Here's my two cents worth (more like a dollar's worth). The United States is the only high-income nation out of 27 that does not have universal health coverage/socialized medicine. Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Great Britain, among others, have it. America now pays about twice as much per person for health care as other industrialized nations, and yet we have the lowest life expectancy among those same nations (click here for source). According to the CIA and United Nations, the U.S. is ranked 45th in life expectancy, while Canada is 14th and Japan is 3rd. I'm not saying we should copy what other nations are doing, but we certainly should take a good look at it. And I believe that is what the government is trying to accomplish with the town hall meetings.
The United States already has some socialized programs, many of which were/are the best in the world. Even our military has socialized medicine. Some say it's the best, and others say it's the worst. But since I have never served in the military, I do not know whom to believe. I believe many of the socialized programs in America have suffered due to a lack of funding. I think there has been a trend toward much of our government (both Republican and Democrat) being more concerned with serving the needs of private interests (big business) than the needs of the public.
I lived in a country with socialized medicine for four years (Japan, the world's 2nd largest economy), and I never paid for a doctor's visit. The only thing I paid for was medicine, and it was very cheap. I didn't see any difference in care, but I can only speak from the perspective of a relatively healthy adult in his 20s while living in Japan. My wife's grandmother recently passed away in Japan at the age of 93, and according to her family, she received quality health care.
I am not one to rush to take sides, but I do not believe we can continue down the path we are on without some reform. My wife and I and her employer pay a certain amount (not cheap) to an insurance company each month for coverage. On top of the monthly insurance premium, there is a deductible. And there is also the co-payment for each visit to a doctor. And then, there is the issue of pre-existing conditions not covered by the insurance company. And on top of all that, if your insurance plan has a lifetime limit (and most do), the insurance company will stop paying if you are unfortunate enough to get an expensive illness and run up the bills. And the number one reason people go bankrupt is that they can't pay their medical bills. At the very least, the government should eliminate pre-existing conditions and lifetime limits.
For the record, the reform proposed by the Obama administration is not full-blown socialism (but instead a public option) (source), and there are no "death panels" (source). This doesn't mean that the Obama administration or others supporting health care reform hasn't made false claims; they have (source).
I am not a big fan of Michael Moore, but his documentary "Sicko" about health care is worth a look.
Now is the time to stand up and let your voice be heard no matter which side you support. We do live in a democratic republic, after all. If we were truly communist/socialist as some have suggested, the bill would have already been passed behind closed doors without any public discussion.
