How could this happen in America?

So we supposedly live in the greatest country in the world, right? And capitalism is the best system available, right? Well, call me a bleeding-heart liberal commie if you want, but there are at least a few "industries" that should not be free-market or profit-based, even here in wonderful America. Energy is one -- deruglation has worked out wonderfully in California, and the oil companies have realized that with the American attitude of entitlement, gasoline is really not a flexible resource, so they gouge us at the pumps and post record profits.

But the biggest problem area is health care. It should be written in the Constitution that ALL persons in America have a right to the very best health care, at absolutely no out-of-pocket expense. The greatest country in the world should be able to figure out how to do that, even if it means actually getting the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. But insurance companies and hospital systems are in the business of making money. As a result, many American families are financially ruined by health care costs. From The New York Times:

From 2000 to 2005, employees in the most common type of insurance plan, known as preferred provider organizations, saw their premiums for individual coverage rise 76 percent, to $603 from $342, while their deductibles - the amount they pay out of pocket before insurance kicks in - rose almost 85 percent, to $323 from $175, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. By 2003, a survey by the Center for Studying Health System Change estimated, 20 million American families had trouble paying their medical bills. Two-thirds of these had health insurance.

Yep. God bless America and God bless capitalism.