The essence of Conservative Thought

I think the rift comes down to, is freedom given at birth by God, or from the human mind's created society. Another way to say it: is the ultimate solution to life's problems to be found in God or in the human mind. I think this is the essence of the difference between conservatism and socialism.

would be in the legal system, with 'loser pays' becoming the norm. This would decrease the lawsuits, especially since the insurance and healthcare companies would actually stand up for themselves in court instead of settling all the time. The state of North Carolina would still have a vibrant OB/GYN care industry, instead of seeing it sued out of the state by the hero of the poor, John Edwards.

Change #1A would be not giving any services at all to illegal aliens. In some states, that would have kept most of the recently closed hospitals open!

Good site, wil. You'll be listed in The Swamp soon.

If our rights are inalienable, given us by a Creator, that is a whole different framework than if they are at the discretion of a government. Good point.

Crawfish, yes, the court system MUST change and needs to change soon. Settling is frustrating because it rewards people who frivolously sue, but when the alternative is going to a court and facing an activist judge, I can understand settling.

Your admission that you don't know much about healthcare was entirely supererogatory. As the only industrialized nation that still embraces private, for profit healthcare, the U.S. is a textbook of failure. We spend more on healthcare -often several times more compared to countries like Britain and France - yet have inferior outcomes by many measures, such as lifespan, infant mortality, ... and we don't even provide coverage for more than one out of eight citizens.
Rationing? You don't think we have rationing of medical care? What to you call all those uninsured people going in desperation to emergency rooms or doing without care altogether.
Furthermore your observations about the American medical system completely neglect the influence of Medicare and Medicaid. Both of them are supported and directed by the government. Both are models of efficient operation with administrative overhead running less than 5% (compared to 30% or more for private insurers and for profit hospitals.) They're among the most successful and popular government programs, and without either one of them, healthcare in the U.S. would be an utter disaster.
I practiced medicine for twenty years in the U.S. and travelled in Canada and Europe. The various "socialized" systems that I've encountered are not uniform and none are perfect; but in my opinion, especially from a patient's point of view, they're all superior to ours.

Just an FYI:
The US health insurance industry is a both propietery and nonprofit. the majority of healtcare insurers are non profit i.e. Bluecross and Blueshield. The others are smaller such as union welfare funds and nonprofit sections of large insurance companies.
Medicare is one of the only 2 government health insurance entities. The other is the VA. Medicaid falls under CMM, but is dispersed at the state level, and states regulate it.
Perhaps you would want to go down to Florida and speak to the Canadian "snow birds" because they have a quite different view of how great their medicine is.
I have been in healthcare for 30 years and the provide high quality advanced care that other countries cannot compare.
Here, we have to agree to disagree.

The people who overuse our ERs are often illegal immigrants, or have medicaid or CHIP programs but are ignorant about continuity of care and the purpose of PCPs.
Medicare no longer provides fee for service (indemnity) plans unless you have the $$$. The choices are PPOs and HMOs. Providers have the option of accepting Medicare as PIF or bill for the additional 20% or copay. Sttes contract with insurers to provide a medicaid based program for their demographic population. And in England and France you can purchase additional coverage.

Ask Mark Steyn about Canada's superior medical system. His pregnant wife bled for hours on a gurney waiting for care. One man wasn't so lucky and after 13 hours was found dead on his gurney. The wait for referrals to specialists is so long that many die or are too advanced in their illness to be helped. It is Canada who refused to give cancer drugs to a woman with breast cancer and felt it was too early to give Aracept to a person with Alzheimers (although the point is to slow down the disease). I am one of the uninsured but I want to see people more involved in the costs of their own healthcare NOT government!

1. A $5,000 tax credit is a start.
2. We need for employers to offer lower coverage at lower premiums and employees use their extra money to have healthcare spending accounts (pre tax).
3. These accounts need to be available to individuals, and roll over annually. Don't forget, you now have more money from the tax break.
4. Employers need to provide umbrella coverage, which they get at lower rates for catastrophic illness, much like welfare funds. Part of the problem is that we pay for services that many of us never use.
Result: The insurance market remains stable. More people can afford health insurance. There is less waste. People have control over their money and healthcare.

McCain needs to give these 4 concise points, and
and use the previous points to attack Obama.
Pass it around.

I lost my job of 13 years due to downsizing and am now 59 and care for my husband and mother at home. I could find another job but find it a full-time job caring for my family. The healthcare went with the job in 2006. That is a good reason that our healthcare not be tied to our jobs.

You are right the $5,000 would make a big difference for me. I shop around when I need services and I truly believe if people had health savings accounts and were able to go over each bill and challenge charges (which I do for my mother and husband) healthcare would become more competitive. My husband has VA and a supplemental and working with them and Medicare for my husband has shown me the dangers of "one-size-fits-all" healthcare.

The kids needed health insurance when they extended college. We went online to ehealthinsurance.com Use one of them, and an EPO gives you a $700 annual account at your PCP. There are copays with labs and hospitals but definitely better than nothing at all. We then used Walmart for the $4 scripts and AAA for glasses. we still saved more than the premiums. Much like the plan I outlined and personal responsibility. We paid $170 or so monthly, but a reasonable alternative.