brown’s CRAPPY AS HELL contact form can be found here:

http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/IMA/issue.shtml

Further reading:

(how much it will cost, how it will be paid for)
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/executive_summary_of_the_united_states_national_health_insurance_act_hr676.php

For reference, I’m currently paying about 9.7% of my salary on my health insurance premiums. My employer is paying 29% of my salary on their end (that percentage will go down if I get a raise). That doesn’t include all the co-pays on drugs and doctor’s visits (a further ~12-15% of my salary). If the USNHI program goes into effect I can’t even FATHOM what I’d do with all the extra money I’d save. Not to mention how much money my employer will be saving (they could, in theory, raise salaries).

For reference, when people suddenly have that much more money they usually spend it on (a wide variety of) things which is _seriously_ good for the economy. Really, the only people who lose out in HR 676 are the health insurance companies… Those same folks who deny life-saving coverage to people; effectively killing (or at best, bankrupting) them.

There is absolutely no good reason why we should all suffer the private health care system any longer.

-Riskable
http://riskable.com
“To define a problem incorrectly is to ensure that it will never be solved.”