You are correct to assert that progressive, or inclusive if you like this term better, policies cannot be pursued without a progressive tax structure which will cause large sections of the middle class to pay their fair share as well.

This being said, you can pretty well arguably wipe out the US federal budget deficit by taxing the top 1% at the same levels they were taxed at under the Nixon admnistration. And if you tax them at Eisenhower levels, you'll have enough to pay for healthcare reform.

Can't speak to income distributions or tax and revenue incidence in Germany, but in the US, that's how it works.

Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant

So... You think that legalized highway robbery by the insurance companies is the right answer to health care, but it just needs to go farther? Remember, Clinton's plan was "pass a law requiring that everyone pay for insurance". That's like saying we can eliminate homelessness and starvation by passing a law requiring that everyone pay for a home and food. The right answer to that proposal isn't to extend it, it's to encase it in concrete and dump it into the Mariana Trench. Obama's plan isn't the best it could be (that would be the dread "socialized medicine"), but it's sure as hell better than Clinton's.