Comments about ‘Too much government in health care or not enough?’

Right On.
Government is the problem not the cure.

We need more consumerism and competition in the industry. You don't get that with a single payer system.

Insurance should be insurance. Only used to prevent financial disaster.

A lot of the cost in health insurance is already due to government mandates. Have we already forgotten that recently the Utah state government was considering requiring that health insurance provide coverage for autistic children to receive treatments taht may help them lead normal lives. That mandate was to be added as an increase to health insurance premiums.

Why not allow people to pick and choose what coverage they want? Are we children that have to have the nannystate protecting us from the big bad world, or are we adults who can make our own choices?

When the Conservatives say The government is the enemy, their implication is that private capitalism is their friend. The fact is that there is nothing that private enterprise does to give or protect the rights and lives of ordinary people. Good or bad, our government is the only friend we have. Our Constitution and original government was about people and their needs, not about business and corporations.

It will be sad for the American people if Obama lets the corporations define and implement a Health Care plan that does not include the option of a government health plan.

Did Ultra Bob even read the column? I want to see someone try to dispute the excellent logic presented. I just want the big government fans to admit the truth. We can have universal government paid health care, but only if there's rationing.

There are only two ways to distribute scarce resources: free markets or rationing. Telling doctors how much they can charge will reduce supply and giving people free health care will increase demand. Result: rationing.

The real solution is medicare for everybody--with free choice of doctors, private hospitals, and private doctors. That's what Canada has, and it works great.

Who is the greatest hero in Canada? Tommy Douglas, the founder of their health-care system. How many people want to change? Consistently in the single digits.

Canadians also have three more years of "quality life" than Americans. Obesity is a big factor, but their health-care system is extremely important in this statistic. People don't wait to see the doctor.

If you don't believe in medicare for everybody, then please announce here and now that you will not accept medicare for yourself. That's integrity.

I do not consider government to be my friend. I consider it to be my servant and the servant has taken over the household and is holding us all hostage. You say, "Constitution and original government was about people and their needs, not about business and corporations" I disagree. The Constitution and original government was about freedom, liberty and the government's role was to protect and preserve it. It was never meant to be the determiner of entitlements and the enforcer of those entitlements. When it assumes that roll it fails and we all suffer. I agree with the opinion piece. We are suffering from too much government in health care, not too little.

I really don't think that Government is the problem. They aren't helping much either.

I have no problem w/ those who can't afford HI getting something like a bridge loan until they can.

In one of the Bay Area papers, there was story about a M.D. who started his own PAC. Why? Because it was the insurance companies who were Snafuing the system.

HI needs to be decoupled from business and let the market prevail. The catch is; We can learn from the recent idiocy on Wall St. Specifically, their needs to be some degree of oversight but no hardcore regulation or government control.

@Ultra Bob: We can always count on you to be monolithic in your positions, Private enterprise=bad. Government=good.

@Invisible Hand: Exactly right. Single payer and government control will absolutely lead to shortage and rationing. Even shortage in medical personnel.

@Roger: Once again, no one has the option to opt out of medicare. It is mandatory. So your challenge is meaningless.

So the Republican anti-socialist idiot plan is to toss $2300 in tax $$ at me. And that's not "socialism"? Keep your $2300. It wouldn't pay 3 months of my premiums.

Lets play the numbers game. If we go with the European model of healthcare, lets look at what it will do to your taxes.

England has 11% tax for healthcare, which covers 70% of the cost of healthcare. So, that means that to pay for healthcare, the average person will have their taxes raised by 15.7%. So, for people making the median US income of $50,000, that means paying $7850 more per year for health insurance. That does not include dental or vision. So, for the average family of 2 parents age 36, with 2 children, and no major health problems (.5% to 1% of the us is deemed uninsurable due to chronic health problems), they can pay the government $7850 per year you can get government care, or for $6200 or less you can_get_private_health_insurance.

To "Roger | 9:16 a.m." if we go to medicare for everybody, then we eliminate 40% of all doctors we can go to because they don't accept medicare/medicaid. Doctors can't recover their costs when they accept payments from those governmnet programs. So, unless you want 3rd world care at 1st world prices, sure, lets put everybody on medicare/medicaid.

To those who think there's not enough gov medling in health care...

Personally I don't care if you provide health care for everyone, but PLEASE don't tear down the health care system we currently have. It works better than any I've seen in other countries (except that it isn't funded by taxes and freely available to everyone). I would NOT be happy if we (or the government) forced EVERYONE to get buy on a Medicare type system (which would be a step DOWN from what many people currently have).

If the government wants to provide an ALTERNATIVE that ALL people can participate in (if they want to) I could support that, but basically we already have that (Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, VA system, Public Employee insurance plans, etc).

"The real solution is medicare for everybody--with free choice of doctors, private hospitals, and private doctors. That's what Canada has, and it works great."

Yup, the Canadian plan works very well for those people with a life threatening illness and they have to wait until 6 months after they are dead to get the treatment they need.

Does a good job of keeping costs down.
Also helps reduce the population problem.

Cosmetic medicine is not regulated near the way the rest of the industry is.

Cosmetic surgery is up 800% over the last few years and costs have plumeted.

Give people control of how their medical dollars are spent, get the government out and you will see a major improvement in our nations health care and a huge drop in price.

to Invisible Hand | 8:44 a.m
There is no such thing as a free market, no where, no time, never.!!!

We especially would not want a free market in health care. It would be impossible to imagine all the concoctions, voo doo, treatments, spells, or schemes that enterprising capitalists could come up with.

What government services are rationed now? I drink all the clean water I want, eat most all the government controlled food, drive anywhere I want and do or have so many more services provided by government that are not rationed.

It takes two to make a friendship. You may think that government is your servant, but in real life it is your master. Thats why they call it GOVERNment.

I suggest you look at the constitution, bill of rights etc. Count the time it uses the word people and compare that with the number of times it uses the word business.

As for what it is meant to do, I think your judgment is as faulty as your eyesight.

The real problem in health care is the private health insurance industry. Eliminate that, and it doesn't matter whether you go to a single-payer government system, or to paying cash for services at the doctor's office -- either outcome is an improvement over what we have now.

I don't understand where all these Americans are who can't get healthcare no matter what. I've been employed and I've been unemployed and I've always been able to find healthcare options for my family.

Where are all these people who can't get healthcare? I can't seem to find them when asking around the people I know. It seems to me that we have a good system and enough safety-net type systems now. Most employers are required by law to provide health insurance (I know the employee has to pay some of the cost and to some that's not acceptable, but I can accept that).

For those without jobs there's Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and others. For those who work for the Government there's Public Service Employee Union provided plans, Millitary hospitals for those in the military and VA Hospitals for ALL retired military, etc.

It just seems you would almost have to try very hard to slip through the cracks of all the overlapping systems we already have. But I agree it could be improved, easily and without going all the way to the USSR model.

To "Ultra Bob | 12:00 p.m." here are some government services that are rationed:

Road repair (not all damaged roads are repaired, some have to wait until the damage is severe)

Road construction (Look at the bridges in Utah, many are falling apart because of a lack of new bridge construction, this could fall under repair)

Funding for education (rationing occurs by increasing the number of students per teacher)

Food stamps (not everybody can recieve them)

Medicare/Medicaid (You must qualify first)

Government/low income housing

Snowmobile entry into Yellostone park

Watering lawns on odd/even days only when irrigation water levels are low, in some places you are fined if you water outside of your alloted time slot, all in the name of saving water.

Is that enough, or do you want more examples of how government rations its services.

I wasn't talking about business I was talking about people and government. If you believe government is to be our master then it is your judgement that is lacking. I suggest you would be happier living in Cuba. This is not an invitation to go there however, just a request not to bring the master home to the US.

Quaility of Life,

has a LOT more to do with how you live your life,

are you execising or active,

eating right,

you know, doing all the right things,

etc,

a lOT more than if you can get government healthcare.