Part of the problem is the US is that our business "leaders" were allowed to dismantle our economic system -- including health care -- by sending most of our jobs overseas. We have a health care system that depends on people having jobs. It's never worked for the unemployed and the poor, of course, but now it's also not working for the middle class. More and more people are out of work, and more and more employers are simply not offering insurance. We allowed a poor-but-sort-of-OK system to be dismantled, without requiring that anything be created to replace it. So now we have an even poorer system that's getting worse every day.

The whole concept of health care as a source of wealth for insurers and health care providers is absurd. The whole concept of having employers responsible for providing health care is absurd. The whole concept of having millions of children who can't go the doctor when they get sick is absurd. I say "absurd", but tragic is really a better word.

Another anecdote: a friend of mine needs a liver transplant. The hospital won't even talk to her about it unless she can show that she has insurance that will cover at least $500,000 toward a transplant, which is expected to cost between $500,000 and more than $1,000,000. The insurance she's been paying for for years only covers $250,000 toward a transplant -- in other words, they don't cover it (since she can't even make an appointment to talk to a doctor about it on that much insurance). She is scrambling to find supplemental insurance, but she has an extremely serious pre-existing condition. She will probably manage to get the transplant and stay alive, but she will also be financially ruined fro the rest of her life. Meanwhile, the insurance company executives, the doctors, the drug companies, and the owners of the hospital are all multimillionaires. How can anyone live with themselves when they are getting filthy rich while killing or ruining people?

I wish Obama was more ferocious about getting a real health-care system. The need to placate the wealthy - so they can get even more wealthy - is a real shame.