Health Care Reform Support Group

I had read the post, and, on it's face it looks credible.

I know SOMETHING must happen. Our system is in utter chaos. The Insurance Companies RUN our health care. It isn't the doctors or the corporate hospital types...it's the Insurance Industry, and it is indeed an INDUSTRY. They have protections not afforded to other businesses across the US. They "fix" prices everyday, when it is quite illegal to do so in any other arena.

The fix needs to be incremental, and it needs to start with the Insurance Industry, not taxing more Americans to pay for programs that are untested and untried here in the US. We aren't Canada, France, or England....we fought big wars not to be. No sense in assuming what is working in their countries, with their varying economies, will hold up here. We need a plan of our own, and until somone puts a stop to the Insurance Industry's stranglehold on American health care, this will be a long and painful struggle. Lives will be lost while Big Brother tried to figure out how to keep making the huge profits.

I hate the system the way it is, but I fear a system where I have no choice. Look at the pharmaceuticals now. The only ones that are reasonable priced are the generic versions of long-time medications. Your insurance company telly your doctor which ones that can be prescribed. Not directly, no they say..."get what you want - to pay for", but they will only "allow" certain medications under your plan. If they aren't on the approved list, you have to habe a physician call for approval, and they won't do it due to time constraints, so, in effect....who is prescribing?

I want affordable healthcare. If we can afford it, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. Big businesses quit providing coverage and the fees went to the employees. In 1981, when I started my first job, my insurance was paid by my employer, and my husband was paid for at 75%. Now, employers shift the high cost to the employee. You "get" coverage, but you pay for it, or at least most of us do.

There is going to be a huge influx of those who come under the "entitlement" concept whenever the system does shift, I only hope we don't get drowned in the flood.

I don't think anyone (from middle america or lower america at least) has had much choice regarding health care for years --if you want insurance (and you can actually still get it through an employer) you have to go with whatever an employer has available -- and most employers do not have a huge number of choices. We can not blame employers --the skyrocketing costs of health insurance premiums are often rather unaffordable for most businesses and even rather large companies are facing increases for insurance premiums that are larger than what they expect for increases in wages. I have read recently that the average cost of annual insurance premium per a single person is $4500 and for a family of four $12,000. How many employers can afford that for all of their employees?

I think many Americans already feel as though they are drowning when it comes to health care costs -- "From the NCHC org: One in four Americans say their family has had a problem paying for medical care during the past year, up 7 percentage points over the past nine years. Nearly 30 percent say someone in their family has delayed medical care in the past year, a new high based on recent polling. Most say the medical condition was at least somewhat serious. A recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. The study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance. In addition, the study found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem."

The US spends approximately twice as much on health care in comparison to other democratic industralized nations that have universal health coverage. Private insurance bureaucracy and paperwork consume much of these healthcare dollars. Streamlining payment through a single NONPROFIT would probably save more than enough to provide high quality comprehensive coverage to all Americans. Here is link that discusses some articles on that issue: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/sept...

As far as "in flux of entitlement" goes I guess I agree with Senator Kennedy "Health care is not just another commodity. It is not a gift to be rationed based on the ability to pay" I feel that Health care is a human need that should be provided for by us as a community like police protection and fire protection. A country should be judged by how it treats its less fortunate -- and right now I am ashamed.

But realize if Obama wins he wants to change the health care system like Canada has....They have the worst health care system, and you can never go see a doctor and an appt to see one may take 6 months. and to go to the doctor it maybe be days away to travel to see a doctor. also read snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/med...

But the problem with seeing a doctor in Canada is just finding one. There is only one health plan in Canada and everyone takes it. The problem is that there are enormous areas of Canada with very few people per square mile, and even fewer doctors. Especially if you need a specialist and live out in the sticks, you are going to have a real problem. In EVERY country you have the problem of not being able to find a GOOD doctor. In this country you have the additional problem of not being able to find a good one who takes your coverage.

I think one major point of the "mythbusting" article is that they do NOT have socialized medicine. They have a single-party payer system. We would be the same if every single American had exactly the same Blue Cross plan.

no matter which we go, some one is going to have to pay for it. it could end up costing more money then we pay for health care now. My biggest fear is the Goverment will tell me which dr. I can see, and then tell said dr. what kind of care they can offer me. we have this happening right now in health care. the insurance company's dictate what kind of care is provided, by refussing to pay.

Many comments include the "fears" that having a universal health care system with coverage for all will mean that the quality of care will decrease because 1. the government will dictate what doctors can be seen or what care doctors can provide and 2. we will necessarily have excessive wait times.
First, I think that we already have our medical care controlled (by insurance companies). I for one would rather have the government control my doctors than a "profit-driven" insurance company. I feel that I have more of a voice with the government than I have with some corporation. Second, if you are in the category of not having access to care (eg. no insurance) such fears just have no meaning. You just want to be able to go to a doctor or take your sick child to a doctor.. You hope you can see a "good" doctor and you hope you don't have to wait to long -- but mostly you just want to go to the doctor. As the trend in our current system is that costs continue to increase for insurance and medical care I imagine more and more people will fall in the category of not having access to care.
Finally, I have noticed that these "fears" have been the part of the arguments for political opposition to a universal health care system for a long time. I just wonder if they are not overestimated -- so many other democratic industralized countries provide universal coverage and many of those countries have higher quality of care!

Health care in this country has gotten to be a joke. Too many of us can't afford it and don't have jobs that provide it any more. I DO NOT WANT A GOVERNMENT RAN INSURANCE PLAN BECAUSE THEY SCREW EVERYTHING UP THAT THEY TOUCH. AT TEH SAME TIME I THINK MCCAIN'S PLAN IS A TOTAL JOKE. WHY CAN'T THE GOVERNMENT REGULATE HEALTHCARE AND KEEP COSTS AFFORDABLE. MCCAIN CAN AFFORD HEALTHCARE NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. IF I COULD AFFORD AS MANY HOUSES AS HE HAS I COULD AFFORD HEALTH CARE NO MATTER THE COST.
THEY NEED TO CONTROL THE COSTS THAT HOSPITALS, DRS, DRUG COMPANIES CHARGE US.

In regards to the person who said Canada has the worst health care plan. I know several people who live in Canada and they tell me it is a very good plan but they also tell me let there be no doubt it really isn't cheap because their tax rate is sky high. But they are glad they have GOOD insurance and can get treated.