Are we going to let Illinois beat us to universal healthcare?

Health care is THE single biggest financial concern we face in the next few decades. I can't believe that in 2006 (almost) we're still dicking around trying to individualize the risk. Individuals have no leverage.

I can't help thinking that if we had a national guaranteed health care system then we wouldn't have to worry about "protecting ourselves" when other people get hurt. I believe that indirectly, we're already paying for others even under our current system: their insurance claims drive up everyone's rates anyway (rates go by zip code and population statistics); emergency care for the uninsured drives up hospital charges; and those of us who are insured are paying for health insurance anyway---which is going up double-digit percent next year in MA (I believe the figure for Tufts HMOs was at least a 12% increase).

Seems to me that if we had a pool that tapped 280 million citizens' earning power then it could pay for the tiny minority of whom actually need health care expenditures above the average expected amount. It would be very interesting to at least implement this statewide and see what happens.

At the moment we have schemes that seek to spread the risk around when it's us who get hurt, but personalize the risk when it's someone else that gets hurt. ("We're all in this alone until I need something, then we're all in it together.") Can't work.