Comments about ‘Health reform needed’

I think everyone agrees that there needs to be health reform. It’s just hard to understand what is the best way to do it. I think there needs to be some guides lines on insurance companies to stop them from dropping people or raising their premiums just for getting sick or injured. That’s why we get insurance in the first place. Also I believe they should discriminate because of pre-existing conditions. We also need to stop the run away malpractice settlements. They have gotten ridicules because people and lawyers are taking advantage of the system. That could save untold millions.
But I’m against government health care. I experienced it in the military and it is poor, just like most government run programs. And I’m against fining people who don’t wish or can’t afford insurance. That makes as much sense as debtor’s prison.

What would happen if you didn't provide health insurance to your employees? Both my parents and my wife's parents are small business owners and they have never provided health insurance to their employees, and they have been very successful. Especially in these struggling times, why should someone else pay for your employees health care? I work for a large employer and my premiums are more than my brother's who is self employed.

How can you discriminate against pre-existing conditions, John C.? Are yous saying then that these people should not have coverage? They will either going into bankruptcy and we will all pay for it any way, or they suffer more because of our inhumanity. We need a government option at minimum, but better yet, bite the bullet and have a single payer system. It works well in other countries. Why should we be such selfish pigs?

It would have been nice if Tom had mentioned what he would like to see in a reform bill.

We need a system with more freedom. Freedom to change jobs without becoming uninsured. Freedom to start a business and hire people without having to compete on an unfair playing field internationally. Freedom to not lose everything because you or your family member got sick. Yes, we need a single payer system.

To Tom: There is a reason that your brother's premium is cheaper than yours. If you and your brother have identically the same medical condition and treatments, he can be canceled and you cannot (because you are part of a group through your employer). In addition, the individual has to pass medical underwriting before getting coverage and you do not. For the individual, underwriting means the premium can be "adjusted" upward for the any condition that they bring to the exam or the person can be completely denied coverage. There is no free lunch in the "free" market.

I just got my new premium for next year thru my employer, it is over $1000 a month. I have no choice, it is take it or leave it. I will take it and vote for a public option. The only good thing about my current situation is that I can't be canceled as long as I pay the premium and my employer keeps the coverage.

In your fantasy world you could by a wrecked car and have your new insurer repair the car to its previous state. That's not the way the world works, why should it? When you initiate a contract with an insurer they never assume previous risks, they assume current conditions and price accordingly. Why should health care perform differently?

Many of you are under the illusion that health care reform will save the world, it won't. A very close friend of mine just passed away in the U.K.s health care system for lack of a good diagnoses and no access to a specialist. By the time he actually got a diagnoses he was doomed to death.

You obama lovers believe that health care is a right, it is not. Health care is a product and a service. People use their labor to produce this service. If you want to lower costs why don't you start with tort reform and lower the stupidly high costs that juries award in malpractice cases? Doctors will continue to throw every test in the book at someone, therefore raising the costs, as long as they can be stupidly sued for anything.

At some point government controls will limit what Doctors can make. This will not make things better. It will simply cause the smart people to seek alternate careers. In the mean time your new Doc will be the guy with the D average who failed math, English, and chemistry...

Healthcare is NOT a right.

Why should we be such selfish pigs?

Because I earned the money, it's mine, not yours. You have NO right to my productivity.

If you want, feel free to give away your own money.

I have NEVER asked, and will NEVER ask, to enslave another person for the maintenance of my life. I believe that we ended that claim after the Civil war...

Your single payer system. I wouldn't worry about it. It will come about. It will probably take 10 years because they can't destroy an entire industry (insurance) overnight. That takes time and killing off of the last stragglers. The insurance company employees, mostly women of low education can be put on the public dole, gradually. That will lower the self-esteem of the lower classes, lower their expectation and the expectations of their children. They all become good little socialist dependent of the government dole. This is now a socialist country, who could deny it? And our unemployment is a solid indicator. It will go over 10% and it is going to stay there. You get socialism, you get unemployment and stagnant economies and the lowering of the general living standards. Welcome to the brave new world.

Well said.

@ 7:40:
Government is all about justice, not humanity. Religion is all about humanity, not justice.

"Free" health care is appropriate from religion, not government.

(Sarcastically) You're one of the lucky ones. The average rise in rates is 11.1% a year. That has equaled 119% in ten years. Insurers have said they plan for it to raise "only" 8.9% in 2009, touting that rises in premiums are leveling off.

TO "Anonymous | 7:40 a.m." but we already have a government option for the uninsurable, so why do we need to destroy the system? Look up HIPUtah.

Shall we vote on if health care is a right?
I know that my vote will cancel yours!

"We need a system with more freedom."

What about the freedom of those you have to enslave and steal from to pay for your freedom? What about their freedom?

You claim to love freedom. Sir, your freedom does not extend to my wallet.

Joe gave the best explanation that has been posted in a long time.

Just like any product or service, SOME people want special considerations. They want a Cadillac, delivered to their door, pre-paid by some unknown "rich guy" in some far off state. To them, because they live in the wealthiest country in the world, it is only good and right that they have the best - on someone else's dime.

The pro-Obama "seminar" posters, who get their tweets telling them which newspaper dares to publish anything critical of Mr. Obama, send in their anonymous letters that call names and point fingers, but never, ever, offer a solution.

Meanwhile, people like Joe point out that tort reform MUST take place before costs can be reduced.

Of course, that raises the Obama lovers blood pressure so they ring the bell, the tweets start and the seminar posters get the signal to spout off their rants about the selfish rich who want the poor to die. That infantile behavior has been going on since Adam and Eve were visited by the first liar. It continues as the present administration gives "advice" to every news organization.

To "Grover | 8:21 a.m." why don't you have a choice with your employer? If, during your open enrollment period, you decide that you don't want the insurance that your company subscribes to will they fire you? Please let us know who you work for, so that we can boycott their products until they no longer require that employees purchase their insurance through them.

Stay off my roads.

And America will continue to bleed jobs to countries with higher salaries [Germany, England, France, Japan, Italy, Korea, Spain, Israel, etc.]

because,

salaries and raw materials increase at a lower fixed rate of only 2-3% annually increases, while Healthcare in America annully increases at over 4 times that amount!!!.

Those other socialist Democratic countries will gladly pick up the work America throws at them.

Companies Like Boeing, Microsoft, and the big 3 automobile manufacturers will continue to off-load or go under because they are not stupid.
They look at all these trends and forcast for the long term -- 20, 30, 40 years down the road.

And when those big corporations leave or go under, so go the little guys.

Do you see why there is a serious problem now?
Do you see why our future as a country depends on this???
....

Peace

To "CJ3 | 8:59 a.m." you can thank the government, both state and federal, for that increase in rates.

Over the last 10 years we have gone from 1200 insurance mandates to nearly 2000.

You can also thank Medicare/Medicaid for mandating what they will pay doctors, rather than paying doctors the same as private insurance.