kenrockthefirst:

Right. It's *not* simple. If it were, the problem would have been sorted by now. Duh. The fact that this issue is hugely complex is the reason we're having this conversation. Or screaming at our respresentatives in town halls meetings. Whichever floats your boat.

The issue and its details are complex, but complexity of the issue is not the reason the discussion is going on (here and elsewhere). The discussion is a conflict between two opposing points of view - those who believe the government has the right and the duty to provide health care to all people living in the country, and those who don't.

If there were widespread agreement on that issue, the cost wouldn't matter. If everyone agreed that health care was an inviolable right, we'd institute univeral coverage and then worry about how to pay for it. If everyone agreed that health care was not something the government should pay for, the very idea of universal coverage (or even a public option) would be laughed at. Before any discussion of the cost had even arisen.