You are right on!

One additional comment about medical insurance is that most people are over insured, meaning that they expect a $20 copay anytime they go to the doctor. This results in the consumer of the healthcare not having a clue what the services cost. I belive actual medical costs would drop significantly if the only medical policies allowed to be sold were catastrophic plans to so people didn’t lose their house if in an accident or a major illness strikes. All other medical services should be paid by cash!

There are physicians out there that are no longer accepting insurance. Although I have medicial insurance I used him and it was a great experience. He told me ahead of time what the examination would cost and once complete what my followup vist would cost for some minor surgery. It was so refreshing.

More insurance is not what is needed. In fact, what we seem to think of as medical insurance today is really not insurance at all and IT is another major cause of the high cost of sickness care.
Since the inception of, so called, medical insurance, medical cost have done nothing but go up and up and of course, why would they not? The concept of medical insurance we have was born of pure greed and now the medical industry, being made up of humans (prone to greed) has found opportunity to fulfill their lusts as well, by charging exorbitant and even fraudulent amounts for the treatments the offer to patients. And let us not neglect the Pharmaceutical Industry whilst we are at it, another major factor in the cost of sickness care. I’ll not go into that at this point.

The point is, I do not WANT a Government solution to this problem because it’s not the JOB of Government to solve this issue. Bureaucrats need to be gotten out of the way then and only then, will free market solutions come to the forefront.

The Government is about 50% involved with the healthcare system now which is a big part of the problem. How anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together, thinks that the ones that caused the problem can now solve the problem is… well, words cannot express.

Both Parties, red and blue are full of crap. They both have Socialistic proclivities. I want what our forefathers wanted and what has been stolen by all you stinking Socialists. I want a very limited federal government and I want them to keep their bureaucratic noses out of my business, including my health. It’s my health and it’s nobodies business but mine and my families.

All of the costs that are flowing into the healthcare delivery system have to flow out in the prices that are being paid for healthcare. If they don’t, then the system becomes financially bankrupt.

The single largest component of costs, by far, that is flowing into the healthcare delivery system is cost-of-governments; the cost of all of the taxes of all kinds that are paid using money from the revenue stream that flows into the system in exchange for the cost of healthcare. So, how much of the price that we pay for healthcare is actually cost-of-governments rather than the direct cost of medical treatment and healthcare services? More than half but unlikely to be as much as three fourths.

IF WE ARE TO EVER HAVE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE THEN WE MUST FIRST HAVE AFFORDABLE GOVERNMENTS.

No- a doctor is not going to ask for an insurance card before treating someone who’s been ejected from their car at 80mph, but they’re also not allowed to turn someone away (in the ER) who’s complaining of an earache without a proper evaluation and “necessary stabilizing treatment” which has been thus far interpreted to include even things like pain management, or new wheelchairs (which a recent report showed medicare paid 4x too much for).

If however, we can point to a viable, and easily accessible route to primary and preventative care it becomes much easier (and less callous) to shove these people out of the emergency rooms, providing both a costs-savings benefit, and ensuring that critical resources are available for critical patients.

No- you can’t force illegals to do anything more under this plan than you could before, but if you want a conservative’s bright side it’s one more law you could get them deported for breaking, right?

My point is this- given a better option, most people will take it. I look at this plan as a means of encouraging and fostering competition in the insurance sector. Romneycare has proven the concept in terms of cost-savings in Mass., and in my mind it’s worth looking at the viability of a public option as well. The USPS hasn’t kept UPS or FedEx out of business has it?

The whole issue with illegal aliens and healthcare costs is that due to EMTALA their unpaid costs are passed on to the insured, and to taxpayers in the form of Medicare dollars. We WANT illegals to have to buy coverage, and we don’t want to have to pay for it.

This bill will improve access to primary and preventative care, and in doing so WILL reduce spending on healthcare for illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, here in the real world that you seek to maintain, EMTALA part of the Reagan era COBRA legislation (1986) “requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions… …patients needing emergency treatment can be discharged only under their own informed consent or when their condition requires transfer to a hospital better equipped to administer the treatment.”

You’re ALREADY PAYING FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS! I’m a a paramedic, and I see it every day. I find it just as galling that when I take someone to the hospital, some portion of the money I’m earning is going to be turned right around to pay for their care. I’m paying for the PRIVILEGE of taking them to the hospital. This plan would actually require some personal responsibility on everyone’s part.

Do the research, read the bill, and stop looking at the snippets of bills and quotes taken out of context on blogs on both sides of the aisle. THEN make a decision.