What if the Fire Department was operated the same way our health care system is... would they come put out a fire at your house if you didn't have enough insurance? Would they save your life and then take your property as payment? It is not so difficult to imagine these days as the push of privatizing every aspect of our government to for profit and astronomical profits for the few, the well connected....the cold hearted.

I would also like to add this thought about keeping our insurance tied to employers;
The vast majority of American workers are 'at will' employees, which effectively makes them the disposable property of their employers. Employers who are aware that as you become older and more likely to need to use that medical insurance it will affect their profits so employees who are at their most vulnerable time may be found to be less productive and "let go"...then if they do find a new job with health coverage will existing problems be covered? Probably not. Let us all hope that the new Michael Moore documentary will stir up the apathetic and ignorant.

The Rebublican love to say we have the greatest everything. Truth is we are no longer the greatest country. OVer the past 30 years our wages have taken a hit, our children education is down, higher education is more and more unaffordable, and of course our health system is worse than many 3rd world coutries. ALl because of the neo cons and their heartless view of life

Health Care Plans should be labeled Health Care Rationing.

The main purpose of these Plans is to prevent the undeserving poor from receiving adequate care. The "market" will decide who is worthy of surviving. Human intervention to modify the markets' decision is heresy.

For-profit healthcare is immoral! That's all there is to it. A country that willingly puts corporate profits and shareholder returns ahead of the medical care and the relieving of pain and suffering for the general population is a pure definition of a "third world" country. For some reason, America has bought into the premise that ANYTHING done for profit will be done better and cheaper than any other way. But, not all things should be for profit and health care is the poster child of this incorrect way of thinking. It is a constant wonder to me why the majority of people I talk to in America still think that our healthcare establishment is the best in the world and that any attempts to change it to a "single payer" or government-run institution are wrong and will destroy the good thing that we currently have. Exactly how bad does it have to get in this country before we all are at least willing to admit that it is criminally unfair to have the general population pay for the healthcare of others - e.g. Medicare / Medicade / other "special purpose government medical programs" - thru mandatory taxes but have a large portion of these tax-paying citizens be completely uninsured? The days of employer-sponsored healthcare are pretty much gone. Now-a-days finding any kind of job that even pays a small portion of the healthcare expenses is difficult or impossible for a majority of the population. So the government touts private healthcare insurance but then does not force these healthcare insurers to ensure everyone at reasonable cost. Instead it allows them to maximize their profits by doing everything in their power to avoid insuring those who would likely be in the most need of actually requiring health care. Then it allows them to cut the costs of delivering healthcare to those who are actually lucky enough to be able to afford the insurance by determining what they will and will not pay for. This, of course, leads to the absurd situations where desperately needed medical procedures, tests, and treatments that are currently available are not allowed because they would simply be too expensive to provide AND still present the profit margins that the corporations and shareholders demand. More than likely, this will continue until a critical tipping point is reached and then all hell will break loose. I don't know when we will actually hit that tipping point but I suspect the time is getting near...

Our Bucks for Misery Medical System is working exactly the way it is designed to work. It's part of the wealth transfer system that takes every dine out of our pockets and transfers it to the richfilth who live to rape us, until we have nothing left. Many are excluded because they are supposed to be excluded. At core, you have to understand that to the richfilth, healthcare, like education, is wasted on the Slaves. We are here to work for Master for nothing, increase Master's wealth, then die.

Whajagonnado Slave? You gonna fight Master? Better late than never I suppose. But then, America never wanted Everybody to have health care, did they? Our entire society is based on ruthless exclusion at every level, except for you and yours, of course. You're different. But not for 'them'. Certainly not that guy mowing your lawn, right? Not the one who changes the sheets in your hotel or buses your table in the restaurant. Fuck them, they're nobody, right? Well, guess what, to the richfilth, we're all Nobody. Wake up.

Peace.

I am a health care refugee.

Well really, I am a voluntary simplicity refugee. I think life needs to become much simpler -- for all of us. Two of us live on about $12,000 a year. It's not hard nor uncomfortable, if you 1) grow at least some of your own food, 2) produce at least some of your own energy, 3) reduce your needs, especially energy needs, and 4) run a business, so some of the luxuries of modern life (like computers) can be had tax-free.

But the US does not support voluntary simplicity. In the US, I am called "impoverished." Everyone from George Bush on down expects me to make as much money as I possibly can.

Health care is one of the big levers in enforcing that mind-set. How can a couple live on $12,000 a year, when insurance costs nearly a third of that?

In my case, it was simple: move to Canada. Now I have better health care than I ever had in the US, at much lower cost. At least in my locale, people don't call me a "bum" for making only as much money as I need, they call me "frugal," which used to be valued in America, my parents told me. I feel supported in my quest to be frugal, whereas in suburban Portland, I was tolerated as some weird eccentric.

But the US has its sights set north and south. Controlling Canada and Mexico via non-legislated "agreements" like NAFTA and SPP is the only way the imploding empire can continue. I hope that takes longer than I fear it will, because I'll be old enough to need health care by then, and poor enough to not get it.

davidf and tim1234 make some good points--but I'd think we were making progress if existing US anti-trust laws applied to insurance companies.

They're trying to kill us off, no doubt. The only solution is to stay healthy, don't buy into the non-healthcare system.

Drex: People didn't complain because they are so hypnotized by soundbytes they HEARD "prescription BENEFIT plan" and chose to believe there were benefits (to others than just big pharma). Davidf: very good comparative points about how our nation lacks behind other civilized nations.
WJM: it's all about maintaining symptoms so that like rent, people remain on medications for years, if not their entire lifetimes. Two anedotes. I had a friend whose sister worked for a big insurance company. She was a super smart woman, graduated at the top of her class, etc. and her job at this insurance firm was to figure out who would most likely NEVER need insurance. In other words, she knew how to play the odds to get the most healthy people into the program and weed out any "costs." In 2005-2006 I spent a lot of time in hospitals and doctor's offices as my father approached his "transition." I would naturally talk to people in the waiting room. My father lived in South Florida among wealthy retired people and EVERY conceivable medical specialty has migrated there to take advantage of the "gold rush." These doctors may prolong life but months or several years but at GREAT cost. I was apprised by one woman that while medicare covered her husband's various surgeries and medical programs, she wanted to look over the paperwork. She found glaring overcharges and when she brought these to the hospital's attention, they could care less. I was told 25% of the entire budget for health care goes towards the elderly, i.e. those on the cusp of death. It's a very strange system that prolongs the inevitable, then shoves the young and poor out to die too early.

Health Care and U.S. are incompatible.

I was a doctor of chiropractic for 20 years. I saw the health care system implode in an orgasm of greed. Work comp fails the workes and medicare fully covered patients are left to die in nursing homes. Imagine what it is like for the uninsured. Cash paying patients now pay a premium because insurance reimbursements are so low. That should be illegal. When anyone tried to charge insurance patients more than cash paying patients-even though it is more paperrwork and more costly-the insurance companies would go after you for fraud. Now that the situation is reversed it is fine and dandy. Here is what to do. Let everyone who want to becovered by Medicare have it. Cover all costs. 100%. Negotiate with doctors and hospitols, etc.. Then start buildung peoples hospitols where are the doctors on salary andthere is no reimbursement.
In a feww years the insurance companies would be gone, heath care would improve. Many more people would be working on the patient's health not shuffleing papers. The rich would have their private doctors to do to. 2 separate systems would evolve.

davidf for POTUS! At long last a platform I can get behind 100%.

The failure of any major US political party (i.e., the Republicrats) to champion universal health care is the most obvious symptom of a sick political system.

As I see it, the US cut off its left wing in the 1950s and we've been flapping around in circles ever since. (Although we are told repeatedly that McCarthy was censored and stopped, we are not told that it was not before he, and more so J Edgar Hoover, destroyed thousands of lives, and effectively banished progressives from the American political scene.)

The US is virtually alone in the industrialized world in having neither a socialist nor a labor party. Many countries also have functional Green parties, including several (as in Germany) that have participated in ruling coalitions. The US is alone among industrialized countries in having a "two-party system". Every other country has multiple parties represented in the parliaments -- a genuine spectrum of choice.

Here in the US, we have one (1) congressperson, Bernie Sanders, who dares to utter the "s" word. And even he is now an "independent".

Here in the US we have a right-wing party and a middle-of-the-road party, and that's it.

Here in the US, items that are staples of a progressive agenda in other countries are beyond the political pale here, including:

*A genuine universal health care system, which would include universal access to good-quality health care irrespective of the ability to pay. Health care that doesn't disappear when you lose your job.
*Progressive taxation -- And how about a maximum wage and a livable minimum wage?
*A ban on scabs during strikes
*Insuring the right to organize
*Cuts in military spending (why no peace dividend at the end of the Cold War?)
*Ending US imperialism -- Bring the troops home not just from Iraq, but from Afghanistan, Iran, Germany, Spain, Japan, Bahrain, Australia, Honduras, and the other 100 countries where our empire extends.
*A commitment to the UN and abiding by international law.
*A commitment to all 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom from unreasonable searches and siezures, a la the Patriot Act. Restoration of habeas corpus.
*Campaign reform, including public financing of elections, and free media time for candidates along with a ban on paid political advertising.
*Proportional representation – moving away from our winner-take-all political system.
*Ending the power of corporations -- Ending corporate personhood. Banning corporate political contributions. Re-instatement of the corporate death penalty (which existed in the 1st half of the 19th century).

Panamahead, you are wrong when you say "something has to change" it doesnt have to change and probably wont in our lifetime.
I see the evil-medical-empire as being (1.) the insurance companies and their ability to gobble up health care dollars while rationing out the care directly or indirectly. (2.) The pharmaceutical companies and their greed (vaccinations out of stock but plenty of viagra). (3) our own Government as they subsidize the directly and indirectly the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Why was the U.S. populace not outraged at legislation that prevents Medicare from barganing with the pharmaceutical companies? Perhaps we are our own worst enemies in our apathy and ignorance.

Despite careful proof-reading of my preceding comment, one revision is clearly in order (only the final word of the comment has been changed). Mea culpa.
Note: The following does not apply to those who are extremely wealthy and can afford to self-insure. If this does not apply to you, please read on…Why should someone who is in good health, with a steady job and excellent health care benefits be concerned about the current condition (i.e., critical) of the health care system in the United States? If you are one of those individuals enjoying such happy circumstances, consider the following scenario: While traveling on or crossing a public road today (as a driver, passenger or pedestrian) you are seriously injured by a hit and run driver, resulting in severe medical complications and a permanent disability. What would your future then look like? No matter how loyal you've been to your employer, how long will they maintain you on their payroll? Once your employment is terminated, with no viable source of income, no employer-paid health insurance, no access to group health insurance rates and astronomical medical bills, how long will your savings last? Want to buy individual health insurance? The rates for healthy individuals are extremely high, and if any company would write insurance for someone with your pre-existing medical conditions, the rates would be stratospheric. Assuming that you have generous friends and family members, given the considerable costs you face going forward, how long could they subsidize your survival before going bankrupt themselves? Assuming that those people were willing to make such considerable sacrifices, only delaying, but not preventing the inevitable, how would you feel about this? In effect, even though many of us have health insurance (except for 46.6 million in this country who don't), under such a scenario, we are all dangerously underinsured.

Note: The following does not apply to those who are extremely wealthy and can afford to self-insure. If this does not apply to you, please read on...Why should someone who is in good health, with a steady job and excellent health care benefits be concerned about the current condition (i.e., critical) of the health care system in the United States? If you are one of those individuals enjoying such happy circumstances, consider the following scenario: While traveling on or crossing a public road today (as a driver, passenger or pedestrian) you are seriously injured by a hit and run driver, resulting in severe medical complications and a permanent disability. What would your future then look like? No matter how loyal you've been to your employer, how long will they maintain you on their payroll? Once your employment is terminated, with no viable source of income, no employer-paid health insurance, no access to group health insurance rates and astronomical medical bills, how long will your savings last? Want to buy individual health insurance? The rates for healthy individuals are extremely high, and if any company would write insurance for someone with your pre-existing medical conditions, the rates would be stratospheric. Assuming that you have generous friends and family members, given the considerable costs you face going forward, how long could they subsidize your survival before going bankrupt themselves? Assuming that those people were willing to make such considerable sacrifices, only delaying, but not preventing the inevitable, how would you feel about this? In effect, even though many of us have health insurance (except for 46.6 million in this country who don't), under such a scenario, we are all dangerously insured.

Helpless describes my feelings as well as hopeless.

And the Dem condidates all have presented teeny, tiny, incremental change approaches to "healthcare reform" rather than championing the only morally just and economically sustainable solution, which is "healthcare FINANCE reform" -- single-payer. We all know why, as referenced above: look at the campaign contributions and lobbying...follow the $$$$.

Imagine if this degree of timidity -- which they argue is just being politically realistic -- had been applied to the civil rights legislative efforts in the 1960's. First they would have said, let's give black males above, say, the age of 40 the right to vote, then in 10 years we'll add black women above 40, then in 10 years we'll lower the eligible age for males, then....you get the idea. Where are the people of conscience, courage, and capacity to lead? I know, they are all too evolved to even consider throwing themselves into the whoring ugliness of American politics.

There is, as has been pointed out here a number of times by myself and others, H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill for single payer, but there is as yet no Senate companion bill or any real PR around it.

I'm feeling pretty damned hopeless....

Money is the underlying problem for all the world's ills. Get rid of capitalism once and for all. We need global socialism, where everyone has a roof over his head, 3 meals a day, a job, education and health care. Capitalism is a cancer that is out of control.

And yet another perfect example of what happens when MONEY is what calls the shots. This is a direct result of the Reagan policy of EVERYTHING being up to the highest bidder. Call me a crazy leftie all you want, but the health and lives of humans should NOT be held for hostage for money. That is pretty much like kidnapping.

But then, the whole premise of the Western Medicine system is all based on symptoms, not cures. Notice, that? It's all based on dealing with symptoms and not on underlying causes. If all you want to do is deal with the symptoms, you can keep someone an any drug you offer for the rest of their lives. A CONSTANT income stream. NOT a cure. It's NEVER a cure.

The problem, just like it is in so many other cases, is MONEY. It's ALWAYS money. When you don't have huge corporations and every other middleman in the industry skimming off the top, things are always cheaper. It's a fundamental law of economics, the more hands in the pot, the less each hand gets, or the price goes up to compensate. It doesn't improve your quality, as is evidenced by what we have now.

Write on Ricklmafd. Free is enough to scare some vendors and public servants, (They are under pressures that compound these effective solutions.) Priorities need to be placed back to getting health-care in remission from the cancer of profit. Great ideas and solutions to our health-care crisis exist, let's lever them.

In the U.S. only the rich are guaranteed good health care. When a person's health is damaged because of inadequate health care -- the case above is one example -- and the person is unable to work, the plutocrats then label them as lazy bums.

Keeping people healthy and therefore productive is good for the country. Isn't that what the politicians should be aiming for?

I live near the Canadian border, and I was in Canada on vacation and spoke with the Canadians who told me they wanted NO part of a health care system like the United States has. They are perfectly happy with their present health care system, contrary to what right-wingers here in the U.S. claim.

The critical problem is not lack of computerized medical records. The Veterans Administration Hospitals developed a medical IT system that can be used free by any hospital or health insurer & none have adopted it. They are too busy lobbying politicans & marketing propaganda to consumers so they can keep their excessive administrative overhead fees and profits. Administrative expenses are about 33% of US costs with the bureauacracy required for multiple private insurance but only 3% by the government run Medicare & VA systems and Canada's medicare program.
A single payer system focuses on preventative care and health services delivery instead of a bureaucracy to deny care to maximize private corporate profits.

In "Sicko" a hospital refuses to sew a mans finger back together because he can't afford it. I'd imagine hes less productive now and collects unemployment. Thats what you call a dysfunctional system.

Inadequate healthcare is immoral. US military spending is astronomical so it can fund unjust wars while its citizens and soliders are treated less than human.

Something has to change.