Universal Healthcare? Thanks, but no thanks!

Universal healthcare is a hot topic in our country today. Should we implement a universal healthcare system that is run by the government? That is the question I am going to address today.
Universal healthcare, according to some in Washington, is a necessity. I do not believe this to be true. According to the current presidential candidate Barack Obama, a universal healthcare plan would provide for everyone in the United States of America either by "employers, private health plans, the federal government, or the states" (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/issues/candidates/barack-obama/). This sounds all well and good, right? Wrong! The plan that he would like to introduce would force all employers to either contribute to a plan of thier choosing or to the public plan. The public governmental plan would be substantially cheaper to contribute towards, so most if not all employers are going to contribute toward the public governmental plan. The governmental plan will obviously cover the basest of healthcare needs (i.e. checkups, follow-ups etc.) but would make YOU pick up the slack on other things that you may have been covered by in your original employers health plan. I'll explain. Let's say you have acid reflux disease. The public plan would cover, according to my understanding, your doctor visits but would not cover the endoscopy that you would need to diagnose any underlying diseases that cause the issue since you would need to be referred to a specialist. So the full cost of the procedure would come out of your pocket with no help coming from the government-run public plan.
Private health plans now are costly because they cover things that you may not ever need. Guess what, that is why it is called insurance. They cover you IN CASE you contract or develop a disease or injury. I understand that some people want insurance and they cannot afford it. Many providers are willing to work with you to figure out a plan that is right for you and within your price range. If we let the government step anymore into the ring of healthcare by telling us that we can either have a public health plan that covers almost nothing and pay everything else including coverage for chronic diseases out of pocket OR get health insurance from our employer that will most likely buy into the governmental plan, well I guess that's not much of a choice is it.
I would say that America has the BEST health care doctors, facilities, and resources in the world. If a public plan does go into effect then the doctors and facilities will lose thier private funding because they are now funded by the government. However, the government (without raising taxes exponentially) cannot possibly keep up the needed funding that each clinic/hospital needs and thus the care will suffer. The doctors and nurses numbers will dwindle because they are underpaid and overworked. The emergency centers will be overwhelmed because every scrape and bruise will need to be looked at by a health professional because the masses won't have to distinguish whether a hospital visit is warranted or not because it is free. In time the system will eventually worsen to the point that the care that was once the best in the world is is in shambles and will need to be revived. Revived most likely through a free market that thrives on competition, which was ripped from us in the first place.
Remember that health care, like everything else, is not free! Everyone pays!
I am American. I am Everyman. I am Countryman.