Like anything else in life you only get what you pay for. Some PPO's are very tight like BC/BS and others are more fairly run.

Your facts aren't totally straight. There is COBRA for people leaving their jobs for whatever reason and it can extended in the case of a serious pre-existing condition. See http://cobrainsurance.com/information/?source=google_adwd&gclid=CPTpgLDcnY0CFQGlQAodggZHzQ

If you can qualify for your own small group plan (i.e. you are self employed) Kaiser, at least anyway, has a "no questions asked" policy. That's how I got coverage. I had NO insurance going into this. Kaiser also paid for me to be treated at UCSFCCC - I didn't even have a $5 copay!

There are many ways around the system. Publicly funded institutions are required to take a certain amount or poor and indigent cases.

The injustice is the middle and lower middle classes that own some property or have some assets. Those will be taken away to pay the bills. Especially if you are in a state run program like Medical.

I know people with no assets however, who have recieved state of the art medical care through the County healthnet, so anything is possible if you are willing to do the legwork.

Further complicating this are the changes that have ocurred in business today. Outsourcing of jobs, weakening of the labor unions, acquisitions and mergers, no more career opportunities that our parents enjoyed, no loyalty between companies and workers - the list is endless.

One only has to look at the VA or military hospital system and juxtapose that this is how a Federal government universal health care program would be implemented. Thank you but NO thank you.

This whole issue to on the brink of a biblical catastrophy as the boomers start lining up. Kaiser is scurrieing, as we speak, to build cancer centers around the country just to handle the influx.

You ain't seen nothing yet - and they think that Social Security is at risk!