I tend to agree with much of what you say. The problem with forcing the insurance companies to not deny people with pre-existing conditions is many people would wait until they get sick to buy insurance, thus the need to make insurance mandatory.

The public option and medicare expansion was killed by one or two senators. I'm interested in what is happening now though. No one ever said health care reform would be easy, and it's proved to be a real mountain to climb, but it's not dead yet. Dems are looking at going back to the Senate with reconciliation to amend the bill to make it more palatable to Dems in the House. If they decide to go that route this could get very interesting. Can anyone say "Fuck off Nelson and Leiberman!"?