My aunt, employeed with the same small business for 43 years, had to go to the emergency room at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston to get several toes amputated.  After over 24 hours of waiting to be seen, she was finally admitted.  Little toes are not a priority over all the gunshot wounds and OD's that Houston gets every night.

Her boss had to drop medical coverage several years ago, the company just couldnt pay it.  And my aunt, (in her 60s) couldnt afford to pay for it her self.  When her toe started to have problems, she racked up several thousand in medical bills (Maxing out some credit cards), for various medications, ex rays, specialist visits.  But when it got to the point they needed to be removed, the simple out patient surgery clinics wanted 9k up front, with the remaining portion billed out monthly.  The infection had spread to her bone, and if her toes werent removed, it would continue to spread across her foot.

She has no children, no husband, and no living siblings to assist. Due to economic climate in the title industry, I didnt have the extra money to help her either.  For her, Emergency room was her only choice.  If she waited longer, she could loose her whole foot.

Im not saying that the current plan is the answer to everything.  I think we are addressing the wrong problems in the wrong way.  Patent laws and other government backed monopolies that are preventing research.  Excessive profits by insurance companies.  Corporations abusing tax codes to pay no income tax, now combined with unlimited corporate political contributions to ensure those codes dont change.  The prohibition of third party inclusion in the presidential debates (No third party canidate has appeared in a presidential debate since the election oversight was taken from the League of Women's voters in the era of Ross Perot), and additional loopholes for those voices to appear on ballots.

All economic systems center around greed. Capitalism is embraced, because those with means, want more.  Socialism is embraced because those without means, want some from those that do.  The trick is to find the balance.  To give enough to those without, so they can be happy and healthy, while maining a policy that allows those with means to keep their wealth.  The current situation is out of balance, with the wealthy retaining more and contributing less to maintain the lives of the lower classes.  History has repeated this situation countless times, in various political structures.  Class warfare and revolts have historically happened around times of economic down turn, food shortages, or periods where there was heavy taxation on the lower masses. 

The country's current government has alot of problems. 

America's embrace of Capitalism, has given us a country full of people climbing over one another, to get to the top.  The masses are enslaved by an economic system, that allthough gives them the illusion of choice, at the end of the day there is no choice.  You work until you die, or you choose to die sooner.