Our system sucks, but I think it's because of the way health insurance has been allowed to deny claims and because of the litigious nature of our country. Where else can someone sue the shyte out of someone for making a mistake and get tens or hundreds of millions of dollars? Sure, some are based on a doctor's negligence or some other preventable error, but the settlements are sometimes so high it's a wonder anyone would want to enter the field when malpractice insurance is so high. Health care professionals want to treat people- I don't think there's much argument against that.
Higher taxes are OK for those who can afford them but many can't. Unfortunately for the latter, there's nobody in Congress who's willing to work for anyone who can't prop up their collective bank accounts.
If Congress and the rest of government were efficient and could be seen as 'doing a good job for the American public', I don't think as many people would have a problem but by 'doing a good job', I don't mean pandering to people. We have problems in this country that aren't being addressed- education is at the top of the list and without that, people won't make the decisions that keep them housed, fed, healthy, safe, out of prison, and generally happy. Many personal decisions make people unhealthy and that means we require more medical treatment for preventable problems. Because government is needed for some things, taxes aren't bad, but the IRS isn't supposed to be an agency used to penalize people. OTOH, some wealthy people could step up and stop trying to get away with zero tax liability but since Congress really seems to be there for them, the rest of us are kind of screwed. I would like members of Congress who are wealthy to stop speaking of 'the wealthy' as if it's a completely separate group. It's as if they think were too stupid to see what they're doing but the reality is, they just don't give a rat's butt.
