I ask this , not in jest.

Is it that 15%( I don't believe it is that high) of the population don't have it?

if so why are we over hauling a system that works for 85% of Americans.

Is it too expensive????

Simple fix.....

Restructure the interstate commerce laws and allow Health Insurance companies to sell their product across State lines...

More competition..prices Drop.....

There I fixed it!!!!!!

85 percent are not happy and no matter what the cost one life saved is more important than all the rhetoric.

wanna fix health care? Deregulate it! Thence, the laws of supply, demand, and capital/resource allocation take over. (and the greedy politicians can sit out! ) There are a number of countries with better models if a model is needed (viz. Sweden)

I believe that the percentage of uninsured/underinsured Americans is far higher than 15% (though I could be wrong, I don't put a lot of stock in statistics). I think a big part of the problem is the cost, not only of insurance but in doctor visits, tests, prescription drugs, etc.

I'm lucky, I have an excellent insurance policy that is 100% paid for by my employer. It doesn't, however, cover my son. Nor does his father's policy. For us to insure just him, it costs approximately $600/month. Which is a hefty chunk of change for anyone, much less a secretary and a maintenance man. But, looking at the alternatives, I don't have much choice. If he had been uninsured 2 years ago when he was in a bad sledding accident and in the hospital for a week, I don't know what we would have done. Those bills were almost $100,000.

There are 10s of millions of kids in this country who aren't that lucky.

I have mixed feelings about this. I think that everyone should have access to good, quality medical care and prescription drugs. I have a problem with our government running it. But in theory, I'm all for it.

seems like it would be better to just fix the system we have than to make a whole new one

half of those 15% can afford health insurance; they just choose not to

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/242534

Assume too much maybe?

It seems to me that a lot of waste would be relieved if patients were given their records. If there was a paper trail behind ineffectual treatment and procedures that are done more to protect doctors and hospitals from litigation than treat patients costs would go down.

If Insurance companies could not force specialists into requireing referrals more patients would be getting the approriate level of care to start with.

If mental health caregivers, nutritionists, medical doctor's, and dentists worked on a "whole patient" approach more patients would be able to do better.

If we applied the same energy on the war on drugs as we have on terrorism we could reduce addiction with it's horrendous social costs and the funding that drugs provide terrorism would dry up.

If we developed a more pleaseing and effective male birth control we could drasticlly reduce unwanted pregnancy.

the biggest problem I see with health care reform is that like everything else we allowed partisan extremists to politicize it. And its no longer about actual health care but its about liberals defeating conservatives or vice versa

As always, extremists from both sides are presenting partial truths, and the whole truth is being lost somewhere in between.

Many of the people who are NOT insured became uninsured through no fault of their own. A spouse died or divorced them, a company folded, ststes and cities reduce them to part-time temporary employees without benifits, a child or parent becomes dependent for 24/7 care and they are forced to quit work with no benifits, they are injured and loose their employment do to car accidents or crime, and or they are not covered when they age out of their parents insurance with PRE_EXISTING conditiona that no amount of money spent on insurance will cover.

I'll tell you what my worst fear is. I have had leukemia for 12 years, and thankfully have always had health insurance. But in this economy, I'm petrified that I'll lose my job and benefits. Because even if I could find coverage, there's no way I could afford it on my own. And paying for treatment out of pocket, well, it's simply out of the realm of possibility. My chemotherapy alone is about $15,000/month.

I can't find anything to support your statement...

More than eight in 10 Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Thursday said they're satisfied with the quality of health care they receive.

So,

what I gather is people are happy with the health care provided.
It is just, too, expensive.


Again, Let the Insurance Co.s sell their products across State lines.....Increased competition.....lower costs....

The laws of supply and demand ALWAYS get kicked to the curb when a group of elites engineer a monopoly.

Sheesh. Might as well deregulate the military and sell off all the nukes to the highest bidding corporation and let them 'handle' things for you.

I'll bet you've never been through even one round with an insurance company while recovering from a life-threatening, major illness. You're still a true believer who needs to be disabused of your naivete.

-Kerry O.

Health Insurance exists for one reason, to make money for the Co.
Some do it by paying out as little as possible, others by paying for low cost preventative care in hopes of off setting the costs of major problems. People like me are great for Insurance Co.'s as I rarely go to a Dr. or need medical care.
Hospitals and Dr's charge huge amounts of money, in part because ins. will only pay a percentage of those costs.
The Government already runs most of the Healthcare Industry, and the Ins. Co's runs the rest of it. When the Gov. determines how much Medicare/Medicaid will pay for tests and procedures Ins. follows the same route.
Not all of the regulation is "Bad" either.

And don't forget, every person working in healthcare is just like you and me. They want a good job that pays well, has benefits, etc.

There are so many things wrong on so many different levels.

Drug companies that have to overcharge so they can make a huge profit before the patent runs out or they have to pay back in class action.

Insurance companies seemingly only wanting to cover healthy people.

People just not wanting to pay for insurance but still wanting to be covered.

Sue-happy consumers that think it's ok to make a profit from the death of their loved ones.

People that abuse and/or cheat the system.


And that's just a few. I don't know how you fix it. But I'm pretty sure you don't fix it by making it an entitlement.

I agree that the amount to cover a family is outrageous. Some companies deduct a hefty chunk out of your paycheck even for one person ,when you need to go to the doctor another co-pay, Rx meds another co-pay, a doctor out of network (for HMO's) another co-pay.
Each year the amounts go up. With HMO's you do not get to choose your Doctor, you must pick one from their list, most of the names are names of foreign physicians.Insurance policies dictate which hospital you can go to, no choice in that either. Lets not forget that they can also deny you tests or treatment (usually they are deemed too expensive) and if you actually want the treatment you must go thru a huge process of appeal. If the insurance companies had not been so greedy making billions for themselves and their stockholders we may not be talking about a "public option".

We should have the French system. There. I said it.