I don't see how helping the Big 3 pay healthcare costs in exchange for fuel economy is going to help anything. Not only does the govt become an enabler for HMOs to charge more, it doesn't help anyone who is not employed by the Big 3.
I also don't see how the govt would be able to regulate how much HMOs charge. Remember, we're Capitalist. The HMOs will say either pay what we want or go someplace else.
I think we should start with two things. First, America is the fattest nation in the world. Being obese causes diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart problems. The list goes on and on. What happens? Instead of losing weight to get rid of all these issues, people would rather take pills the rest of their life so they can have that cheeseburger. Sure, the pills will "control" it, but you have to see your doctor more often and have lab tests done to monitor the drugs and their effects. It's all economics: Less demand for the drugs/doctors, thus lower prices. Now I know there are some out there that are obese because of medical conditions, so this doesn't apply to them. Second, I live in Southern CA. You can imagine how many illegal aliens we have here. The US pays for all of their healthcare if they become ill. That's OUR tax dollars. They're here illegally and aren't supposed to be able to work meaning they're not paying any taxes (they also drive here illegally without a license and, thus, no insurance, which is why auto insurance costs more here too, but that's another story).
What I'm saying is, I think we should start with ourselves. We can't sit here waiting for the politicians to sort it all out. That could take years or decades! So get fit ,America, and we'll be less dependent on healthcare. :booyah:
And, no, I'm not an aerobics instructor http://www.cheersandgears.com/public/style_emoticons//AH-HA_wink.gif