And we're going back. I wonder if there could ever be a time when everyone agreed it was OK to go to the moon instead of saying the money should be spent elsewhere?

I'm not asking you for anything. If you you have reason based points for why I'm wrong on health care (I never said anything about the environment...) then post them for everyone to see. I have no problem with me or anyone else using "ad homenien" characterizations of others - as long as they first reason their points. Still waiting for you (and everyone else) to do that.

I've obviously overestimated the integrity of the other people leaving comments on YTMND. I might as well be having a back and forth with elmo and the cookie monster. I've made my point with reason. Everyone else seems content to reduce a complex issue to a vague punchline. Ex: "corporate government is the cause of our sickness." ok, w/e that means.

I don't place much stock in ambiguous ranking which claim the US is "#18" in the world, etc. I don't know what they base their criteria on, but I doubt it has anything to do with the quality of our med schools (harvard, hopkins, mayo, etc), or the fact that we lead the way in research / development. Mortality rates are due to other factors, such as other countries having much higher abortion rates - its not because our Doctors suck, as you imply.

Health care is expensive in the US for a lot of structural reasons, but the bottom line is that not enough ppl get it because there isn't enough to go around- its a limited resource. Equalizing access through a universal plan won't solve this fundamental problem, it will only spread it around. Structural changes must be made to promote competition to reduce cost and make healthcare a more attractive field to go in.