1) How much of our health care costs are due to our higher rate of obesity compared to other countries, (I have seen data suggesting 60% of health care issues are due to life style, so this has an impact.) This cost will not be addressed by simply having ‘gov’ coverage. A national health plan must address this if we expect to get the cost savings/containment we are thinking about (fat tax?).

2) How much of our health care dollars are due to end of life care/consumer choice? ie. spending 50k on a drug that extends your life 6-12 months, or getting the MRI that you pushed your doctor to give you. My understanding is that this does not happen in other countries under their gov run plans, the doctor is the decider. If you support a gov national plan and say that its tough luck we shouldn’t have to pay for it, then why should I have to pay for anyones health care at all, where do you decide to draw the line?

3) Although our overall care is behind other countries, I have seen data that says our care from age 30 and beyond is actually better (Public Policy Class). Does anyone have the source, or the reason why this is the case?

4) Doctors motivated by profit(SMW). No, they may not ALL be motivated by profit. However, I know several surgeons who are able to tolerate the 100 hour work weeks BECAUSE of the paycheck. Additionally, I know two doctors who have considered closing their practices due to the lack of reward vs. risk. Doctor motivations vary like everyone else, we need to understand those especially with an extra 40 million hopefully seeing a doctor.

5) Quality of care. With government stipulating how much each procedure costs, how are quality of care metrics encouraged, accounted for? Note: this is a problem private or public.

6) Fraud Prevention Incentives. Current FBI estimates are 60 billion/year Medicaid/Medicare fraud. I would imagine private insurance has the incentive to track this down on their own. Will the FBI or some other agency be given the authority/incentive to reduce this down to an acceptable level?

7) No doubt about it. You will wait longer to see a doctor if a national plan is worth anything, ie. people will actually use it. Inelastic supply, shift in demand.

I am nitpicking, but 50 million are without insurance, 10 million of those can afford the insurance but choose not to. They pay out of pocket for everything. I know several of these people. Really we are talking about 40 million. Yes its a big deal.

Only 50 million uninsured Americans will be cheap to care for in Mexico.

It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.

STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.

And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.

Progressive democrats and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and demand that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).

Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.

In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!

Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD!

God Bless You

Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS

Apparently, however, you do need one to tell you that you should ALMOST NEVER have an antibiotic for a sore throat, most of which are caused by VIRUSES. Antibiotics don’t work on viruses and giving antibiotics to people who don’t need them is a leading cause of the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Geez. I guess it’s no surprise that one of the people spouting right-wing nonsense is also medically ignorant as well as economically ignorant.

They do. Idiot!

It would be quite cheap to add working people to Medicare. Medicare and Tricare/VA also have the lowest administrative costs and lowest bureacracy levels of any medical insurance in the United States.

The real issue here is the right wingnuts who haven’t a clue how things work in the real world and can’t see the forest or the trees, thanks to a failure to learn any economics and a failure to do any actual research.

Thankfully “socialism” is on the march in 2009 and 75% of the population wants it.