That's what the Ayn Rands of our nation forget: The Nazis lost, we decided against whoever has the strongest will and most money/guns telling everyone else what to do.

Most Americans have excellent insurance, despite the fact the number of uninsured people is rising rather than falling, and companies are reducing existing coverage to continue providing some. Those are the "underinsured" you're ignoring; their ranks are growing and the ranks of insured are not. Those are the realities; dismissing tens of millions of uninsured people as anecdotal and supporting that dismissal with an example from YOUR LIFE ONLY is a little myopic. Insured Americans don't pay more for less care, even though the cost of care, insured or otherwise, is significantly higher than in the rest of the developed world, and rising at several times the rate elsewhere. Just like the rest of the developed world thinks it's absurd to make a quick bright students access to higher education dependent on his ability to play sports rather than his quickness and brightness. The stock retorts only work if you don't know any better.

That's a common problem in our country. I hear very few people who've spent much time abroad as either tourist or native saying the American healthcare system is better, and 95% of those are people who 1) are well off enough that money is no object to care (meaning they can still get the best care on Earth from private plans in Britain, France, Germany etc. just as they could in an America with socialized medicine) 2) young and/or blessed enough their major healthcare problems are down the road or 3) both.

Thirteenth in Human Development Index, behind a bunch of countries we rebuilt from rubble 50 years ago. If their model is so inferior, why have they been beating our heads in most of my life? And don't try to tell me it's the defense budget; they aren't naked, but don't cultivate as many enemies as we do, and, anyway, the people who trot out that argument are the most ardent supporters of bigger US defense budgets. It ain't the evil libs, because the right's been calling the shots since '69. We're doing it your way and it's not working.

To date I've seen (not waited to be told) two suggestions from Republicans:

All the problems could be solved with tort reform (which is BS, but as I've said, I'm willing to look at tort reform as part of a socialized medical system; it's called "compromise" ) and

Olympia Snowes proposed amendment to have 50 state single payer programs rather than one national one, forcing a LOT of competition, both between states and with private insurance (an idea about 1000 times better than the actual Senate bill. )

Note, btw, Snowe was involved with crafting the bill, or trying to do so (hence the proposed amendment) as opposed to the 40 or so Senators (including one, theoretically, non-Republican) who fought the current bill tooth and nail but never ONCE introduced any alternative legislation (as Republicans did during the Medicare debates of '64 and '65, resulting in a much less liberal but more popular and affordable bill than LBJ initially sought. ) How is sending out emails urging Republicans to make "healthcare Obama's Waterloo" offering an alternative? How is that ANYTHING but obstruction? You say claims Republicans offer nothing but obstruction are just rhetoric; do you have an example of a constructive proposal, or is THAT just rhetoric...?

They're fiddling while Rome burns, and it's inexcusable.