#58 is exactly right, the money is the focus (although the end result of the bills will probably be inferior health care, because of mass resignation by physicians as well as general govt. incompetence).

We are actually discussing whether we should all pay in $ and in reduced care for a minority of people not to suffer financial impact. Some very important corollaries are being ignored: the incredible financial challenges to hospitals to provide free care to illegal immigrants, the coming inability of govt. programs such as Medicare to keep their promises, tort reform, the constitutionality of the proposals, etc.

Going bankrupt is not fun, but it was designed for financial disasters. I know two pertinent things: as I age, I am increasingly likely to need health care; and that life is not fair and can’t be made otherwise by laws. Thus, I pay for health insurance, sometimes pay for services the insurance does not cover, and don’t expect anybody else to pay if a disastrously expensive health disaster befalls me.

The whole premise of the thing is deceptive, to say the least.