State insurance programs? I don't know whether to laugh or cry. States like Utah which are ideologically opposed to government being involved with health care will drag their feet forever (which is happening). Moreover, we move around a lot, so the final fix must be national. I favor a single payer system (government) or at least a public plan which competes with the for-profit insurance companies, whose profits are tied to denying coverage to sick people. Also, Governor Leavitt is right in his assertion that health care should be uncoupled with employment. Consider the following absurdity: An employee covered by an employer subscribed plan gets seriously ill, so ill that he or she cannot work, whereupon he or she loses his/her coverage when he/she most needs it.

I'm still waiting for the D-News to get tough and incisive with matter. I guess Jay's trip in the ambulance is a start.

Well, a great deal of the medical costs Mr. Evensen referenced has to do with staying out of court. He might not consider suing anyone for not giving him every ounce of the "standard of care" as prescribed by state of Utah officials, but there are plenty of people here just waiting for the chance to gain a living because someone in the medical response community missed one simple procedure. A certain percentage of these folks are in the legal profession.

While what he wrote has merit, he ought to do a column on the legal costs that impact medical response requirements.

Was the ambulance ride pre-approved? Look around, people who have had real heart attacks, or those otherwise unconscious or incapacitated, have had ambulance ride payments denied by their insurance company because it wasn't pre-approved by some faceless bureaucrat benefit denier. How much will an unapproved ambulance ride cost ya? Great country, huh?

I love the USA
Best country in the world!!!!!
Even thought we have issues with medical care, the US is the best place to live.
Keep your perspective!

Everyone ought to watch Wendall Potter's interview with Bill Moyers on PBS. Wendall Potter was the head of corporate communications for CIGNA. Wendall had an eye-opening experience one day which forever changed his view of the industry in which he was employed. People without insurance were just numbers to him until he happened to visit what he thought was going to be a health fair but in actuality was thousands of people without insurance waiting to be seen by volunteer medical professionals. That private corporate jet with its gold plate meals wasn't quite as enjoyable.......

A national cooperative would satisfy all of your requirements for a health plan (no profits and National) while at the same time appeasing the small governement crowd. Everyone could join, pay in the average cost, and get the health care they need. There is enough charity care available for those who couldn't afford to pay. Perfect system; whats not to love?

Most countries with nationalized health care are smaller than the largest health insurers in the US. If economies of scale were the real answer we would have already realized them.

Socialized medicine constrains cost by rationing care and living off of the discovery and innovation that comes from the United States.

Forcing us all to procure health insurance via our employers is an idea that outlived itself 50 years ago. We live in a dynamic economy and most of us will change jobs, employers & even careers many times. Whether you buy your insurance & medical care on your own or via an employer must be tax neutral. Today, the government gives us thousands in subsidies for medical care, but only if we get it from an employer instead of with our own money.

If the government hadn't forced a 3rd-party payer system on us there would be fewer uninsured and health costs would be lower.