something is going to happen (too much pressure) but doesn't think it will be a good answer .... yet

I hope it does. So many people are desperately in need for it.

the insurance lobbies are going to swing some clusterfuck though

sadly, I think you're on track, Surreal. *sigh*

It'll be better work out a viable plan that won't bankrupt the treasury than to hurry through a suboptimal plan before the August recess.

there's a special place in Hell reserved for insurance company execs

what makes you say that metacode

that it's all messed up. Insurance companies need regulation, yes. However, Medicaid and Medicare are laughable at best. Ending up with a

public option akin to that would be something nobody would want and it would bankrupt the country faster than you can say Bernie Madoff.

There's more, lots more, that I could say, but sadly I don't think there's enough room. Really, the feds in health care is a bad idea period

insurance company dumping is one of the reasons Medicaid/Medicare are stressed

again the question... is the US stupider than 9 developed countries who do a pretty decent job?

45 million uninsured, 1 million medical-related bankruptcies a year

yes?

suspects the insurance companies will manage to kill it again, too. Giving people whose only REAL interest is in lining their pockets

control over the population's access to healthcare is a dangerous proposition, IMO.

The problem of healthcare goes beyond just them, of course—there are many sectors of society that influence our overall health, such

as corn farmers, GMO food producers, chemical manufacturers, and so on…

well the generally less healthy (and crappy mortality rates) have everything to do with LACK of universal health care

hey now, the National Cornholers Party sez you're not a patriot if you're against corn!

As for the "US is too big" and therefore somehow special - by that theory, we shouldn't be able to have a government period

that many who are lucky enough to have good health coverage aren't going to be willing to accept that to extend decent coverage to

everyone, they're going to have to give up some of their perks. That insecurity plays right into the hands of the conservatives on both

sides of the party line: yeah, 47 MILLION people without insurance is too bad, but having to give up all those expensive tests that don't

seem to be actually helping any, or getting all those nice, high-priced designer drugs, or expensive operations that might not be quite as

*must have NOW* as they think? Well, dang, it's a shame we can't insure everyone, isn't it?

I have a mom whose life post-lung cancer is being helped along by an extremely expensive drug, so I feel the tug as well.

funny, given that I consider employer-based health insurance one of the primary sources of *insecurity*, i.e. potentially it's lose

your job, lose your life, or your home because of the medical bills.

oh no worries.... if the current system isn't fixed, no one under the level of dept. head will have employer insurance...

because they won't be employees... all contractors

any society that is not taking care of its weakest members is a broken society.

*gives Thoria a hug for that comment and limps away*

I agree, Thoria—unfortunately, far too many of the "haves" think the "have-nots" *choose* to be poor or sick.

Atropos, my dear, you've hit the nail on the head all throughout your very intelligent and well thought out responses here.

Thoria, the weakest, sickest, and poorest members of our society do have access to free government care, both federal and state care. Even

some cities and counties have special budgets set aside for their own health initiatives to cover such persons. I know people in programs as

such here. A friend of mine who has cancer and is very poor is covered by a city, state, and federal program and gets better care than I do

with my private health insurance - and he doesn't pay a penny for it while I'm shelling out tons for my care . . . not to mention my taxes

going to pay for *his* bill as well.

It's just one example of the feds and their interests trying to pull a fast one over on all of us. I'm not standing for it at all. I've

been doing a lot of writing to not only my representatives on this, but to the leaders of each committee, the speakers, and the whips.

The House bill is over a thousand pages long. Nobody has had time to read it all. Some of the things I've run across that have been slid in

it are scary and have little to do with care at all, really. Lies, lies, and more damned lies. I haven't read it all myself, but what I have

is damn scary. And I can't wait to see what's hidden in the Senate's version. Oi. If this passes, we're fucked, people. Fucked.

Obama should take a lesson from his home state's own short-lived experiment with universal health care coverage, which failed miserably.

Hawaii attempted it with a limited population segment (which was to be expanded if the trial was deemed beneficial) and was, as is what's

being proposed by the Feds, a public-private collaboration. However, there was so much rampant fraud and abuse that they ended it early.

It didn't accomplish *anything* that they'd set out to do. It made things far, far worse and the state is still dealing with the consequence