Health reform does not mean that 46 million Americans will be without health insurance — reform will keep the government out of your health care decisions, giving you the option to keep your coverage if you are happy with it.
For decades, politicians in Washington, D.C., have talked about fixing a broken health care system, and for decades Washington failed to act — allowing the special interests to stall reforms while the cracks in the system turned into crevasses, then craters.
Today, we are closer than ever to change we need — key committees in Congress have reached a striking degree of consensus about how to control costs, guarantee coverage, and provide more choices for every American.
While there are many ideas about how to best reform the health care system, most agree that all Americans should have affordable access to health care. Too many Americans are suffering under a health care system that does not work for them — Americans in minority communities have higher levels of disease, fewer medical options and worse outcomes.
Health care reform is not a luxury but a necessity. Health care reform is not only important for the health of all Americans but is also an economic imperative.
Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told lawmakers that health reform has real economic benefit.
Small business owners said that health care reform should be Washington’s top priority, as per a report on business published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
During this time of economic downturn, it is reasonable to ask if now is really the time to reform our health care system, as director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orzag, explained that investing in health care reform now is not only imperative to ensuring the health of Americans, but that reform possesses deficit-reducing savings in the longer term.
Americans can not afford to wait any longer for health care reform.
Closing for business. Going bankrupt!
Know quite a few professional medical people, liberal an conservative alike, an this is th first who has thought the single payer plan bein foisted on th American Public as medical reform is a good idea.
Shoot, it might be a good idea.
But how are ya gonna know ifin they continue ta rush this 1,000 plus page reform through without lettin the rest of us look at it before it's passed into law?
What's wrong? Do ya think th average American citizen is to stupid to understand it? Perhaps they are, after all, look who they've elected ta represent them.
Want ta stop th problem with th high cost of medicine? Two words, "Tort reform."
That an havin the AMA bar bad doctors from practice instead of defendin em.
The agenda for those who support the public option plan now before the Congress is to call those of us who do not want government in charge of our health insurance a 'right-wing mob'. Look at the latest polls on Obama's approval and health care. This 'right-wing mob' is getting pretty large, there is a growing group of people opposed to spending $1Trillion of tax dollars we do not have to fund the plans before Congress.
That said, you continue on to bring up some needs which are entirely valid. This is what needs to be debated in Congress, keeping small business competitive, overall cost of health care, i.e. bang for the buck, $1500 for 5 stitches is out of line. Why do you suppose they are billing you that amount for that service? Hmm? Do you suppose, maybe, that you are subsidizing that safety net that I don't want my fellow man to have?
As a small business owner I have some very big needs, some of my views follow.
Small Business Needs
It may be hard to image in this time of recession that small businesses compete for the same worker talent as big business. In fact small business relies on highly talented personnel to compete in the world. Also not all small business are a Mom & Pop store, there are a huge number of high tech and business service industry small businesses. We need to be able to offer Health Insurance to our employees and morally we have to if we can.
Yes some small business may need to be exempt from being mandated to pay for there employees’ heath insurance but the workers need to have coverage.
For the small business that wants to pay for insurance, help make it as competitive as large businesses and unions. My wife’s successful (women Owned Small Business), pays for the health insurances for 2 families at $2200.00 a month, she needs help. The simple answer is a government mandated Small Business Risk Pool System, to lower costs. With this system small business will be joined with thousands of others to spread risk and lower cost to the point of being competitive. Everyone says how important Small Business is to the recovery from this recession and to fuel employment growth. Please help.
For the employees of a Small Business that is unable to pay for Health Insurance, allow them to enroll in the Small Business Risk Pool System for and enjoy the same rates for Health Insurance
Health Care Performance
It is well known that the US is paying 50% more in GNP than any major country in the world is for health care. At that 47 million Citizens’ are not covered. The results of that high cost are some of the lowest performance in the world. That includes high infant mortality, shorter life spans, and more major long-term illnesses due to the uninsured not being able to have well care.
The Need For Walk in Clinics
The High Cost of using Emergency Rooms as a Health Clinics was all too obvious to us went I when to the ER at Sutter Hospital in Tracy, California, several months ago. The cost for seeing a nurse for five minuets and a tech that gave me five stitches which took another 10 minutes was over $1500.00. I’m very luck my insurance paid most of that. At the same time I was waiting at least 7 people came in with flu symptoms and no insurance, the cost of all of those visits are paid by higher fees tacked onto the patients who could pay and the insurance companies.
Again the dollars saved by having walk in clinics that would care for minor illness, simple injuries, and some wellness care could save some of our trauma centers from closing.
The Uncounted Cost of Personal Bankruptcy’s
A majority of personal bankruptcies in this country are due to Catastrophic Medical Cost. The total cost to the private sector and government has to be included in the money saved by a National Health Care System.
Maybe the solution is to break those local monopolies by allowing insurers to compete across state lines. That would bring federal anti-trust law to guarantee that no player build up a controlling interest in healthcare. That would force insurers to expand their networks. That would allow individual doctors and hospital to belong to hundred of networks and have access to more patients.
This is hilarious, but the scary part about it is that under obama it's not too far away from reality.
check the link below
http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
Insurance companies are fighting for their very life, Obama's plan is to outlaw private insurance, at the outset the public option is unfair competition, the people creating the rules of the game are becoming a player.
That's not reform, that's a takeover.
If you want to know about abortion in Obamacare, you can read it from the AP here: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99SLQBG0&show_article=1
"free" healthcare will include plans that pay for abortions with your tax dollars
We pay more than any other country to be 24th in life expectancy
It is a false statement repeated by Obama to say that the Republican side of the aisle is only a party of no, or that no alternatives have been offered. Conservatives for Patients rights and heritage.org have a lot of information on this. http://www.heritage.org/LeadershipForAmerica/health-care.cfm
http://www.cprights.org/
It is Pelosi and Reid in the Congress who have made numerous parliamentary maneuvers to block amendments and proposals from the Republican side of the aisle.
When the only matter up for debate and vote is public option, Obama's path to single payer, then the answer is NO.
Further, interesting how many people showing up on tv at town hall meetings railing against healthcare reform are seniors, the BIGGEST by far recipients of socialized medicine - total hypocracy, and morally corrupt!!
Our health care system is broken, and for all of the screaming conservatives out there shouting down even DISCUSSING reform - they have yet to offer any other alternative.
Lets see how fair and balanced these two people are in my opinion.
Christina Romer was a economic adviser in the uhbama’s Presidential Campaign.
She is a professor at the very liberal University of California at Berkeley.
She has described herself as having “liberal Obama‘s heavy political views,”
Mr. Orszag embodies the administration’s awkward fiscal policy positioning: big spending now.
After Treasury Secretary timmy’s tax troubles and public speaking blunders, Mr. Orszag was one of several officials dispatched to the airwaves, where he presented the uhbama arguments.
Now Mr. Orszag has stocked the White House budget office with advisers who aspire to please uhbama. They include Cass Sunstein, a legal scholar close to uhbama; Jeffrey Liebman, a campaign adviser to uhbama, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a heath care expert who is Rahm Emanuel’s brother; and Kenneth Baer, a Clinton administration speechwriter.
I am sure neither of these people have a horse in this race.
Now what did the Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf have to say about uhbana’s socialized health care.
Director Elmendorf warned lawmakers that the legislation that he has seen would raise costs, not lower them.
"In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount," he said. "And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."
After these remarks Director Elmendorf was called into uhbama’s office and I am sure it wasn’t for a BEER.
http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_cbo_might_be_wrong_but_orszag_isnt_right.php
You don't want these medical decisions becoming political issues
There, fixed that for you