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Universal Healthcare be provided to all American citizens

The three points of your last argument seem to be the primary problems most people have with the idea of government-run healthcare, so I'm glad you brought them up. 1)On the claim that government-run healthcare would require a tax increase: This is not necessarily true. We're spending billions and billions of dollars unnecessarily on things such as the Iraq war, and as you said yourself in your first statement, there are a number of frivolous government expenditures that could easily be cut back. If we were to cut back on such unnecessary expenses, it could *easily* cover the cost of a government health care system. And even if it *did* require a tax increase, which I admit is possible, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, because it would mean replacing the cost of insurance payments and out-of-pocket medical expenses with a progressive tax plan, which would be much better for the vast majority of Americans. 2)On the claim that the free market handles healthcare more cost-effectively than the government would: Right now, almost a third of all healthcare spending in the United States goes straight into corporate profit and executive salaries for health insurance companies. In a non-profit, government-run system, there would be none of this to pay for. In other words, a third of the total cost of healthcare in the United States right now would be completely eliminated through the transition to a government-run healthcare system, thus making the system a full third cheaper, and beating the free market at its own game. 3)On the claim that government-run healthcare would require rationing of care: ANY healthcare system requires rationing of care. Under the current free-market system, everyone who cannot afford health insurance or out-of-pocket medical expenses, or who the health insurance companies can effectively deny care for, are *completely* excluded from *all* healthcare. Under a government-run system, the necessary rationing of healthcare would happen on the basis of the necessity of the procedure, rather than on the basis of the patient's ability to pay - this is a MUCH better system.