Closing Arguments: Your Health Care ?s for President Obama?

I would ask the President why he doesn’t FIRST clean up all the WASTE and FRAUD within Medicare and Medicaid before taking on Universal Healthcare. Medicare is a ticking time bomb and everyone knows it. We are constantly told that the waste and fraud within Medicare is something like $90 million a year. If we could save that Univeral Healthcare might be easier to get through. Please ask him what (in concrete terms) he and others are doing to combat the waste in the Medicare system.

I am a health insurance professional. I have studied both healthcare delivery systems, gov’t sponsored and private delivery systems. It is well noted by many (including the media) that most of the countries that offer socialized medicine come here to the United States for the state of the art care. How will you insure the United States healthcare system will continue to be the best of the world if you move to a govt sponsored system? Are you also going to provide funding for medical research in addition to national healthcae system?

Ask the President if people who are unemployed and have no minor children will be covered under this health care plan. I ask because I’ve been looking for employment for 3 years now, I even when back to school last year to learn another type of career and still have not found employment here in Chicago or the surrounding areas.

Good question concerning medicaid….one that certainly needs to be addressed and as you said it would help promote the idea of a better insurance method that would be government run.

The U.S. already has 2 government run universal healthcare plans currently in practice: Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for the poor. I’ve seen both systems are so ridiculously convoluted that they fail to cover reasonable health care goods and services for people that truly need them in many instances, yet both plans are still plagued with fraud. The govt has a proven record of inefficiency in these 2 universal healthcare systems. Please ask President Obama why not develop a federal framework for private sector to compete and deliver care in the same way some other industries are federally regulated (e.g. FAA, FCC, etc.)?

I would like to know how this plan will be different than Medicare or Medicaid. As it stands now, the government doesn’t run these two programs well. Second question, why should I have to pay for people who can afford insurance, yet choose not to get it? I realize that not all the uninsured fall into this category, but there is a large number of people that do. Third, is this plan going to be available to the MILLIONS of illegal immigrants who already suck off the system?

Both my wife and I were laid off this year. I am concerned we will not be able to get health insurance after we exhaust our COBRA coverage, because we have both had some serious medical conditions in the past, but are both in good health now. We would like to see affordable health care made available to us and anyone that is not tied to an employer and is not subject to the exclusion policies that for project health insurance has. We might want to start a small business or do something else, but health care is a real issue for us, so we might need to take some job for the health insurance, if we can find one. I think employer based health care probably hurts the economy by keeping people dependant on an employer to get affordable healthcare. It also forces people who might otherwise retire to keep working solely to keep health care coverage until they reach 65. I know of at least two people in their late 50′s, early 60′s working solely to keep health insurance. This also hurts the economy by keeping these jobs from younger workers coming into the work force. It also hurts the company because these older workers who might otherwise retire probably have a much higher salary than someone younger.

I’ve been listening to President Obama over the last few days regarding the many problems with our current health care system. I am a nurse, presently back in school to become an Advanced Practice Nurse, and am very disturbed that the president has not once mentioned individual accountability as a cost saving mechanism. All of the other important factors I think the president has grasped. But, there will be no costs being cut if we do not expect more out of the American people in taking control of their health. I see it over and over again. We can educate our patients about their disease, give them a medication, and hope that they listen to our expert advise. But, people continue to eat what they shouldn’t, thus, we have the most obese nation worldwide! People continue to smoke, despite the known risks and costs to our health system. The list goes on and on. We must include incentives to live healthier to prevent the chronic diseases that are costing our nation hundreds of millions of dollars per year, like Diabetes Type 2 and Obesity. Insurance premiums should be less expensive for those that choose to live a healthy, risk free lifestyle, and more expensive for those that choose to smoke, not exercise and eat to the point of morbid obesity. Having a government controlled health care plan will not save money until it includes preventive medicine and disincentives for bad health habits.

Dawn you beat me by a few minutes. I have the same concerns.

ABC, appears to be the official propaganda wing of the Socialist / Democratic Party. I have now lost all respect for ABC News.

Thank you ABC and Pres. Obama for a great program. I am curious, though, about the public hesitation on a government run health plan. We in the US are very quick to praise our military as the best in the world. Defense is a public plan and it has managed to produce a military to the satisfaction of the citizens. Can you imagine, however, if health insurance companies were in charge of our military?
As a taxpayer without insurance I am willing to take this “chance”. I would like to have it offered. What are my chances of actually seeing it?
Again, thank you. Terrific job all around. Regards to Bo, the First Dog.
Atlanta, GA
June 24, 2009

I’m not sure President Obama really understands that those of us who are self employeed, without employees, and do pay for our own health insurance…that if you set up government supported health insurance…the private health insurance companies can make it cheaper to compete with the government sponsored insurance but they will also reduce your benefits…including life time benefits.
My insurance company is not going to give me the same plan I currently have for less money…that won’t happen!
I think the health insurance companies should have to change the way they categorize people. I am healthy, my health insurance went up more than 20% again this year…(and I hardly used it at all last year)…because I am grouped by age and people my age…between 50 and 60…apparently go to the hospital a lot. And, due to the deductible, I hardly get any benefit from my insurance…but the premium continues to sky rocket. Our premiums go up, but we do not get any more service for the dollar!
Nationalizing Health Insurance won’t stop that…companies will continue to offer cheaper plans with less benefits…and then what happens if you really get sick with cancer or some other serious disease…and your benefits expire…or they tell you you’ve already used your lifetime quota. Then what? There are a lot of us out here that will end up with continued high premiums to stay covered…and we will fall through the cracks.
Private health insurance is BIG BUSINESS…and these insurance companies aren’t going to give up their HUGE incomes easily.
Even if people like me could buy insurance through government supported health insurance companies…it might be cheaper…but it WILL NOT be comparable to what I have now. I do not believe that government supported health insurance will drive down the prices of private insurance companies. Private insurance companies offer a variety of plans…but they are not comparable…all based on cost whether you use it or not.

WOW! People amaze me. I read that people are traveling to the US for health care but no mention of the stories I see about Americans flying to India for surgeries. You say the two health plans the government currently offers are full of fraud. Do you really not know that most every privately run company is full of fraud too if there is a lot of money to be made. The bottom line for me is our health care system sucks. The insurance companies have had years to get it right but we continue to pay more for very poor care. I am not sure what the answer is but I am sure if we continue to do nothing it will not get any better.

I do agree with the many people against Obama’s proposed govermental health plan, in that Obama really hasn’t given a solid description as to how his plan will work and the plan’s limitations. On the other hand, I do believe that it is absolutely necessary that something is done to change the current health insurance situation.
As a college student, I have two options for health care. One, I can remain a dependent of parents and access their insurance, as long as I am a full time student, until I am 26. Or I can become an idependent and drop the insurance provided my father’s employer in exchange for the insurance offered by my school at a cost of $2,000 per year. (A heavy price tag on top of tuition, fees, housing, etc) Both plans offer equal coverage (which is severly lacking in my opinion). My friend, who works two part time jobs, is able to buy into Mass Health. Her insurance covers much more than mine and the cost of it is directly proportional to her income. Because I qualify for state funded insurance through my school, I am not eligible for Mass Health.
Thinking about health insurance has made me think about other types of insurance that I must pay for, namely my car insurance. Even in Massachusetts, where the price of car insurance is standardized, resulting in fewer options (can’t get Progressive, Geico, etc), I have more options for my car insurance than I do for my health insurance. My only options for health insurance is that what my employer (my school) or my parents’ (due to my age) employer chooses. I know I am young and (as an English major) I understand very little about the financial and political aspects of this situation, I am utterly baffled as to why I have less options and control in choosing insurance for my own health than I do for the piece of metal I park in my driveway.
So my questions for Obama would be how is this plan, specifically, going to work and will I be able to finally choose my own health plan and not be locked into what somebody else (my employer) has chosed for me?

At this time I greatly admire the growing number of states that have the guts to take a 10th Amendment stand against Obama’s encroachment upon their sovereignty!

This I know. When I started working for a certain company in 1998, the company paid $7500 a year for my health insurance. In 2008 they paid $12500 a year for my health insurance. This is a large company with many employees. They are going to have the employees help pay for some of this next year. I think something needs to be done.

Since my latest trips to the doctor I have been a lot more concerned about my health.