I think that your understanding of Obama's plan is off. Any form of universal healthcare in this country that is funded by the government will turn into socialized healthcare system. It will have to. Right now, you have fewer and fewer doctors accepting medicare patients - mainly because the trying to work with the government is not worth it (payments so small they don't cover your overhead, innocent and unintentional mistakes prosecuted as fraud, etc). Costs for medicare are spiraling out of control (and most of it is going to the bureaucracy) and soon the only way to control them will be to ration healthcare. And for those who complain about the lack of transparency in what doctors charge - here's a quick fact for you: doctors are prohibited by medicare from posting a price list.