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Public To Politicians: Do Something On Health Care!

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posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 01:36 PM
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February 23, 2010
By Scott Hensley

What do Americans want from Washington on health overhaul?

Opinion is evenly split on overhaul legislation, with 43 percent of Americans in favor of passage and 43 percent opposed, according to the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll.

But ask people about specifics, and the picture changes quite a bit. More than two-thirds of people favor important planks in the administration's overhaul plan.

Oh, really? What do they like?

Ask people how important reforming the way health insurance works is, and 76 percent say it's "extremely" or "very important." Even a majority of Republicans--64 percent--see things that way.

Other planks that do well: providing insurance tax credits for small businesses, closing the Medicare "doughnut hole" for prescription drugs and creating insurance marketplaces for the purchase of individual plans.

A majority of Americans blame the politicians for the lack of action. Some 59 percent say the delays are a result of both parties "playing politics," Kaiser says. And in an ominous sign ahead of mid-term elections, almost three in five of the people polled said they would be either disappointed or angry if nothing gets done.

Who knows if those findings will have any effect on the legislators convening Thursday for President Obama's health summit. Results of other polls rounded up by the Washington Post have been showing for a while that Americans like some of the particulars of contained in the administration's proposal, even if by some measures the nation remains split on the passage of legislation that would make them a reality.



Article:
www.npr.org...

Kaiser health Tracking Poll Febuary 2010
Random sample of 1,201 adults ages 18 and older.
The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points
kff.org...




As Democratic and Republican legislators prepare for the upcoming summit on health care, Kaiser’s February Health Tracking Poll shows that a frustrated public also remains divided by partisanship when it comes to existing legislative proposals, but that there remain a number of individual provisions of the health reform legislation that are popular across party lines.




Americans have mixed views of how quickly and how comprehensively to move on reform, but relatively few hope the matter is dropped altogether.

Overall, more Americans say they will be either disappointed or angry if Congress decides to stop working on health care reform than say they will feel happy or relieved. The survey also suggests that the public stands ready to blame both parties about equally for any result that displeases them.


* BTW this thread was mistakenly deleted and reposted. Apologies to the early comers who posted some intelligent responses that are now gone. I'd welcome you to repost your thoughts.

[edit on 23-2-2010 by maybereal11]

[edit on 23-2-2010 by maybereal11]

[edit on 23-2-2010 by maybereal11]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 01:37 PM
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More from the poll…



The one thing that Americans of all partisan stripes seem to agree on is that the delays in passing health care reform are more about “both sides playing politics” than about actual policy disagreements. Overall, roughly six in ten people held this view of the roadblocks to passage, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans and political independents.


I have been waiting for a current poll that asked non-slanted or leading questions about how Americans feel about healthcare reform and here it is.

This poll confirms what I have suspected all along.

The majority of Americans are NOT against healthcare reform, they are frustrated with the manner in which it has been delayed and with only certain components of the bill.

That includes independents, republicans and democrats!

Who will pay the price in the midterms? Both Dems and the GOP.

Where do both left and right leaning Americans as well as independents agree on healthcare reform?




1. Insurance reform (ie, guaranteed issue, eliminating lifetime
benefit caps)
2. Tax credits to small businesses
3. Health insurance exchanges
4. Helping close the Medicare doughnut hole
5. Expanding high risk insurance pools


I’d be interested in hearing from the regulars in this debate concerning these numbers.


[edit on 23-2-2010 by maybereal11]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 01:46 PM
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Again with this. LISTEN/READ

It isn't that folks are agaisnt Health Reform. They are against the way the Dems went and are still going about it. (without getting into all the details).

To most of us, if only 25-30 million are uninsured, then do a program like Medicare etc for them. NOT CHANGE THE WHOLE Fn COUNTY AROUND.

This has nothing to do about Health Care Reform. It has to do with seizing power. If they really wanted us to have proper health care, they would give us the same they got (meaning the Senate) and they would not have to do specail bribes to get some states to go along.

As of today FORTY FOUR states have or are working on legislation that will outlaw Federally mandated insurance etc. It's called STATES RIGHTS.

Until they start talking Tort reform and proper payments plans, this is dead. And, I dare say, if the Dems keep this up and jam it down our throats, it will be the end for the Dem party. Mark my words



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 01:57 PM
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reply to post by anon72
 


I gave you a star, because I totally agree with your assessment.

I think we can nearly all agree there needs to be some form of healthcare reform in this country, but the dems plan is not so much healthcare reform as it is a massive tax hike to save Medicare and Medicaid.

The plans put out by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid do not even meet there own stated goals, let alone accomplish anything to reduce the cost of healthcare in this country. Plus, they are lying when they try to say that this plan will reduce the deficit in 10 years. They basically double booked 500billion of savings so they are 500 billion over budget to start, and that is just the begining. If any of these bills become law then I would not be suprised to see any of them add 2 trillion or more to the federal deficit within 10 years.


[edit on 23-2-2010 by Mr Sunchine]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:01 PM
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Originally posted by anon72
Again with this. LISTEN/READ

It isn't that folks are agaisnt Health Reform. They are against the way the Dems went and are still going about it.


You mean to say the Dems AND the GOP right? Because that is what the poll shows beyond any margin.


(without getting into all the details)..

And that is how every GOP reform alternative begins....

BTW - Details are neccessary. The devil is in them.



Until they start talking Tort reform and proper payments plans, this is dead. And, I dare say, if the Dems keep this up and jam it down our throats, it will be the end for the Dem party. Mark my words


This poll is accurate...and if nothing gets done on healthcare reform it will be the end of not just the Dems...but also the GOP...and also the middle class as insurance and pharmaceutical companies continue to jack up prices beyond any measure of decency.

[edit on 23-2-2010 by maybereal11]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:06 PM
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reply to post by maybereal11
 




This poll is accurate...and if nothing gets done on healthcare reform it will be the end of not just the Dems...but also the GOP...and also the middle class as insurance and pharmaceutical companies continue to jack up prices beyond any measure of decency.


Well if this crap they are floating now sticks then it won't matter. The massve tax hike included in this plan and the fact that Americans will be FORCED to buy insurance will further destroy an already weak economy. We all know what President Clinton so wisely said, "IT IS THE ECONOMY, STUPID!"

What do you think a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next 10 years will do for job creation. Lets see spend 15 billion in a jobs bill, strip out a trillion in new taxes. Sounds like one hell of a jobs killer to me, but I guess the government can just keep hiring new government employees.


[edit on 23-2-2010 by Mr Sunchine]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:08 PM
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I think Obama could backdoor the Health Care bill through.

By taking money away from the current Medicare, medicaid.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:11 PM
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US healthcare is internationally known and recognised as a world leader in healthcare. This is probably due to the US medical school system being the most difficult: not only is medical school a postgraduate degree in the US but the course is one of the most rigorous in terms of knowledge and testing. There have to be heavy incentives to go through all of this, as well as knowing that all the debts accumulated in at least 7 years of study are going to be paid for.

The good pay and good medicine in a civilised country all serve to attract the best of the foreign best who have to study especially for the USMLE exams (which takes a significant amount of money typically) to qualify for working in the US.

All this leads me to believe that the standards of doctors attracted are going to rapidly decline if you cut their pay. It's not the easiest jobs of any level and adding all these additional hurdles in the US produces quality doctors but makes it again much more difficult. The intelligent have options: they could equally go into the finance sector or perhaps law and make much more money, much more rapidly in jobs that're psychologically and relatively less of a draining experience.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:13 PM
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reply to post by Sean48
 


How does what you just said make even one shred of sense. If you strip it out of medicare and medicaid those people still have to be covered by something under this new law so it is not like you are saving money you are just moving it around in a big shell game.

If anything they are going to have to add to medicaid or bribe the doctors, because many of them refuse medicaid patients because it doesn't pay enough.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:23 PM
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Originally posted by Mr Sunchine


How does what you just said make even one shred of sense. If you strip it out of medicare and medicaid those people still have to be covered by something under this new law so it is not like you are saving money you are just moving it around in a big shell game.


You seem to have a grasp on this, better than I.

Maybe you can relate your quote to this link. www.abovetopsecret.com...



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:23 PM
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Criticisms of the private healthcare industry are the consequences of consumerism and "politicorporate" culture. The current, private healthcare system, in my opinion, is not working. The reasons are simple, business men at insurance and pharmaceutical companies call all the shots and supercede both you and your doctor. Due to relaxed regulations now, insurance companies can choose not to pay for procedures and treatments recommended and performed by your doctor after the fact so you're left holding the bill. And because it is privatized, it is all run like a business where repeat business and addictive treatments are not only tolerated, but encouraged.

There's definitely growing pill-popping culture in America: If you're sad, there's a pill. If you're too fat, there's a pill. If you eat a poor diet, there's a whole rack of pills at the supermarket. If you watch American TV, every commercial break is packed with "Ask your doctor about..." followed up with a list of side-effects rattled off like an auctioneer. Doctors get flooded with patients wasting their time for prescriptions to cure "erectile dysfunction" and "restless leg syndrome". Making everyone reliant on their services is the fantasy of corporate healthcare providers – so like any good (dis)honest business, they sell you needs rather than solutions to real problems.

We can't expect the government to be our only safety-net; but just the same, the last thing we want is a whole population of pill-popping hypochondriacs. So what type of healthcare scheme can solve these problems? Ideally, we can dream about a non-corporate private health care system, in which the poor can rely on their communities for support rather than the government, and everyone receives the high quality of care that private competition provides. But given the socio-economic climate we have to work with, we need to work on correcting the problems with the systems we have.

It would be overly presumptuous to try and propose a fix-all here, but we have a pretty good idea what the first step ought to be for the public and private sectors alike: Take control away from the corporations and bureaucrats and put it back into the hands of doctors and nurses. They care about our health, not our provider, and certainly aren't going to work overtime just to write Viagra prescriptions. It won't solve all our problems, but it would be a move towards a healthier lifestyle all-around.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:28 PM
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reply to post by maybereal11
 


I disagree that broad support for "something" means anything significant.

1. Everyone has in mind what they do not like...that is what they are thinking of when the question is asked.
2. Everyone has in mind things they do like and will flip when those things are changed.
3. More important than these numbers is the answer to the question, which has been asked many times with the same answer: "Are you generally satisfied with your current plan?".
More than 80% of Americans say yes.
4. A corallary of this is that when asked, Americans overhwlemingly say they want "less", not "more, govt in their lives.
5. Obama himself knows all of the above. That is why the plan will not be implemented immediately...at loeast not untiol after the mid-term elections .
6. The main issue is NOT the law (which no one understands anyway) that would be enacted; it is the monster regs that will be impletented unilaterally at the Executive Branch level that ultimately will twist the vice on American liberties.
7. In a recent article on ATS, Obama indicated his desire to do more, not less, governing by Executive Order. His unilateral implemetnation of global warming regs thru EPA, against the wishes of the American people, attests to his intentions with regard to health care.

If you don't know where you want to go, don't get on the first bus that passes by. (Esp if it says FEMA on the side.)

Beware; wake up. Govt is not your friend.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:29 PM
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reply to post by Sean48
 


Well I read your link, but not sure how it applies. So in your link it says Obama wants to make cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. I don't see how he is doing anything to cut the expesnse of Medicare and Medicaid by putting into law that you must treat a terminally ill patient with uncapped money, meaning if you can keep someone alive and it cost you a billion dollars in treatment than you have to keep spending or you or in violation. His bills do NOTHING to address the actual cost of healthcare.

He says he wants to cap what insurance companies can make, why don't he cap what doctors and hospitals can charge if he is so pro interfere with business and says he wants to address the cost of healthcare.

Why does a 15 cent pill cost ten dollars when you are in the hospital. Why does it cost thousands a day to stay in a hospital when you can stay in a luxury hotel for $250/night? Why does your doctor charge you or your insurance company 100 dollars to look at you for 5 minutes? Why do you or your insurance company have to spend 100 bucks to go to a doctor to get a 5 dollar prescription for a sinus infection you knew you had before you even called the doctor?

[edit on 23-2-2010 by Mr Sunchine]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:33 PM
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reply to post by Mr Sunchine
 


You asked a lot of questions in your reply post.

Questions I have no reasonable answer for.

Interesting times ahead, Lets hope the Gubment gets it right for once.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:39 PM
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All of this talk about the economic impact of reform...we are already screwed. The Insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry is raising prices and dropping patients at an unprecidented rate.

THE COST OF DOING NOTHING WILL KILL STALL ANY RECOVERY.

From the New York Times..the Pharmaceutical industry agreed to police itself and reduce costs by 8 billion when the bill passed...in the meanwhile they increased prices by 9% or 10 Billion last year...get it?


In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.

www.nytimes.com...

Meanwhile in the insurance industry...

Michigan state regulators approve Blue Cross Blue Shield rate hike
www.mlive.com/...ssf/.../michigan_state_regulators_appr.html

Anthem Blue Cross dramatically raising rates for Californians
articles.latimes.com...

Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to Raise Iowa Rates 18 Percent
www.kcrg.com/news/local/84608997.html

Blue Cross Blue Shield Rate Increase of 35%
www.city-data.com...

Big jump in Blue Cross premiums sparks outrage
www.google.com...


Get it yet? Doing nothing is not an option...rates are skyrocketing. They are making huge profits sticking it to Americans in the worst economy in decades....why? Because they know we NEED to have health insurance. It's not like owning a car or a microwave. We cannot gamble with our own or our families health.

Health insurance as it stands today in the United states is akin to organized crime.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:45 PM
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reply to post by maybereal11
 


Well what would any good CEO do if he knows that the government is going to try to interfere in his business model or start price fixing? They raise the cost of their goods and services in order to hedge against this sort of uncostitutional interference. What are they supposed to do, just roll over and push their pelvis in the air?



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:45 PM
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With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people’s money. These deficits are simply not sustainable and they are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and moves us much closer to a complete governmental takeover of our health care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the exact opposite direction-toward less governmental control and more individual empowerment.

The fact is, people like big symbols instead of reality, and so supporting "free health care" and a bill no one has even read outside of maybe a few people in Congress takes precedence over reasoned discussion on important topics.

We're already knee-deep in an economic mess, and since money isn't free, someone has to fund this. Why rush this through, especially as public opinion is ever so slowly swaying toward a more reasonable solution? Also consider that we can't fund health care at the moment, even while President Obama risks his "man of the people" reputation by having to increase taxes.



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 02:56 PM
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Originally posted by pumpkinorange
reply to post by maybereal11
 


I disagree that broad support for "something" means anything significant.

1. Everyone has in mind what they do not like...that is what they are thinking of when the question is asked.


I don't think you read my post...??

The poll was specific and almost 70% of Dems/GOP/Independents agreed we need the following reforms..




1. Insurance reform (ie, guaranteed issue, eliminating lifetime
benefit caps)
2. Tax credits to small businesses
3. Health insurance exchanges
4. Helping close the Medicare doughnut hole
5. Expanding high risk insurance pools



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 03:00 PM
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reply to post by maybereal11
 


Well that is all flowers and rainbows, but the fact is Obama is not only trying to push what people want, but he wants to force us all to buy insurance and to raise taxes.

[edit on 23-2-2010 by Mr Sunchine]



posted on Feb, 23 2010 @ 03:06 PM
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If you want to fix health care the best way to start is to get Government out of it. Everybody is whining about Medicare and Medicaid being broke. The reason why they are broke is that about only one dollar in six goes for actual health care, the other five dollars is spent in "administration". All around the country there are buildings full of government employees "administering" Medicare and Medicaid.




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