For The Love of Money……. How is it that compulsory, wasteful, corrupt, government spending demonstrates concern or compassion? Explain again how stealing money from others through taxation and redistributing it according to your perception of need makes you so self righteous. Discuss how socialist government programs are better than voluntary donations of time and resources; therefore only the socialists are “caring” people. Well, guess what you and your fellow socialist government worshipers can do with your arrogant, condescending, judgments. Truly caring people do not need the power of government to do good works.

Bb,

That’s right, I forget. People like you are only socialists when it comes to giving aid to the poor oppressed corporations. For example, when the mortgage crisis hit, some investment bankers got in trouble. We bailed them out to the tune of tens of Billion of dollars. But when it comes to helping the People affected by the crisis? Screw ‘em – they made their bed, they should lie in it.

Mike: I’m with amazed and McCain on this one.
Get employers out of the loop. Fix insurance laws.

McCain is NOT proposing to fix the insurance laws. When asked about the people with pre-existing conditions who won’t be able to buy insurance, he says the federal government will pay for a few million to get insurance through a high risk pool. The thing is, there will probably be well over 100 million people who need the high risk pool.

Besides, do you really think they will pass a law that forces insurance companies to take every single person who applies for insurance, regardless of their health situation? NOT gonna happen.

Go_Fish, I am curious what you think about McCain’s proposal, since you are in the insurance business. Do you think it would be a good thing for everyone to have to use the Individual market? Would you personally be happy to get insurance through the Individual market?

JohnH…you can diss Clinton and Obama with as many insulting names as you want, and hold your “significant other” up for us to admire as the queen/princess you feel she is, but the facts remian the same. The folks you are dissing at least tried to make it better for others in thir lives. How many with the education and prospects Obama had would work the Chi-Town worst areas for so many years if they weren’t committed to our citizens good? I dare say you wouldn’t. I know those areas he works. It isn’t fun to even be there most days.
Now you dissed Hillary. I asked in an earlier post if someone had reasons to diss her policies, they should post them. So giving all the facts you can, what was wrong with her health care plans? Sound bites don’t count. I want to know why you disagree with the points stone cold conservative repubs agreed with when she passed out her health care reform proposal packets before the votes. You know, the ones insurance companies and medical cartels lobbied against with money that was earmarked for health care on their tax papers.
Make no mistake…McCain knows exactly how to play you voters. As the election progresses, you will see his unnatural ties to the insurnace and medical cartels. The covicted lender ties he has will just be icing on the cake as we see how many americans get fooled again.
I will continue to vote right, eat well, exercise and lobby for alternative medicine reforms. It’s time to quit making god-given substances like medical cannabis that we have PROOF works illegal (even with state med can cards old folks are being busted by the feds at the lowest points of thir lives) in favor of drugs that have to have two pages of side effect warnings. Shake up the quo…it ain’t workin’ no more.
On a bright note…the pope says we can consider aliens brothers and it isn’t against the catholic faith to accept other forms of creation. Now if we would only treat gays as well as possible life forms.
‘Scuse me…I am off to protest Wash U’s honoring of the mysogynistic parasitic evil Ms S. The world still amazes me at times.

I’ve been an insurance underwriter for 20+ years. Here are some important things to remember:

1. Insurance companies are not usually the ‘bad guys’. Your premiums get raised due to increased frequency of utilization, and the availability of newer, more cutting edge (i.e. - more expensive) technology. My company’s profit margin last year was less than five cents on the dollar. (Sure, there is the occasional bad apple, but most carriers are honest companies.)

2. Insurance companies are highly regulated, and face increasing regulation continually. Everything from what reports we provide to what information your insurance card must have on it is legally mandated.

3. Try curing yourself first for simple things. Instead of calling the doctor for antibiotics every time you have a cold or the flu, try over the counter medications first. Wouldn’t you rather spend $10-20 on some OTC medicine than get hit for a $20-30 office visit copay and a $25
prescription?

4. Be responsible for your own health. You can see dramatic reductions in your healthcare costs by gettier healthier. Eating right and exercising have been proven time & again to improve overall health, drastically cut the risk of many diseases, and to boost your bodies immune system.

5. Be a comparison shopper: Ask your doctor about generic equivalents for prescriptions. If you need surgery and your doctor has admitting privileges at several hospitals, ask him about the cost and quality of each facility so you can make an informed decision. Depending on the procedure, you could save several hundred to several thousand dollars without sacrificing significantly on the quality.

Lastly, before you jump on the universal healthcare bandwagon, do your homework. Canada has average waiting periods on transplants that are generally 2x - 5x longer than the US. (Would you rather wait two months for a kidney transplant, or eight?) Do you really trust our government to produce a smooth, easy to use healthcare system? The current system isn’t perfect, but at least it’s based on open market competition.

Randy: Canada has average waiting periods on transplants that are generally 2x - 5x longer than the US. (Would you rather wait two months for a kidney transplant, or eight?)

Wait times for kidney transplants have nothing to do with single payer vs. private insurance. It only depends on how many kidneys are available to be transplanted, which is dictated by how many people die in a way that their kidneys can be used, and how many families agree to let the organs be used for transplant.

Government is in large measure responsible for the rapid increase in the cost of health care:

– Government imposes the voluminous and arcane rules that health care providers must follow to be reimbursed by any third party (government or private).

– Government reimburses providers substantially less than the cost of the service provided when it is the insuror of the patient being treated.

– The legal system does little to discourage frivolous lawsuits or place reasonable limits upon damage awards. To avoid being exposed to such litigation, health care providers routinely request redundant tests, perform redundant procedures, and practice other forms of “defensive medicine.” These also come at a price.

Further inserting government into the health care equation is far more likely to exacerbate these and other problems than it is to remedy them.

Good questions Lisa. Generally speaking, yes. McCain is correct that the fiscally and socially responsible path is not federalization. However, no proposal like that will make a difference unless there is a concurrent reform at the state level. The feds mandate only a fraction of what you and I are forced to pay through increased premiums and reduced services. It’s the 50 individual state legislatures and depts of insurance who are responsible for most of the mess. A huge portion of the administrative and compliance costs you’ve often complained about could be eliminated if states rescinded laws that force employers and insurance plans to pay for things that really aren’t needed.

I would much prefer to shop for an insurance plan that covered only the things me and my family need.

Lisa 12: I have heard rumors that Candadians often travel into the US to expedite treatment, due to the shortage of Canadian-based physicians and other health-care specialists, many of whom have chosen to work outside Canada due to pay restrictions placed on them because of the government-funded healthcare program in Canada. Under Clinton and Obama, this could easily become a problem in the US……..(?) Socialized medicine may destroy personal initiative.