Ah Ha! I see it now, the Progressive Lie has been told again, and again, an amazing number of the herd of stupid humans believed it.
Its just like the zero down, Adjustable Rate Mortgages featured in the Carter, Clinton, and G.W. Bush advertisements until the bottom fell out in 2006-7.

I know a struggling young man whose mother killed his father and tried to kill him. I gave him $50 so he could get his GED by taking the test. He passed on the first try and has it.
He is currently struggling to afford gas money by working at a Subway way on the other side of Birmingham because a very close Walmart can only offer him a part-time job because of Obamacare.
Harry Reid would call the above a "Republican lie."
Sorry, I'm one of those Tea Party "terrorists."
Got methane to pass? Let's hear it for the unaffordable Affordable Healthcare Act.

In the late 30's/early 40's, insurance did not exist. When we needed to visit a doctor or go to a hospital, we did so, paying everything out of pocket. While this may seem daunting (almost shocking), the costs were relatively low, because malpractice insurance did not exist and doctors competed for business. Without malpractice insurance and health insurance, the costs were VERY low. Employers eventually started to offer paid-for health insurance to attract the right employees. So at that time the insurance industry was born.

Obviously, medical science has leapt forward tremendously and people are living longer. Can you imagine what it would be like to actually go back to such a system in which healthcare was affordable to the point that out-of-pocket was not astronomical? Wouldn't that be much simpler?

Today's system of compulsory purchasing of health insurance is a diametric opposite of what we were in the 30's/40's.

If you want to reduce the cost of health care you don't add more government. Here are some straight forward proposals to reduce the cost:

1) Eliminate pain and suffering in med malpractice cases. Cap damages to say $500k
2) Eliminate the FDA
3) Eliminate the deduction for health care. Either make it a private deduction or just get rid of it.
4) Declare all State limitations on what Insurance companies have to provide unconstitutional under the commerce clause.
5) Block grant out medicare and medicaid and then phase them out.
6) Eliminate the licensing requirements for doctors.

Within two years of this the price of health care would drop 30-50%

Obamacare is just a pathetic attempt to avoid reality and math. It wont work any more than going out to dinner with 10 friends, having everyone pitch in $5 and then ordering a lobster dinner will work.

TRUE STORY:

I wen't to have a biometric exam to satisfy our health care coverage through my wifes hospital ($900 bump into our health savings account). After typical BMI measurement (BS), weight, and height the woman told me that ALL of my tests from the previous year looked perfectly fine and that I was above my ideal BMI, aka I'm fat (my words).

Now, I could have saved everyone a lot of time and money (test, exams, etc) and just told them I was healthy but fat - but what do I know, I just won this body.

You want to understand why costs are soaring - this is a great example.

I joined a vast but still private association that agrees to share expenses, while also coaching one another about how not to stay at high risk for the development of chronic illness. I already know how much money I will save, even beyond what I was paying already.

"we're going to "insure" 30 million more people while not increasing the number of healthcare professionals, all while reducing competition amongst the insurance companies. "
Yes! And I agree with the scare quotes on "insure" since most of these people are people for whom the peril has already occurred. Most of the people who didn't have insurance before and are now buying "insurance" will have the most costly risk profile. I actually think the _idea_ of spreading risk in this way makes sense, but it's foolish for anyone to think it will come cheap. When my wife and I last did underwriting they took blood and went over literally every occasion when I had thrown my back out. They told me how much I would save if I lost a few pounds. I have always been healthy though-- good cholesterol and other vitals.. I knew my premiums would double if I were in the same risk pool with people who were sick. Indeed they would have doubled if I hadn't found a way to stay on the underwritten plan. I'm okay with them doubling, though, b/c the point of insurance is to spread risk, and it seems inefficient to put me in a lower risk pool just b/c I was healthy when I did underwriting and to penalize someone who got sick before they had a chance. This will be even more true when simple tests can predict future diseases; at that point "insuring" against non-acquired non-accident sickness will be impossible. I don't have all the answers, but I knew from the outset insuring 30 million people, most of whom had a history of illness, would NOT be cheap.

My employer has informed insurance premiums have gone up a total of 65% since Establishment Care got passed.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

TANSTAAFL!

My guesstimate is that the 30 million or so that were uninsured were that way for a reason. The only reason I have insurance is because my wife at the time had some medical issues that needed to be taken care of. That and I had retired from the military and they offered a good plan. So, even after that and the divorce I kept the insurance as it was better than what my employer offered. Otherwise, it has been several years since I have been to the doctor and see no reason to go anytime soon. I will probably be out of the country before I need anything from a medical practitioner and then American insurance is out the window.