Comments about ‘Keep health reform local’

"Utah is in the third year of a 10-year health care reform plan." Ten years! For many of the uninsured the Utah system won't arrive before their deaths. There are many in this state who are in extreme danger because of their lack of coverage. You apparently are willing to let the state system dawdle its way to something over a decade. What about those at risk now? That's why we need the public option at the federal level. Moreover, even those who have insurance via their employers are at risk. Should any of them lose their jobs, a preexisting condition will lock them out of coverage. The present system leaves most of us of modest means in a situation of high risk. Only a public option at the federal level can fix this.

The millions of people in this country who lack coverage or who are close to losing theirs have no voice in the current debate. They have been drowned out by the right wing media including the D-News.

So if insurance companies are forced into covering pre-existing conditions, how is that gonna reduce medical costs? The public option is a bad idea. The only real solution is for society to change. We need healthier lifestyles that prevent the need for so many medical costs. Obesity, drugs, immorality, idleness, greed driven frivolous lawsuits, etc. The Bible is clear on those things. PREVENTION, that's where a dent can be made in rising medical costs. If people don't incur so many medical expenses, then overall care costs will go down thus making insurance more affordable for everyone. I guess its easier said than done, but unhealthy/risky behavior is at the root of the problem....well that and greedy lawyers.

Sorry Lew - you are in the minority. I love ya but I don't want to pay for your health insurance. According to polls, most of the nation does not want the government running our health care. Have you been to the Post Office lately, Lew?

There are better ways to solve this problem where you can be HELPED to provide insurance for yourself. I raised my children alone and provided for them and myself, without the benefit of child support. Personal responsiblilty is the key.

Certainly states can enact reforms on their own, and should be encouraged to do so. There is not a great deal of history of that happening, however. One problem facing individuals in this scenario is moving from one state to another, and facing different plans in each. Another is pre-existing conditions exemptions when one leaves a job. Last of all, what is needed is to get some level of insurance to the uninsured. I am not sure that the state plans will be successful in that effort without federal intervention or cooperation.

Utah's reform is an embarrassing joke. National reform with public option & lower the age of Medicare NOW!

Because there is no legal Constitutional authority for the Federal Government to 'furnish' health-care or to restrict insurance companies that do NOT sell intrastate (all insurance companies are licensed by each State so that they are NOT in violation of intrastate laws), Utah's plan adheres to the 10th Amendment.

Those that think that the process is too slow only need to notify their legislator and ask him/her to move things along more quickly.

There are solutions, but none of those solutions will come from Washington - if we want to obey and sustain the Constitution.

Several states have tried insurance exchages and all have failed. The reason is that insurance companies cherry pick businesses with the youngest, healthiest workforces and offer them better rates outside of the exchage. This leaves only employers with an older, less healthy workforce inside the exchage, causing prices to skyrocket.

The idea should be that we re evaluate what it is we need. We need health care, not insurance, because we need to recognise we all have a pre existing fatal condition...life. Insurance companies need to be removed from the picture entirely, and health care delivered as a service to us all for the better of our whole society.

Yes. Utah has done such a great job so far.

Maybe if HOpitals and doctors whent on a 4day workweek.

After the state takes over maybe Buttars can claim that health care is not needed for those who are over or under a certain age: "After all, it would just be wasted. How many people do not go to the doctor? It is a resource that is wasted. We could save millions!"

Over the long term, Utah could not sustain a health insurance system of its own. But if you think you can, provide a universal coverage system, and let's see. Put your money where your mouth is. One other thing, how would Utah do without all the federal dollars you are getting? You talk big, but you are as dependent on federal money as any other state.

The Federal Government would hem and haw just as much, if not more than, the local government, and you know it. Such expansive and comprehensive legislation, at no matter the level, would take many years to implement and even more years before everyone is finally able to participate.

Face it, Lew. There is no panacea that will cure the United States of its health care crisis. Shifting the responsibility to the Feds will only create new problems at the expense of society as a whole.

I believe that I, like most Americans, see the current reform as worse than the status quo. You've seen plenty of lists on desnews and other places that list reforms that I believe would be effective, but no one at the government seems to take notice.

A current projection, done by a independant third party predicts that the cost of your healthcare will go up by 110% in the next 10 years.

Also, look at your healthcare coverage. Did it cover MORE THAN last year? Or less? For how much? More?

At this time 47 million Americans have no health coverage whatsoever. That means, that if they go to the ER they are twice as likely to never make it back out.

America is a fool if they think healthcare, as it is now, will improve. It has out of control cost for the last 17 years and counting.

Oh, one more thing, this poll? It was done by the insurance companies themselves. Before, not after, any changes Obama wants to make for you.

Having witnessed the defeat of Health Care reform at the federal level, how could anyone believe that Health Care reform be done by our puny state government. Especially in an ultra business oriented state like Utah.

Not only is there no representation for ordinary people in our state government, but the state government itself is powerless to have any effect on the giant commercial forces of the Medical Industry.

The conservative minions continue to tell us the big lie that state government is better for us than the federal because it is closer to the people. Well, it just “ain’t necessarily so”.

Most Utahns probably know more about their federal government than they do about their own state representative.

Health is just about the most shared enemy we face. If “unhealthy/risky behavior is/was at the root of the problem”, Mormons would probably never need doctors or hospitals.

If all Americans, in every state, face the same dangers of a common enemy, why can’t our federal government come to our rescue. And is not the defense against this enemy the same in every state?

Why do we need 50 independent solutions to the same problem?

I'm begging you people, PLEASE!!!!!!. Republicans and Democrats agree with each other on every major issue. Patriot Act, War, Wiretapping and Torture. Don't be fooled by their scam anymore. Have you even actually read what was in the healthcare bill?? If anybody has, they would find mandatory vaccinations, RFID implants, A mandatory purchase of an insurance policy of up to $15,000.

Quit buying into the Left/Right puppet show because they will slit your throat. Vote for people like Ron paul who actually want to end the war immediatley and also audit the fed. If they don't want to do these things then they are tyrants. I don't listen to glenn beck either because he is an implant by the government to keep everybody voting republican or democrat. VOTE INDEPENDANT IF YOU WANT REAL CHANGE AND DON'T WASTE TIME GETTING TRAPPED IN THIS LEFT/RIGHT CHARADE ANYMORE BECAUSE THEY WILL LEAD YOU DOWN A RATHOLE. REMOVE YOUR TINFOIL HATS IF YOU TRULY LOVE AMERICA.

To Libertarian: Would a pure market solution fix health care? Maybe, but consider what this would really mean - it would mean open competition and easy access not only at the insurance level, but at the provider level as well (see "professional licensure in Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom"). I submit this is a practical impossibility. Too bad.

Anthem Blue Cross is sending notices to its CA customers who purchase individual policies their rates are going up 35-39% this year!

We need reform now. The CBO said the public option would save $110-$150 billion over 10 yrs. In contrast, tort reform would save %54 billion over 10 yrs.

Provisions included in the Senate Health Care bill:

"Give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs." Section 1302 of the Senate bill does this directly. The provision is entitled "the Waiver for State Innovation," and it gives states the power to junk the whole of the health-care plan -- that means the individual mandate, the Medicaid expansion, all of it -- if they can do it better and cheaper

Encourages states to develop new malpractice systems and suggests that Congress fund the most promising experiments.

Allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices.

Allows the formation of interstate compacts. Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho (for instance) could agree to allow insurers based in any of those states to sell plans in all of them. E

Hey Ultra Bob, sounds like you don't like living in Utah very much, why do you stay? You could go to another state that is not as "puny" as Utah and probably be a lot happier. Just wondering?

Keep health reform local?

DONE

The Senate health-care bill included a compromise with the conservative vision for insurance regulation. The relevant policy is in Section 1333, which allows the formation of interstate compacts. Under this provision, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho (for instance) could agree to allow insurers based in any of those states to sell plans in all of them.