Thanks a lot for your input.
Compared to you, I know very little about this industry but reading through the proposals and articles it just sickens me. I understand about the courts ruling that emergency care must be provided to illegal aliens, but I think that is a far cry from having to pay for insurance for anyone who chooses to set foot on California soil.
I see things like mandating that every person have insurance (along with the state enforcement actions) as an assault on freedom. The state mandating what is considered a "healthy" lifestyle (while most legislators endorse homosexuality) is also ridiculous. The state mandating what private companies can make as profit is against everything I believe in. I need to read a lot lot more to know what bothers me the most. But I know my stomach is turning watching what our state and our nation is becoming. It saddens me greatly and I believe there were 100 simpler and better ways to deal with the realities, without this monster.
Early on, there was a lot of discussion about how everyone had to do his/her share, and particularly that the government had to do its share. That became a mantra, and you still see it repeated all the time in the press. It got dropped in the group discussion, though, shortly after someone pointed out that the government doesn't have any money it didn't take from us.
The whole 'goodie two-shoes' aspect of the wellness section irritates me no end. Particularly since the state of the art regarding knowledge about connections between life-style and health outcomes changes on an almost daily basis. I doubt that I'll be the first in line to go get my 'voluntary' life-style assessment done.