"If you show up with cancer & you're 95 years old, we should say...we can't do anything..."

[Blue_true]

94. I would like to see the Canadian model done here.

When that country was considering a nationalized medicine system, there was no agreement, conservative provinces wanted nothing to do with such a system. So a compromise was reached, provinces that wanted to go to a social medicine system were allowed to, with some assistance from the government. After a few years, the recalcitrant provinces realized that they had made a mistake, and the true national system was formed.

I believe what blue states with solid democratic control should do is band together to form their system. Since states regulate which insurance companies can sell there, those collection of states can legally refuse to license any company whose policies and procedures don't meet minimum standards. The collection of states could also set up one insurance agency to cover them all and compete with the private plans. I believe that what will happen in the end is red states will realize how screwed they are and ask to join the blue states' plan, which they should be allowed to join as long as they agree to abide be the rules of that plan and not attempt to amend it - also, they would be junior members until they have proven their sincerity.