Chuck
I could not have said it better, I'm glad to see I'm not alone. For the first time in 30 years someone actually did more than talk. It's a start in the right direction, it can be tweaked as it goes. What ever way the courts would have went, I was proud of our system in which I gave 4 years to defend of which 2 were in combat. Its the same old story all my life, this country is being held hostage by a two party system of ideologies that are becoming obsolete. When our leaders come together and let the system work, things happen for the common good.
Thanks for your input
Mike

Educational.
http://healthreform.kff.org/quizzes/health-reform-quiz/

Government run health care doesn't work. President Obama's plan's end result is government run health care. When you look at Canada or England or anywhere else in the world what you find is rationing of care to control the cost. This is the reason so many people from Canada and the rest of the world come here to the US. They don't have to wait for quality care. The Obama plan will end up looking at things like your age and chance for recovery to decide if you get the care you and your family want. This is NOT the role for government.

Obamacare will end of being expensive but mediocre care for all instead out quality care for most. Insurance companies operate right now on margins of about 2% ... that is very small for a business. When the government tells a company you have to pay for this or that, or have to insure this person no mattter what this COSTS money and gets away from what INSURANCE is: management of RISK.

We can control the tort system so doctors can't be sued for outrageous amounts of money. This will lower the cost of malpractice insurance for doctors and lower cost for care. It will also allow doctors to order tests because you need them instead of ordering them so they don't get sued.

So the question is: What can we do? Allowing more HSA accounts, the purchase of insurance across state lines, getting back to the idea that health insurance pays for medical care and not for free birth control and other items that get away from what healthcare really is will also lower costs.

Better tax deductions for insurance and out of pocket expenses will help too.

Nothing is free and the taxpayer has a limited budget. People who have a group insurance plan already can't be turned down because of pre-existing conditions. A state run high risk pool for impossible to insure people might help but you can't tell a business to insure someone when there is not an "if". Insurance is management of RISK.

It is rare where the government is the best solution. We lack free markets which allow for competition and lower cost and better quality. It works all the time and you don't need by MBA to figure that out.

President Obama may well be the worst overall President we have seen since Hoover and that would be debatable. Obama is now worse than Carter. The President is more left than any other President in US history. When we see what is happening in Europe why would we want to go down that route?

Linda, you are correct. Socialized medicine does not work. Yes, we need to find ways to make healthcare less expensive. More government is not the answer. People need to understand what insurance is ... and you put it very well, the management of risk. The Obama plan will bring us a one payer system and Americans really don't want that. That will INCREASE cost (anything 'free' will increase usage and lower quality and promote rationing).

I hope President Romney will keep to his campaign pledges and promote lower taxes, free markets, economic growth and a strong national defense. If he does that we will get more jobs and increased incomes which will come with economic growth.

More jobs will promote better benefits as well. I happen to think a high risk pool for hard to insure folks is a good idea. Keeping kids a their parents health insurance is a sad commentary on the worst economy since the depression ... but I see no problem with that either.

The vested interests are out in force. Why does socialized medicine work worldwide, but it won't work here? No anecdotal evidence please,

I think progressives should be banned from posting on this site. They are the reason this country is erroding the way it is. Please take your George Soros inspired comments to another "open society".

Mr. Check's comments pretty much summarize what's wrong with our political discourse right now... and in fact is a better explanation of why "this country is eroding as it is." There can no longer be a civil dialog. I take it from his tone that he's parked on the far right side of the political spectrum. And if you don't agree with him, you should be banned. You should shut up and go away.
I don't think that is going to happen Mike. We won't be bullied. Another sad commentary about "modern conservatism" is that there is just no way somebody like Ronald Reagan would get elected in this environment. He would be too "liberal" today. He was too willing to talk to the other side and actually compromise for the good of the country. Gasp! -- he even raised taxes. Rush Limbaugh would be proud of what you say Mike, but not the Gipper.

I've been reading about the Swiss form of national health care. It is that everyone (mandated) must buy a minimum form of health care from a private insurer. It appears to be have the coverage determined as the best to keep everyone basically healthy. You can then buy additional insurance to increase the coverage and get better care (such as in Switzerland, a semi-private room vs a ward). Since there is competition among the insurers for both the basic and additional insurance, this should keep the costs down. I agree with Mr. May above. There is no need for name-calling or characterizing of a political party. This gets us no where.

Rich, this analogy can't work with Sweden, the population is the size of Chicago, the U.S. is 300 million.

THANKS TO OBAMACARE - THE IRS WILL BE ADDING 16,500 NEW AUDITORS, AGENTS AND OTHER EMPLOYEES TO "INVESTIGATE AND COLLECT BILLIONS IN NEW TAXES FROM AMERICANS."
This tax will add to the $500 billion in tax increases that are already in Obamacare. Now that Congress can use the taxation power of the federal government to compel behavior or lack thereof, what’s next? More taxes if we don’t drive Toyota Priuses or if we eat too much junk food or maybe even pea soup?
This decision has made America less free. ‘We The People’ have been told there is no choice. You must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo – the I.R.S.
Even more disheartening is that reviving the American dream just became nearly impossible to do. We are now a nation in which supports dependency rather than independence. Instead of encouraging self-reliance we are encouraging people to rely on the government.

The Associated Press has an interesting story on the Internal Revenue Service's preparations for oversight of the ACA's rollout. Here's the link:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/08/12628058-irs-gearing-up-for-new-responsibilities-in-health-care?lite

The bottom line, as Mr. Allen has noted above, is that the number of agents/staffers needed to oversee implementation of the health law is still unknown. What is known, according to the AP article, is that the 16,500 number that Plainfield Mom quoted as fact is really a 2010 estimate from a GOP-led House panel. According to the IRS, the number is "made up" and has "no basis in fact."
I'm not sure where her $500 billion number came from either, but what's really missing from the debate is the "hidden tax" that every insured American has been carrying for decades that results from the healthcare costs of the uninsured--and that especially includes those who are voluntarily uninsured....people who just want to express their "freedom" and not have coverage. That's fine, but healthcare isn't the same as broccoli or pea soup. Plenty of those who consider themselves young, healthy and "invincible" and believe they don't need insurance do become very sick or have tragic accidents every day, often requiring millions of dollars in care. When family resources run out, who then pays the costs? The taxpayers, employers and those of us who do have insurance. The cost is passed along...

... The individual mandate, which has been estimated to affect about 1% of the population, is designed to help balance that. And the ACA attempts to increase access to healthcare for those who can't afford policies by offering tax credits/subsidies--something else the IRS will need to make sure is done fairly and not fraudulently.
I have a hard time seeing the scary "loss of freedom" and "liberty" under this law. I also have a hard time seeing a conflict between the individual mandate, whether it's called a tax or a penalty or a fee -- and the concept of self-reliance.
Good health--and good health care--are so essential to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." I'm supportive of anybody who tries to make that a reality for ALL Americans.

Here is something to consider. Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Obama’s health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

The DPMA, a non-partisan association of doctors and patients, surveyed a random selection of 699 doctors nationwide. The survey found that the majority have thought about bailing out of their careers over the legislation, which was upheld last month by the Supreme Court.

The DPMA found that many doctors do not believe the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will lead to better access to medical care for the majority of Americans.

The director of the group said, “Doctors clearly understand what Washington does not — that a piece of paper that says you are ‘covered’ by insurance or ‘enrolled’ in Medicare or Medicaid does not translate to actual medical care when doctors can’t afford to see patients at the lowball payments, and patients have to jump through government and insurance company bureaucratic hoops."

There is a reason why people throughout the world come to the US for care when they have money to leave the government run program they have in their own nation.

Let the Doctors leave their profession. This is all about money, you know. The doctors will be replaced by doctors from other countries, just like many people in other professions have been replaced. And there are many doctors who DO support ACA.

Yes, Linda, 83% of American doctors are considering leaving their practices, their vocations, something they studied nearly 10 years to achieve and for which they are still handsomely compensated. Yup, they all want to go work at Starbucks. If you truly believe such "findings," all I can do is shake my head and walk away.

Great job, Linda Maxwell. Your posts are well thought out, well articulated and make perfect sense. While other countries are trying to get away from socialism, many in this country want to move toward it. The only reason that the US had been #1 for so long was because of free-market capitalism. Besides, socialism only works in a rich country and as it stands we have to pay back over 15 trillion dollars just to brag that we're completely broke.

There are many other approaches to making healthcare more affordable. It's funny to watch people think that the government is the answer to more affordable healthcare when the truth of the matter is that Medicare/Medicaid already accounts for over 50% of all healthcare and is one of the reasons that healthcare is so screwed up in the first place. Hell, when this healthcare bill was first introduced I believe that even Obama said that we could probably pay for his healthcare bill with the fraud, waste and abuse of Medicare ALONE! Why wouldn't they start working on that route to help bring health costs down? Healthcare is such a large part of our economy (1/6th, I believe) and they just want to take that over to so that they can get their hands on even more of our money, in my ever humble opinion.