Health care reform....a simplified explanation

[Guest]

That is the basis of this article. If you haven't seen it, read it and decide for yourself:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/aug/13/health-care-reform-simple-explanation/

No revelations but at least an organized effort to help understanding.

btk

[Guest]

it sure is greatly simplified! but it does clarify what, on the surface, seemsto be an altruistic attempt to provide health care for all.

unfortunately, a 1,000 page bill cannot be adequately simplified. this article makes hr3200 sound plausible. reading the bill and watching skewed news reporting has scared the pants off me!

it will be helpful in assisting me to frame my questions for my congressman's town meeting - thanx for posting.

[Guest]

Let me get this straight.


Obama's health care plan will be:


· Written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,

· Passed by a Congress that hasn't read it,

· Signed by a president who smokes,

· Funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,

· Overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and

· Financed by a country that is nearly broke.



What could possibly go wrong?

[Guest]

Let me get this straight.

Obama's health care plan will be:

· Written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it,

· Passed by a Congress that hasn't read it,

· Signed by a president who smokes,

· Funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes,

· Overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and

· Financed by a country that is nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong?It seems to me that the country is stuck for another three years with all of the above. Should we assume that your proposal is to do nothing? Let's see, at the rate that the cost of healthcare is growing, by the time we have a chance for a new President and a new Congress, costs will have risen another 25%.

We'd better be betting on the team we have and hope they get something done to "bend the curve" of healthcare costs. Doing nothing is really not an option, regardless of all the neat little phrases.

P.S. BTK, that article was a doggone good summary of what's going on with healthcare reform--as good a summary as I'v seen. Thanks for providing the link.

[Guest]

We'd better be betting on the team we have and hope they get something done to "bend the curve" of healthcare costs. Doing nothing is really not an option, regardless of all the neat little phrases.
Perhaps I missed it, but what exactly do any of the proposed plans offer that will reduce health care costs? Other than platitudes like "eliminating waste" what exactly are the plans? If there were some, I might get behind it. So far I just see more expenses to the tune of a trillion dollars or more.

[Guest]

The US Tax Code is 75 thousand pages long, The US Postal Service is broke, fraud and waste are rampant in Medicare which is also going broke. The predicted nat'l debt in now estimated to be TWO TRILLION dollars higher in a decade than previously estimated.

We all surely agree that all American citizens should have access to health care.

Unfortunately, the American public simply has no faith in the US gov'ts ability to improve the status quo in a cost efficiant and reasonable way. In fact, I believe most Americans believe the gov't will simply screw things up even more and it will turn into a quagmire like the US Tax Code.

[Guest]

...Unfortunately, the American public simply has no faith in the US gov'ts ability to improve the status quo in a cost efficiant and reasonable way. In fact, I believe most Americans believe the gov't will simply screw things up even more...I don't think anyone would propose that our democracy be replaced by another system. That being the case, the problem you cited so succinctly can only be resolved in one way...replace those in the Congress that we believe have mis-served us.

There's potential to make a huge change next year, when every single member of the House and 1/3 of the Senators must run for re-election. If we vote 96% of them back into office, as has been the pattern in the past, then we deserve whatever government that we get...and we'll have little to say about trusting them or even controlling what they do.

[Guest]

Perhaps I missed it, but what exactly do any of the proposed plans offer that will reduce health care costs? Other than platitudes like "eliminating waste" what exactly are the plans? If there were some, I might get behind it. So far I just see more expenses to the tune of a trillion dollars or more.


I think the idea is to use something I once read about but do not even understand 1/10 of ....the Hawking Information Paradox....once explained to me through very glassed over eyes by a very intelligent friend of mine...

As I understand it, Hawking, during his studies of black holes, developed a formula that combined basic physics, astro physics and quantum physics. His formula is generally accepted as accurate. But, the formula leads to the conclusion that black holes gobble up matter and then eventually disappear, thus leaving an "Information Void". The bottom line is that Hawking had concluded that the Universe was disappearing, never again to be seen.


Oddly enough, this is much like what Obama is trying to do with healthcare. He wishes to gobble up all the problems (information points) of the system (healthcare) and then suggest they will just disappear.


By the way, Hawking has modified his original opinion about the black holes and he now believes the material simply enters a continuum we cannot perceive.


Do we really want healthcare in that strange continuum we cannot perceive?

Will those cost simply disappear ?

[Guest]

Perhaps I missed it, but what exactly do any of the proposed plans offer that will reduce health care costs? Other than platitudes like "eliminating waste" what exactly are the plans? If there were some, I might get behind it. So far I just see more expenses to the tune of a trillion dollars or more.

This is the problem with true universal health care. Countries that have really good health care, their citizens pay through the nose for it. Nearly all of the European Union countries pay, an average of, 70% in income taxes. Really good health care is not cheap.