Julie, I think you need to take a look at the goal you have in mind as you think about this issue....

You listed the situation where a guy walks in to the ER because he is sick, and he has no insurance....

The hospital treats him, and the bill gets paid by the State.

This situation is the same as what the insurance companies have been warning the country about for over 20 years!

thats if you make insurance unneeded, you invite people to treat their State supported healthcare as if it were a All-you-can-eat buffet.

The goal you should always have in mind is finding a way to get people to have their private insurance.

so in the future when that 31 year old man walks into the ER, he has an insurance card in his pocket.

The best way to bring about such a better future is to bring up that young man in a home where from birth he learned the value of good insurance.

the best people to teach him that valuble lesson is not the state, nor the IRA....,but rather the pest people to handle that *** are good old mom and dad.