Though I recognize the tongue-in-cheek nature of your description of Barbara's list as "compelling alternatives," John, I would submit that the elements of that list ("HSA's, tort reform, allow interstate purchasing of insurance, individual ownership of insurance policies, reallocate Medciaid spending to simple vouchers for low-income individuals to purchase their own insurance, etc.") are not alternatives at all; they are side issues. Some with more to recommend them than others, but none are the solutions to the problem being discussed that Barbara presented them as. More obfuscation. It doesn't work with discerning readers.

Mike W.