Grass-roots voices speak up on health care

Carol wrote:

My fear is that we're going to end up with government run health care, which has been the demise of several countries using universal health care... Our government has proven again and again that it is NOT in the business of running efficient large scale endeavors. If you want to wait months for a doctors appt, be denied the latest drugs that will save you from your cancer diagnosis, or be told that you are "too old" to receive premium care...then go on, advocate for universal health "care".

Leave it alone wrote:

Yet you assume if the govt runs our healthcare things will be better. What successful govt program are you basing this on? Here is the key to health care for the majority of people its this eat right, exercise, don't smoke and drink...

thymeflies wrote:

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I agree that most health problems are because of lifestyle decisions which affect heart disease and lung cancer, but one can treat their "body as a temple" and still have the rug pulled beneath them because of the natural aging process (arthritis), environment (air quality) and unforseen accidents. What then, after using more health services the insurer is not making a profit on you anymore, they can pull your coverage.
One of the points in Bill Moyer's program topic is that health insurance companies are not beholden to their premium paying policyholders, but to the stockholders. The profit factor is their key purpose for existing. Health insurers fear losing a large pool of paying customers to the competition of univeral option healthcare, therefore the quagmire getting any reform.
I am not assuming that any government program is run well. I only pray that the best practices (and there must be something that works besides higher taxes) in Canada, the U.K. and Scandinavian countries will be looked at closely and adapted for the U.S. I feel strongly about this issue because though I pay for my "affordable" individual coverage now, the likelihood that my insurer will increase the premium over the years will make it beyond my reach. I have lived within my means because I had to; I am not a high wage earner nor given generous perks through employment.

Leave it alone wrote:

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So even though you feel no govt program is well run your are hoping they get it right this time? Remember the def. of insanity...

Tommy T wrote:

"As a hospital social worker, Ginnie Vogts said she sees a lot of the people whose insurance companies deny medical services. She's part of a national group called Results, which is pushing for a national health program that includes expanding Medicaid. The central Ohio chapter has 15 members who meet monthly at her Clintonville home." (quote from Dispatch article).
Maybe what we need in insurance company reform. If this goes through the way I understand it our life expectancy will drop because the older ones that are sick or the youngest ones will be left on a self somewhere to die.

thymeflies wrote:

Let's get back to what this universal care option is intended to be, an expanded Medicare single payer program that everyone is already paying into (if they are having payroll deductions). Horror stories of waiting lists and letting people die "on the shelf" are not clarifying but muddying the issue.
The key word is option. You are happy with what you have, keep it. Or you lose your job and can't afford COBRA. If you don't have insurance and you make the difficult decision that you should have coverage, universal option healthcare will help you if you were previously denied because of pre-existing conditions or because buying through the individual health market makes the price too high. Having access to affordable health coverage not dependent on an employer or professional association, allows you more freedom and job mobility (if you wanted to leave a stagnant job or move geographically) with financial security.

Jayle 3 wrote:

I will be delighted to have the "new healthcare universal plan ONLY if the the president and all the government employees sre on EXACTLY the same plan.

Army Parent wrote:

If oBOZO takes over health care will it be passed out like the porkulus bill ? Most will go to its supporters and opponants will be on a LONG waitting list. To oBOZOs fans, would you trust Bush to run heath care.NO! Why should anyone trust the new socialist.