How Now Brown Cow?

When did people stop paying for their own health care? Or maybe it should be restated this way, when did people start thinking paying for their own health care is someone else's responsibility?
A year ago I traded massages with a young woman and I mentioned how my father had surgery 50 years ago, and my parents paid for it themselves. "People used to pay for their own medical bills?" she asked.
I was pretty young, but I remember my dad paying bills, and I know paying off that surgery was huge, and he said to my mom, "We're almost in the black." I could tell he was relieved but also proud.
When did medical insurance kick in? It's not like I don't appreciate our insurance. It has really helped us out. But I wonder if "free" amounts of money infused into a situation don't just escalate prices. Like what happened to the housing market.
When did medical benefits become the big draw in getting a job? In California, the unions have an amazingly sweet deal for its employees. I worked 30 hours a week for 40 weeks a year as an aide for special education. The school district gave me a medical plan that gave me 80% coverage for my medical issues, and sometimes 100%, and it included my family. Who payed for my medical insurance? California tax payers. What state has a 52 billion dollar deficit? California. There's so much more to say about this...I quit that job to assuage my guilt for soaking the California tax payers.
I still don't understand how our country, being in a trillion dollar debt, and growing, can think we can pay for every American to have health coverage. And that's not even my real question. My real question is, do we have enough doctors, nurses and medical facilities to supply all the demand that will be created when everyone with a US birth certificate has medical coverage? If 50 million more people have insurance and can freely go to the doctor's office, that's 1 million more people in each state, all states being equal. That wait time just gets longer.
And if the answer to covering everyone is cutting costs, what gets cut? It won't be the bureaucracy. On Meet the Press Sunday, it came out that in the House Bill, 87 new departments will be created, with over 100,00 new people to pay (plus benefits). Will there be a huge rise in taxes? Will the cost of pharmaceuticals be cut? I don't think so. Big Pharma, as it's called, is said to have made a happy deal with President Obama. Will it be cuts in care to sick people? Will it be the paychecks to doctors and nurses? I think our legislature is moving way too fast on all of this, and is not building a foundation that will support the plan.
A medical student comes out of school in tremendous debt from student loans. He or she is an intern, then a resident, and the hours and work load are horrendous. Will we encourage young men and women to work so hard to become doctors and medical practitioners when their pay could be less than doctors are getting now? It will take someone who loves medicine and the human race so much, that he or she is willing to be in debt for the rest of his or her life in order to serve the American People. That is so much to ask. healthfreedomblog.com/?p=737