Basically a well written article but what Olbermann should keep in mind is that the emphasis should be in railing against the FOR-PROFIT insurance companies. As T.R. Reid [a person whom Olbermann should have on his program] makes clear in his most relevant book The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care, countries in France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan, etc. have very effective health care systems because even though countries like Germany require their citizens to have insurance, those companies are privately run and are not driven by profit.

As Reid notes in his book, in France, "the insurance plans-the caisses d'assurance maladie, or 'sickness insurance funds'-are nonprofit entities, their main concern [being not to] provide a return to investors but, rather, paying for people's health care. French insurance funds can't turn you down for coverage, regardless of preexisting conditions. They can't terminate your coverage when you lose or change your job. [When a French worker loses her job, she keeps the same insurance plan; the government pays the employer's share of the premium.] They can't deny a claim; once the doctor submits a bill, insurance has to pay it. There's no deductible; French insurance pays from the first euro billed. The long delays in reimbursement common in American insurance companies are illegal in France. Doctors and hospitals are generally paid within a week, and the patients must be reimbursed for their costs at the end of each month. Since the French insurance funds don't spend any money on marketing, on filtering out unwelcome customers, on reviewing and denying claims, or on paying dividends to stockholders, they are significantly more efficient businesses than American insurance companies." Compared to the situation in the U.S. "the French insurance plans administrative costs are below 5 per cent" as opposed to 20 per cent in this country. The for-profit insurance companies in America pale in comparison next to the non profit insurers of France and other countries that employ universal health care around the world.