I am convinced that the first priority needs to be making sure that everyone has access to high quality health care, whether that is through medical insurance, or by another mechanism. The current system of primarily employer-based medical insurance is as unstable as the next round of layoff notices. And I know many people who have made important career decisions based soley on whether they can get medical coverage for themselves or their families. People don't start their own businesses because they wouldn't be able to afford health insurance. They leave jobs they love or take jobs they hate for the same reason. I agree with other posts that say we need a major paradigm shift in how we approach healthcare in this country, but we first need to make sure that everyone can access the paradigm we already have. Then we can make it better for everyone.

You said it very eloquently. My husband had a back injury several months ago. The lower-cost, non-invasive treatments that have been effective for him - Chiropractic, deep tissue massage, physical therapy and an inversion table - are either not covered by his insurance or are strictly limited to a certain number of visits or dollar amounts by his insurance. So now that he has reached his limits on those treatments, we have to pay out-of-pocket or he goes without. If he wanted to use highly addictive narcotic pain killers, or get surgery, the insurance would cover his costs as much as necessary. I am all for evidence-based medicine, but the current medical system completely ignores the evidence that "alternative" treatments actually work better with fewer side effects than many standard treatments.