[Stumptown]

I'm self-employed and living in the US. I have three options for health care:
1) Pay out of pocket for regular check ups (about $250/year, really not that bad) and pray to Cthulhu that I don't get hit by a bus
2) Pay about $250/month to cover that ONE doctor's visit per year, for a policy with a $5000 deductible that doesn't even cover prescriptions (this is what I do, and I hate it), or
3) Pay about $500/month for a policy with very little deductible, but covers my doctor's visit and monthly prescriptions (about $100), but the insurance company fights every single charge and you end up paying out of pocket anyway.

And don't even ask about dental or vision care...

So, basically I have a choice of paying some insurance company well more than 10 times my average annual medical costs, or living in constant fear of random injury and disease. There's something really wrong with this equation, and someone's getting really, really rich of it, and it's not my family doctor. The news media keep talking about "the skyrocketing costs of medical care." My annual check-up hasn't changed cost in years, but my insurance premium has more than doubled in the last 5 years. It's a racket, and it has to stop, and the only way to get it to stop is government intervention. And the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies are doing all they can to stop it, and they're starting to get desperate...