Reply #22: You said it:

[JDPriestly]

"If you swap a portion of "defense" spending for health care spending, you would have this in the bag with no one slipping through the cracks."

That is the key. European countries, for example, that have excellent public healthcare programs, do not spend nearly the amount per capita on defense that we do. That is the secret of their great healthcare programs.

And, by the way, the VA system should be merged into the regular healthcare system -- another savings mechanism. If eligibel veterans live in big cities, they get good healthcare from the VA. If they live in rural American, they probably cannot get good VA care. I base that on personal assumption with veterans in my family who have or do not have good VA care.