The first option is to not make a significant change to the system. This is the choice of the insurance industry which is making billions of dollars of profits even during this economic recession. This is the choice being pushed by the Republicans and “Blue Dog” Democrats in the House & Senate since they are effectively bought off by the insurance industry. This is also the choice we can quickly dismiss because we cannot continue on the same road we are on now.
The system we have now is seriously broken. It costs more than any other system in the world and yet our actual health care is far worse than many other nations. The US health system is ranked #37 in the world by the World Health Organization and we rank #50 in life expectancy (yes that means the people in 49 countries live longer than we do on average.) We have about 50 million uninsured people. Furthermore this is more than just a health issue, it’s also an economic issue. If our current system is left unchanged it will bankrupt our nation.