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- The People of Kentucky and the Republican Party should be ashamed of these creatures. They are so OBVIOUSLY in the pocket of the Lobbyist it's not even funny. THIS party needs to be terminated so another party, a party more in line with what our Constitution says they should be, allowed to take it's place. We the PEOPLE means just that. NOT We the WELL TO DO People.
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- Hi all. I live in Sweden. The system here works - don't let anyone trick you into the "socialized" (and therefore lower quality) medicine argument. Yes, the US has a major investment to do in the public domain in order to even get to the basics of a public system. But unfortunetely that is the price that must be paid by the generations today if you want to have anything that resembles a working system in say 10-15 years. I have a private insurance on top of my basic public coverage that allows me a small individual clinic in case of "everyday"medical needs - anything big (heart, serious illness) then the pub system is there as well.
It is clear & basic knowledge. You (the US) made a business out of a basic human need. Corporations, by nature, are born, rise, expand, fuse, and fail. Thats ok. It is not ok to do what you have done to the population of the US. In a way, the USA is in the middle ages - eye for an eye etc. What a shame. What a sham!!! - Reply to this comment
- Look at all the countries that have single payer health care plans - and find one, just one, where they have decided to go back, where people have said this is worse than what they had before. You won't find one.
What you will find is that every single measure of health care is better there. Fewer preventable deaths. Lower infant mortality. Longer life span. Lower cost per capita spent on health care (by a LOT - even while they are covering everyone, and we are NOT). - Reply to this comment
- If the government plan is worse - it's simple - people won't buy into it. This is the free market - which the insurance companies and their toadies are TERRIFIED of.
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- The government has an excellent record on these things.
Medicare - has a drastically lower overhead than private medical insurance - is quite simply an order of magnitude more efficient - more money goes to doctors and hospitals, less the multitudes of bureaucrat. Exactly what anyone not in the insurance companies pockets would want from an insurance company. - Reply to this comment
- So - a flat out admission that the fair and free market would choose a government plan over the private plans.
So much for capitalism - they don't want capitalism - they want corporatism, where businesses get to run the country and the gov't is not allowed to provide any services - even if they can do so more efficiently and cheaply - that a corporation wishes to gouge the public for.
If the government plan wouldn't be better, cheaper, then people would not choose it. Only if it were going to be better - less exclusions, fewer times when you pay for coverage, then get denied the instant you have a problem, less fighting over needed care, lower costs - would private insurance be at risk of going out of business.
In capitalism - TRUE capitalism - when a competitor has a superior product, and the old business goes out of business because they have an inferior product - that is a good and normal thing. Obviously McConnell doesn't believe in capitalism - he believes in supporting his corporate sponsors. - Reply to this comment
- Republicans had their chance to address this issue - for a LONG time. They did nothing. Now, Democrats have their turn. They WILL do something - make NO mistake. It's about time someone did something other than talk.
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- Senator McConnell spoke of people's aversion to standing in line to see a doctor. As one of the nation's uninsured, I can assure him standing in line for a chance to see a doctor is NOT a problem for most unisured people. I, along with many others want to avoid ERs and just get some basic care...simple stuff that improves my health, life and community.
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- Optional National Health Insurance but not mandatory health insurance. As health care insurance becomes more affordable, more people can afford it.
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- Public health care is a great idea!
Just look at the past successes of the govt: A failing, expensive public education system; congested public roads; public 'defense' and foreign interventionism (Americans paying trillions for foreign wars); future debt obligations of $50-80 TRILLION to govt entitlement programs; $11 TRILLION in federal debt.
Gee, looking at it like that, it doesn't appear that the govt does much of anything right. - Reply to this comment
- the only non starter is his presidential campain
the GOP has been expelled from the promised land, only to wander the desert for decades to come - Reply to this comment
- That is the big difference between you and I.
Posted by Solarrays247 at 7:09 PM : Jun 14, 2009
I haven't a clue what you are talking about and apparently you really don't know a good answer. I can tell you I have worked with Medicare for almost 40 yrs and know its strength and weaknesses. I have worked indirectly as well. Neither are as good a coverage as you will get from a good insurance plan. They both significantly underpay doctors to the extent that it is dificult for Medicaid patients to find either dentists or specialists. Medicare pays for much less than most private plans and most people find it necessary to get supplemental plans
Posted by alanrobisch at 7:24 PM : Jun 14, 2009
Then I shall spell it out for you, alan. Let it suffice for me to say that at one time I was an insurance agent. Yes, I sold health insurance, as well as life insurance, annuities, stocks, bonds, you name it. That was twenty years ago, and a lot has changed!!
I sold health insurance to corporations, as well as to individuals. There are numerous types of health insurance plans, as you should be aware! But, you see alan, we have a problem in this country today! More and more people do not have access to health insurance. Either their employers cannot afford to offer it, or the individual cannot afford the high premiums on their own, or if they can afford to pay the premiums, they might not be able to pay the the 20%, etc. etc.
(You mentioned that you worked with medicare for 40 years. Were you a government employee in that role? If so, you would have had some of the best health insurance coverage available to anyone in this country, and you were very fortunate!)
I live in a community that has a large senior citizen population. I don't really hear many complaints from any of these people that I have contact with because we have no shortage of doctors and specialists, at least where we live.....but I do hear about patients and their doctors having to fight with their private health insurance companies for the proper medication or treatments. If you have the time try googling this subject, and see what the heck many of our fellow Americans are dealing with!
I remember when our health care in this country was the best in the world! Yes, that was a time long ago! We are now rated 37th!! That is outrageous and unacceptable for the United States of America.
It is the health insurance companies who have not kept their end of the bargain with the American people! The HMO's, and the PPO's were originally implemented to contain costs! See how well they have done?
Why not be receptive to at least keeping an open mind until you have the chance to examine what our government ends up proposing? If we don't like, we have a voice, yes?
Remember, this is a multi-level problem. We're talking not only health coverage for all our citizens, but also the chance to reduce some of the costs that have crippled many U.S. companies when they are having to compete in the world trade markets. It is cheaper for them to move overseas. - Reply to this comment
- GOP: Protectors of the Insurance Companies!!!
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- The insurers charge 30% on each dollar of health care provided, so simply by switching to single payer (which has administrative costs of 1%), we would save a TON of money, sufficient to help us make the switch.
Posted by ubrew12 at 3:23 PM : Jun 14, 2009
The Republicans are dependent upon America being and staying stupid.
In particular, they hope that America will continue to believe that there is a difference between a "profit" and a "tax".
But there is NO difference to the buyer; in the case of health insurance, for instance, you lose 30% of the health care your dollar should buy to the insurance companies' drive for "profits" - and a bigger paycheck for their CEOs.
At least with a tax you get some representation regarding just how badly you wallet will be savaged.
The Republicans irk me; they aren't really anti-tax so much as they are pro-thievery. - Reply to this comment
- In other words the GOP wants to "stay the course" with the way things have been going.
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- We are all paying for everyone's health care one way or the other. Costs that are written off for the poor are simply added to those who have insurance.
Let's get a grip on it, and quit worrying whether somebody else is getting something cheaper than you are. - Reply to this comment
- The GOP LIE about "the best health care in the world" MUST be LOUDLY CONDEMNED. This disgusting lie is meant to preserve a system where ONLY THE WEALTHY can afford "the best", and the reset of us get much less and pay a LOT more.
A definitive (2008) report shows that the United States spends more than TWICE AS MUCH on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries. But it has fallen to LAST PLACE among those countries in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care, according to the report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York.
Access to care in the United States has worsened since the fund's first report card in 2006 as more people, some 75 MILLION AMERICANS in 2008, are believed to lack adequate health insurance or are uninsured altogether. And within the nation, the report found, the cost and quality of care vary drastically.
The United States now ranks LAST IN THE WORLD in preventable mortality, just below Ireland and Portugal, according to the Commonwealth Fund's analysis of World Health Organization data. The leader by that measure is France, followed by Japan and Australia. - Reply to this comment
- Go ahead and be stupid, McConnell. Ain't no one gonna stop you even if they could.
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- Posted by alanrobisch at 7:04 PM : Jun 14, 2009
It is a free country and you are welcome to follow your agenda, alan. If you decide some day to open up your mind, do your OWN research instead of listening to the talking heads...you will still be welcome.
We are not a "Party"....we are the United States of America, and I believe that my country and my fellow citizens come first before any political party or party hack.
That is the big difference between you and I. - Reply to this comment
- There are alternatives to a public health plan but you won't hear it from the press or Obama or the dems because this is their only answer to any social problem Let the govt run it.
Posted by alanrobisch at 6:58 PM : Jun 14, 2009
Then why wasn't it accomplished under the last administraion? If the Republicans have such a good solution to the health care issue why wait until now? Had they actually had a good plan and implimented it they may still have been in office. THEY DON'T HAVE A PLAN. - Reply to this comment
