on random blocks of social security numbers from across the country to provide basic health care plans. That way there would be no cherry picking and all people would be treated equally. Sam | 10.5.09 @ 12:04PM What a lame response. What do you think inspires companies to develop new treatments and advance care? CAPITALISM&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;The ability to make a profit. If it weren't for this incentive, we would be 50 years behind where we are now. amazerIsWrong | 10.6.09 @ 1:13AM Um, sorry to spoil your fantasy world, but everything that doesn't exist in an infinite quantity (which includes healthcare) has to be "rationed" at some point. The optimal answer is to leave the rationing up to individuals, who "ration" by deciding what to and not to buy. Whether it's the government, you, or an insurance company doing the rationing, it's got to happen. (sorry, that's just a fact). What we've got now is kind of an indirect form of rationing, where insurance companies have to "ration" their costs because if they don't, they go out of business. But if an insurance company doesn't do this well, people can switch to another one. The "public option" essentially replaces all those separate, competing companies (among which we can choose) with ONE BIG insurance company, where we have absolutely no choice if we don't like how the rationing happens. Hey, I'm going to fix the last sentence of your comment so that it's no longer flagrantly false. Here goes: "Health insurance is