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1. 

   ChuckTrent64 said, 5 months ago

   That’s what they called FDR.

2. 

   mogelsberg said, 5 months ago

   The insurance companies are becoming “too big to fail”. They are dictating right now what the doctors can and can’t do. One Big Crass/Big Stuff insurance company holds small hospitals (possibly large ones also) hostage and demands ransoms for “allowing” their insurance to be used. They NEED competition. The government doesn’t interfere nearly as much as the insurance companies do.

3. 

   4uk4ata said, 5 months ago

   Heh, brilliant. Big modern corporations, who spent decades telling everyone the government is inefficient and how the free market is always right, scared of a little competition.

   Hey, guess what - if they can’t handle it, everyone is better off without them.

4. 

   iamthemodextremist said, 5 months ago

   Think of it this way, it’s not competition they are afraid of. They compete with each other. The government is talking of taking over. Obama himself has said he is thinking about making the state run plan mandatory. This will effectively put insurance companies out of business. And for all of you who have faith in our government’s ability to run this, why? What in our history makes you think they can handle this? The war in Iraq? The post office? It may have a new person at the helm but it’s still the same inefficient system. I’m not convinced yet that they will do any better. I’m betting it’ll be worse. Quite frankly, I’m happy with my private insurance.

5. 

   brad.galloway said, 5 months ago

   I’m just trying to keep myself as healthy as possible so I have to go to the doctor as little as possible.

6. 

   Right_On said, 5 months ago

   Good idea, brad. Soon, you will be forced to go as little as possible.

7. 

   motivemagus said, 5 months ago

   The government is not thinking of “taking over.” Even if it did, it’s not like it hasn’t been done. People seem to be treating this like the End of Days. For Pete’s sake, people, most industrialized nations have some form of national healthcare. We’re limping along with a bunch of insurance companies who don’t compete for beans (sorry modextremist, but it just ain’t so) and add huge amounts of wastage into the system. 30% of our healthcare costs go to administration – pretty doggoned wasteful. (VA system and Medicare/Medicaid: 3%.)
   
   True capitalists would cheer the opportunity to reignite real competition.

8. 

   dtroutma said, 5 months ago

   The metaphor I see is the young American girl standing in front of a bulldozer, being mowed down by the real power in Israel. In our case, the dozer is NOT the power of the state.

9. 

   GNWachs said, 5 months ago

   If you read the fine print of the proposed healthy care bills you will see they cover absolutely everybody but with one exception. Congress and Federal employees. They realize what they are trying to force upon us is so terrible that they themselves have zero interest in participating. To all of you who favor the Obama plans why not ask your congressman to include himself and his family in what he wants us to have.

   Visualize our health care run by the Post Office. That is what we are going to get. motivemagus, have you ever actually gone to a VA hospital? The worst medical care imaginable. When we rotated through the system we could hardly wait to get out. Last week 33 cases of AIDS and hepatitis from poor sterilization.

10. 

    danielsangeo said, 5 months ago

    “Visualize our health care run by the Post Office.”

    Considering that the Post Office, when it was properly run, handles billions upon billions of pieces of mail a year with superior accuracy, the idea (even though they’re two VASTLY different industries) of “health care run by the Post Office” is far superior to, say, “health care run by Enron”.

11. 

    GNWachs said, 5 months ago

    Re the Post Office:

    The complaints were made about high administration costs. The other complaint was premiums rising and both of these problems would be avoided by the government. Obviously just a pipe dream. We will get poorer service and rising fees.

    Even you say “when it was properly run”. Look at medicare just for 65+ and over and see their insurmountable financial problems. Look at the Massachusetts plan. Look at what California considered and rejected for economic reasons.

    What the proponents are basically saying I hate what we have and will try absolutely anything else. If it turns out to be worse, too bad. But once a government plan is instituted there is never ever going to be a chance to go back.

12. 

    danielsangeo said, 5 months ago

    “The complaints were made about high administration costs.”

    And yet, no one is able to back it up in comparison to the administration costs of private insurance.

    “The other complaint was premiums rising and both of these problems would be avoided by the government. Obviously just a pipe dream. We will get poorer service and rising fees.”

    Which we are getting from private indusry.

    “Even you say “when it was properly run”. Look at medicare just for 65+ and over and see their insurmountable financial problems.”

    Before or after the conservatives got control of the system?

    “Look at the Massachusetts plan.”

    Why? It’s not what Obama and the Democrats proposing.

    “Look at what California considered and rejected for economic reasons.”

    Accurate, but irrelevant.

    “What the proponents are basically saying I hate what we have and will try absolutely anything else. If it turns out to be worse, too bad.”

    Nope. That’s not what proponents are saying at all. What proponents are saying is that “What we have is currently failing us due to lack of choice. What we need is more choice in health care, not less.”

    Try to not put your own words in the proponents’ mouths unless you know exactly what you’re talking about.

    “But once a government plan is instituted there is never ever going to be a chance to go back.”

    ……why?

13. 

    oldlegodad said, 5 months ago

    Daniel…except when it breaks down and people with money go back to private doctors as they do in the UK and other EU countries.Or come to the backward USA.