Bartender Geek

When it comes to nanny-state issues - I don't think that's all of what's going on (says the non-Mass resident, so I may be completely wrong). Uninsured people are a big financial drain. They go to ERs instead of doctors' offices. They wait until things get serious before seeking care. They are often unable to pay the hospital bills. And so on. So you have in many cases more lost productivity, money and services taken out of the public hospital system that isn't put back in, possible public health issues when it comes to infectious diseases... I don't have any kind of data, and I don't know enough (yet) to know all the pieces that would be necessary for a full cost/benefit analysis. But purely financially, this could be the better route (better than the current system, I mean; I'm not even talking about single-payer here).