I get it, a "class warfare" thread. Curse those poor people, how dare they be poor!

Perhaps a trip into the real world might help. Currently, if you are a 50 yr old self-employed person with a pre-existing condition, a guy on Death Row has better health insurance then you would if it was you. What do you think about that?

Also, there is nothing "free" in this bill. Anyone who signs for the public option agrees to allow the government to attach either their paychecks or their income tax return for any owed premium payments, and when not working, one pays his insurance premiums with "credits" that must later be paid.

Ultimately though, we need to look at society as it now exists:

Veteran? A government run sliding-scale healthcare system. Fine by the insurance companies too, veterans generally have catastrophic or chronic health problems that they ain't going to make any money on, so the insurance companies don't want them and were glad to pawn them off on Uncle Sugar.

Retired? A government run sliding-scale healthcare system. Fine by the insurance companies too, oldsters generally have catastrophic or chronic health problems too that they ain't going to make any money on, and once again, the insurance companies don't want them and were glad to pawn them off on Uncle Sugar once again....

A low income kid? A government run sliding-scale healthcare system. Fine by the insurance companies too, kids don't have jobs, they ain't going to make any money on them either, so they don't want them.

A government employee? A government run sliding-scale healthcare system that I haven't heard of any enmass-exit by Republicans from, in fact, we don't hear old people, poor people with kids, or veterans screaming to be released from that evil old public care do we? But.....

A middle class chump? Hey, you got the bucks, let's a have a system where my profits are based on you getting screwed! That's what we have today, and you say it's better? The insurance company got rid of all the risk pools as the years went by, and increased your costs by triple, soon to be four fold and more, while consuming 15-18% of the GNP while other nations only average 8% GNP - trillons in money going to marketing, corporate jets, fat CEO salries, waste and profits. Curse those trailer park people!

The real problem isn't poverty, it's greed. A public option would cause the fat and lazy insurance companies in our rigged health care system to compete with a low cost provider and give those trailer park people a place to go for insurance they can afford instead of the ER where the real cost ends up on the backs of local taxpayers, and the greedy will stop at nothing to stop it.