Health insurance has been a topic of conversation on YA. Many support it, many are against it.

Currently the insurance industry is one of the most government regulated institutions in the USA. Their are federal and state laws that govern health insurance and make it a buracratic nightmare.

Our current auto insurance system allows for competition between companies on a national level. Keeping our insurance costs lows. If I leave my job, my car insurance stays with me.

Current regulations state that I must have a job to be offered health insurance. I leave this job, I lose my insurance and must use COBRA for up to 12 to 18 months to keep my coverage. Why can’t I buy my own health insurance and have it be portable across state lines like car insurance?

It seems to me that fixing these types of problems with healthcare is more affordable than implementing a national healthcare system. There is low cost car insurance, why not low cost health?
Civil – I read up on this web site that you mentioned. This is only for individuals who are self employed or own small businesses. First question they will ask is if you have a job that offers insurance. If the answer is yes, you have to go through them. So while this is a valid site, it doesn’t answer my question.

Bingo.

Combine the above mentioned portability and interstate insurance competition with tort reform, fair tax treatment for individuals purchasing insurance, and income tax deductions (or credits) for health expenses, and you will see the cost of health care dropping while the ranks of insured grow.

Market based solutions are the only option if this country wants to maintain (and improve) the quality of its health care while reducing costs.

Government based solutions may reduce costs, but it will do so by rationing and sacrificing quality.

Edit: The major reason that insurance is so opaque and expensive now is because of over-regulation. Companies are required to cover expensive procedures and treatments that do not benefit a vast majority of the policy holders (fertility treatment, drug and alcohol rehab, etc) It stands to reason then, that states requiring these treatments be covered are among the most expensive states to attain health insurance. Removing competition restrictions from insurance companies would do more to reduce costs and increase enrollment than any other solution available.