Sherrie

Great points, but I think that right now more than anything, people want jobs.  We get our self-respect and self-worth from our ability to work and how and what we do.  The government and congress has benefited greatly from how well Americans work.  Americans love to work and do it well.  If the environment is there for business to grow and create more jobs, then people will get employed, most of them would get insurance.  The government’s only "true" or not borrowed, revenues come from people who have jobs and therefore pay taxes.  

During the Clinton years I was always fascinated by how many jobs were created during that time, because he never said much in any interviews about it.  I always wondered what steps they took to do it.  I knew some because I was a small business and had many of my deductions cut therefore had higher taxes.  But that wasn’t all it was - then I heard him speak about it after he was out of office.  At first they raised taxes on small business, he didn’t raise them much on his rich friends, but he did on us. (Just so you know, I liked Clinton and voted for him).  Anyway then they gradually lowered or reversed those taxes.  But, then he said something to the effect of - "there is not much a president can do about job creation except foster a healthy environment for it."  Well that is not happening today.  Why didn’t they focus on jobs and saving more jobs?  If they had done that and had some wins and started the healthcare debate next year when he was more experienced at his job, the environment would have been more conducive to it.   

Cokie Roberts was on Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago and said that not 40% of the GDP is government jobs - federal, state and local.  That means the rest of the population pays taxes to sustain that.  Once they cannot borrow anymore, it will be unsustainable - impossible to maintain.  Since the economic meltdown government has grown - where is that money coming from if there is less employment therefore less tax revenues?   

Sherrie, I believe tort reform is intended to target frivolous lawsuits and awards, not the situations you describe above.  Case in point, my former doc had a patient steal a script pad from her office.  This patient then proceeded to write for thousands of Vicodin tablets split between 5 counties and several pharmacies.  The only reason she found out is that a pharmacist took the time to call her and question why she was supplying lethal amounts of Vicoden to her patient.  She then wrote a letter to the patient "firing" him.  Fortunately, she did this a week before the DEA showed up in her office, otherwise her license would have been in jeopardy.  The patient was charged and sent to prison.  From prison, he filed a malpractice suit stating that he was experiencing liver failure due to her irresponsible prescribing.  This took 2 years and $50,000 to resolve.  So, yes, Liz is correct in stating that tort reform needs to happen.

 FYI, many docs graduating now aren’t "rich" and probably won’t be.  Family practice docs and pediatricians make about as much as retail pharmacists.  Many are hundreds of thousands in the hole from student loans when they get out of school, then the expense of setting up a practice is substatial.  Would you go to school for at least 8 years, be about a million in the hole when you set up your practice and then not expect to make a decent living?  As Bob McEwen says, "the greater the blessing, the greater the reward".  Maybe you should go to medical school, incur the debt, work your ass off for years and not make a profit.  I figured out years ago that there was no way I was going to medical school, live my life being on call 24 hr/day, and have to work for 15 years just to break even. 

Since you believe that healthcare should be a right and a service…step right up and serve

If we are duped, lied to and pushed into government take over of health care, we the American people will be the "boy in the bubble". Our very lives will depend on if the government thinks that we qualify for proceedures, and if we survive long enough to get them.

Health care is a serivce and an industry. Why not, it has created major cures for the world. It is no more a "right" than owning a flat screen TV is.

Don’t mimic the propaganda, emotion at the expense of analysis is a mistake.

We can reform tort and make affordable insurance available to many more, those that need the care can be given it. Simple.

Mary, " ‘if you think health care is expensive now, wait til it is free."  is a reach.  If we don’t allow reform to get a foot hold, there will be no Medicare, Medicaid, ,PPO, HMO, etc.  There will be no "free" anywhere. We all understand health care is big business, but if we do not revamp our current system, we all lose. 

For many years now,  Medicare and Social Security have been doomed to fail in short time, yet they march on.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, because Medicare reimbursements rates can be 30% lower than those of private insurers, a government plan could be powerful and hold down costs considerably, especially in subsidies for low and middle income people.

But we are in uncharted waters here.  The only thing we know for certain is people are going bankrupt daily ; others are sick and dying because they have no recourse.  That is horrific.  As caring people, we should applaud any effort to go forward with the realization that it will not be perfect and all inclusive in short order.  There are many hurdles ahead, but that should not be the sole reason to become a part of the boo-ing section.

There is much shouting about the public option that is not true.  Most Americans are insured through employer; they would not be able to participate at first.  Also, it would not be free.  Those who sign up will pay a premium.  There are those who are already use county hospitals and our ERs ( approximately $ 1000 a visit) who don’t pay a dime.  Hospitals cannot maintain this expense.

I think we have no recourse but to give this a chance to succeed.  We cannot allow  Americans to fall into the " indigent" category simply because they have no health care or care that does not deliver.  Most have worked hard and paid those premiums on time.  We know where we have been; we know where we are now.  It is not working and there is not a single reliable indicator that tells us it will get better without reform.