"Single payer health care system"? Is that one of them there socialist ideas? And you're knocking the efficiency of the free market system? Where you from, mister? Canada or France? Parlez vous frances?
Rigs are shutting down because we have an efficient system. It would be inefficient if they kept operating. Besides, right now crude is a stable supply and our infrastructure needs to move away from it slowly, not overnight. NG will be an important part of our future, but all in good time. We will most likely continue using crude oil products as long as we rely on internal combustion engines, but those will get phased out when we come up with a new fuel source like hydrogen or some fuel cell technology. We will likely pass right over NG.
Besides, as soon as we start relying on NG, it is going to go up in price considerably, so you can't make comparisons while it is below $4. Coal will continue to be our cheapest energy source and we have an abundance of it. At some point you will see new nuclear facilities come online here in the States, which are far more efficient than the best NG plant.
BTW, what is a 'MIC'?