Debating Obama's Health Plan: Today's Outrage
NEW YORK (
) -- Yesterday's missive on President Obama's big health care reform speech generated huge numbers of comments and emails, showing outrage on many different levels. So today I am giving all sides a chance to air their views and continue this important national discussion.
Here is a sampling of reader comments:
What ever happened to freedom of speech? We do not always like what we hear, on both sides of the aisle. Let it be. A 20 minute speech would have been better than a painful, 50 minute speech.It would also be very refreshing to see Obama give a speech WITHOUT a teleprompter.
I liked the President's speech: He is finally calling it "his "plan. It is about time he stands up for it and describes the details. And you know what? It does not sound all bad. I know the health care system all too well and I am on Medicare now. I am surprised how well it works, and I am in favor of a public option more than ever. Why? Because I know from personal experience that most hospitals, doctors, labs and drug cos. are overcharging whenever they can. I recently spent one day in a hospital, got a bill for $55,000, Medicare paid about $15,000, and I owe a little over $1,000. By comparison, 3 months ago, I spent one day in a hospital in Austria, the bill was about $5,000, and I had to pay $21 euro, about $30. - I had the same 20 minute procedure performed by 3 different doctors in the last 6 months, the charges were about $800, $400, and $1600; Medicare allowed about $200 each time which seems quite generous for 20 minutes of work.We are the only wealthy country in the world that does not provide health care at a reasonable cost to its citizens! I think Obama's plan does not go far enough!!!
Heard all the same rhetoric in Canada about noninterference, non-rationing, efficiency, and no deficits. We have universal access to deficits, high taxes, rationing, long waiting lists, physician shortages, nursing shortages, union blackmail and political prevarication. Best of luck!
We need to offer insurance to all US citizens. No pre-existing conditions,portable health insurance. All must pay in, all will receive catastrophiccoverage at a min, with the ability to choose plans in 50 states. At a maximum,let us pay more for a medium plan and a deluxe plan. Switzerland hasthis plan and it works beautifully. All are insured and all pay in to the best of theirabilities...the poor are helped to buy this insurance. In order for this to work,we need medical malpractice tort reform. All should be able to deduct theirhealth insurance costs, annually.
I am having a little trouble understanding President Obama's math. He says that hundreds of billions of dollars will be saved by stopping waste and fraud. This new healthcare bill will make that possible. Where has the government been until now?
God Bless the mentally challenged who worry about "socialism" in their medical insurance and rather pay through their nose than have this wretched health care reform passed, after all what would one do with all this extra money in the pocket. Also bless Senator Wilson and his mental challenge, he just attempted to be a good Republican and protect these poor insurance companies.
NO PUBLIC option, this is insanity. Let the private insurance market compete for our healthcare dollars across all 50 states. Lastly, we need to allow 150,000 doctors and nurses into the USA by special visa program to treat 36 million more people with their health care needs.
The sad truth of the matter is that to a free market economy not all lives are of equal value. Is the life of the engineer who develops a missile defense system to protect the free world from annihilation or the life of the scientist who develops cures for deadly diseases of equal value to the masses as the hobo pandering for another dime to buy another drink? We should never have made business responsible for providing health coverage; we will be worse off if we let government take over, (at least business has incentive to provide good coverage; government answers to no one.)
This never ending blather about the saving of capitalism in health care is rather disturbing, and a good share comes from people who are simply voting party lines without any knowledge of any proposals. America appears to insist on emergency room health care for the uninsured and gladly paying for it rather than have any change, I just don't get this whining about health insurance cost by the same people, the private and government employed don't care because their employer "pays" that makes it "free".
Ideally, individuals should be responsible for providing their own health care coverage. Self reliance, responsibility, hard work ... wasn't this the stuff of Obama's speech to our students earlier this week? Don't we teach best by example?
I don't trust the president's $900 billion plan will come in at this budget because healthcare cost inflation is mostly a function of increased usage and utilization. I certainly don't believe that this $900bn will be sourced from cost savings. I am also skeptical that the president wants to insure the uninsured only; I think he wants a government plan that will eventually overtake private insurance. I also think the government has no intention of "negotiating" prices with pharmaceutical companies and I fear that the next generation of cancer, heart and arthritis drugs will be slowed as a result. And lastly, I don't consider it a concession, or compromise, when the president puts six items on the agenda and then takes two off, that's called sandbagging. If the president wants to compromise and cover the uninsured why doesn't he take an item from the republican's wish list? For instance, lets allow national distribution of health insurance beyond state by state by state regulations (btw, does the public option have to deal state by state like this?) and while we're "compromising" lets expand HSA's (its what private doctors utilize after all)?
Glenn Hall is the New York-based Editor in Chief of
TheStreet.com
. Previously, he served as deputy editor and chief innovation officer at
The Orange County Register
and as a news manager at
Bloomberg News
in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. As a reporter, he covered business and financial markets, worked in both print and television in the U.S. and Europe, and conducted in-depth investigative coverage at
The Journal-Gazette
in Fort Wayne, Ind. His work also has been published in a variety of newspapers including
The Wall Street Journal
,
The New York Times
and
International Herald Tribune
. Hall received a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from The Ohio State University and a certificate in project and program management from Boston University.
