Well, I’ll try this again. It just disappeared, Amelie - but thank you for your comments. They’re like  a breeze from the ocean. To one who has needed healthcare in Ontario (as a U.S. citizen), it too was like a breeze from the ocean!

The for-profit sector is destroying US Healthcare, and Congress sits by collecting the contributions from the heavy hitters in healthcare - looking up their contributions was more than a bit unsettling. When we insist on term limits and tell those about to run for re-election that we WILL NOT vote for them, we’ll be doing something that hits the nail on the head. In the interim this news was not good for those who opted for the Advantage and Plus plans through an insurance company hawking them as "our Medicare (they took the beneficiaries OUT of the original Medicare!):

Aon
August 25, 2009
Employers Face 10.5 Percent Health Care Cost Increases, Says Aon Consulting

Aon Consulting surveyed more than 60 leading health care insurers,
representing more than 100 million insured individuals, and found that
health care costs are projected to increase by 10.4 percent for HMOs, 10.4
percent for POS plans, 10.7 percent for PPOs and 10.5 percent for CDH plans.

In addition, health care rate increases for retirees over the age of 65 are
projected to be 6.6 percent for Medicare Supplement plans and 7.3 percent
for Medicare Advantage plans.

http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1676


Comment:  Under the management of private insurers health care costs
continue to increase at outrageous rates - this year at 10.5 percent. With
the decision of Congress to leave private insurers in charge, and with no
measures that would have any major impact on slowing health care spending,
it can be anticipated that these outrageous increases will continue even
after reform is enacted.

The Medicare Supplement (Medigap) and Medicare Advantage plans are also
private insurance plans, and so you might expect their increases to be
similar. In fact, though technically complex, rate setting of these plans is
linked to spending in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. The
fact that rate increases in these programs are lower is not due to any
efficiencies instituted by the private plans, but is due to greater
efficiency of the public Medicare program.

In fact, there is much waste in these private Medicare programs.

The Medicare Advantage plans are overpaid deliberately to give the plans an
unfair competitive advantage over the traditional Medicare program, with the
intent of privatizing Medicare. Most of the extra payment is wasted in
administration and profits, and what little benefit there is should be given
to all Medicare beneficiaries, not just those enrolled in these plans.

The Medigap plans provide the worst value in the private insurance market.
The insurers pay a much lower percentage of the premiums they collect for
actual health care than they do in any of their other insurance product
lines. Americans would be receiving a much greater value if the benefits of
the Medigap plans were rolled into the traditional Medicare program, and
these wasteful private supplemental plans were totally eliminated.

This Aon report should lead to two obvious conclusions: 1) get the private
health plans out of our Medicare program, and 2) replace the private
employer-sponsored plans with an improved Medicare program for all of us.

If you agree, let President Obama and the members of Congress hear your
message loud and clear. Immediately.

from Cj - use this link to WRITE, right now (and pass this on)!   http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt 

Amelie

I am trying to keep up with all sides of this issue.  Last week I found these articles and I have seen interviews on the telly with Canadian doctors and Healthcare officials that are starting to paint a bleak picture about the future of healthcare in Canada. I think they are worried about rationing.

 The Canadian Press: Overhauling health-care system tops agenda at annual meeting of Canada’s doctors

 Thousands of surgeries may be cut in Metro Vancouver due to government underfunding, leaked paper

As I research and try to find out what a good solution would be, more and more articles like the above are coming out from other countries about their own health systems.