The government cannot handle the deserving benefits. What in the world are we going to do with 30 million more entitlements for people who have done nothing for this great country?[/QUOTE]

Donna2,
I hate to keep citing your posts to disagree, but you have once again made a most uncharitable, outrageous, myopic generalization about 30 million of your neighbors. It betrays your true bias and stereotypical thinking.

Most of those 30 million people work hard at being contributing, law-abiding members of society. Some of them go to your church, live on your street, and would offer you help any time you asked. They work at part-time jobs, many more than one, pay taxes of all sorts and contribute to medicare and social security. It's all they can get at this time. Many literally have to decide about buying housing and food or health insurance. And I'm not even talking about the unlucky people who lose their savings, homes and jobs because they get sick.

Since you condemn the lazy non-contributors, have you ever stopped to think how many hundreds of thousands of Americans have never worked a day in their lives (or retired at age 28), and live strictly off of the money they inherited, stole or won? Do you realize there may be just as many of those people as there are poor lazy non-contributors.

Instead of all the extreme generalizations, let's recognize what will be a large source of revenue to help the disadvantaged obtain health care. The wealthy who either work and earn a QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR!!, or sit around and earn that much and more, will be required to increase their payments so that millions of deserving people can have decent health care. Here is one thing I feel certain about: those increases will not change the lifestyles of the contributors even one teeny, tiny bit. That is unless you think choosing a 75 ft. instead of an 80 ft yacht constitutes life change.

I'm certain you have health insurance, like many of us middle class fortunate ones. Under health care reform your insurance costs and mine will be more stable than if there is no change. Will premiums increase for you and me in the next few years? Probably. (but probably not as much as in the last few years. Here's another thing I feel certain about: with the proposed reforms in place any increases in the premiums you and I pay will not change our lifestyle.

The recurring argument that it is "wrong to take any money I earned out of my pocket to pay help pay for someone else's benefit" is wrong for at least these reasons: 1) It ignores the fact that the nation's stability, prosperity, and protection of individual freedom in many cases made it possible for us to work, earn and parlay that into a high standard of living, beyond work into retirement. 2) Those of us who achieved the comforts we have were lucky. There are many unlucky circumstances which could have taken away all of our comforts, and millions of real people just like us who have suffered from those unlucky circumstances. 3) If we are to continue to be a united nation, not at risk of revolution and chaos, we must pull together to make sure citizens are not disenfranchised, politically, socially or economically.