I'm a nutmeg transplant, but I sincerely love this state for many reasons. The most important reason being public health-care, in Connecticut it is called the Husky plan.
The background:
Me and my wife originally moved up here from North Carolina, in the midst of her first pregnancy. If you have never gone to an OBGYN in NC, then let me tell you that before you ever meet a doctor you first meet a financial counselor. This person explains that with the state's best available private insurance plan you will be out over 5G's in out of pocket expenses just for prenatal care--I'll repeat that 5G for prenatal...more if you want to actually have a kid delivered in a hospital.
Thank God she got an offer to work in CT. We moved up here, but the division was closed right after moving up here. Seems that China is a better place to make stuff. We were in despair, all we could find was part-time work, under 31 hours, so that we wouldn't qualify for health care coverage by employers.
However, we had to go to an OB.
The CT miracle:
We went to the doctors office expecting to be met by a team of financial advisers, who would explain to us that we could never in a million years afford a delivery of a child. Instead we met NO financial people, rather we met with the doctor.
We explained to him our misfortune, and instead of kicking us out he had us fill out one paper from the State of Connecticut which covered us fully with no deductibles or co-pays.
When my beautiful son was born we were met with our son not a bill. When my son had a hernia at 3 weeks old, there was no cost, there was a remedy. When he was found to have asthma at 6 months old, his O(2) levels were at 89%, his treatment at the Children's Hospital, his Nebulizer, and his medicine all were provided to us at no cost.
My Feelings:
During the Dot-com bubble, I was a major player in one of the worlds largest telecoms, and consequently have paid my fair share of taxes. It was nice to know that at least in one state a social safety net existed for people who found themselves in genuine need.
We could not, at that time, afford the over 2k per month which would be required to purchase a halfway decent plan. We were in need, and this state helped us.
Since then my wife and I have returned to gainful employment. We have employer provided insurance. We pay our taxes--cheerfully. We know that a part of that goes to giving help to those who cannot do so.
Conclusions:
Government Health-care, is not some scary thing. It is an idea supported by classical (or European) liberals because it allows greater social mobility. It would save the country money to have health insurance that is not employer dependent but person dependent. My son had a fundamental right to enter this world healthy. We as parents needed help to see that that happened. The foresight of at least some of our elected representatives, made sure that he is now a smart, healthy, and wonderful young gentleman.