Now the Finance Committee has cleared the bill, the focus will quickly shift to the closed doors of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office.
The Nevada Democrat must merge the conservative-leaning Finance Committee legislation with a more liberally drawn bill approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

The primary difference between the Finance Committee bill and the health committee legislation involves a government-run insurance company -- the public option.

Oh I guess the public option still has to be decided.

Can it really be called "middle of the road" when only one person from the opposing party vote in favor of the plan? I don't think it can.

The sad thing is that the bill as it sits now will not do anything significant to control healthcare costs. As long as we continue to pay doctors like sweatshop workers....based on the number of procedures/office visits they can grind out......there will never be any market pressure for them to cut costs. Any healthcare reform that doesn't contain a fundamental restructuring in how we pay the providers is going to fail to address the biggest problem, which is that the care is rapidly becoming too expensive for the American public to afford.

The trouble with being "middle of the road" is that you tend to get run over there.

We must not forget the attitude of Republicans. When it comes time we must vote them out of the office for not giving us One payer public option health Plan. Middle class is the one that suffering the most and we as middle class can stick it to them.

Originally posted by nixie_nox

I knew it was gonna end up in the middle of the road. One step closer. Whether you agree with it or not.

I don't think it's "middle of the road" at all. It's a huge multi-billion-dollar giveaway to the insurance industry. No wonder Olympia Snowe voted for it.

If Congress mandates that everybody in the country must have health insurance, but there are no curbs on what the insurance companies can charge, they can raise their rates to whatever they want and people will have to pay them. And then, of course, they will have the additional bonanza of millions of new customers on top of greater revenues.

The only way to keep the insurance companies honest is to offer a not-for-profit option--a "public option" funded by the government. Then the insurance companies will have to compete with the government for cost and coverage and they will have to keep their rates lower and cover more people and conditions.

I do not support any bill that will force me to buy whatever the insurance companies want to offer.

Without the "public option" health insurance reform will only benefit the mega-corporations, not the American people. I will not support legislation that doesn't have one.

Originally posted by Sestias
The only way to keep the insurance companies honest is to offer a not-for-profit option--a "public option" funded by the government. Then the insurance companies will have to compete with the government for cost and coverage and they will have to keep their rates lower and cover more people and conditions.

I agree completely! I still have hope that the final bill could possibly have a public option, but I'm not holding my breath. All I can do is call my congressmen!

The answer isn't a public option or regulations by the government - if you want to keep the insurance industry honest and competitive you do the exact same thing you do in any industry - you keep competition alive so that the true winners are customers. And the government should NOT be in business competing with anyone, period.

The only way to keep insurance competition alive and healthy is to open up private insurance purchasing across state lines so that you increase the number of players in the pool - give people far more choices AND make it easier for people to buy insurance; those insurance companies that remain competitive will stay afloat and those that don't will go bankrupt. That much is assured.

[edit on 13-10-2009 by sos37]

This health care reform shows to those that wants to see, who our government is working for, when we the people are going to be forced to support by law private entities in this nation.

Servants and slaves are just the beginning of the list of names we the people can be call for in the New Amerika.

If the Senate Finance bill becomes the type of health reform we will
eventually get, the premiums will skyrocket well beyond what any
meager government subsidies can cover. The insurance industry
said this themselves via the Price-Waterhouse report on 10/12/09.

And remember, the subsidy payments to individuals and families
are highest for the poorest and the least for the middle class. A
family earning more than $79,000 a year will get ZILCH from the
Fed Government, but a 100% increase in health insurance premiums
over the next 8 years. Can you say "OUCH?".

There can be a government health insurance plan if the President
removes his $900 billion dollar 10 year cost cap. Not every family
can afford the estimated $350 to $500 a month in premiums to the
government though. This range is the estimated family monthly cost
after applying the government subsidy.

There's no in-expensive solution because we're some of the sickest
people in the industrialized would. The fat person's diseases along
with mental issues are rampant in this country. Medical and prescription
costs per-person beat every other country by a long shot.
-cwm