I think Obama has made a serious mistake. He should have gone with a national health care system just like ours here in Canada. He should have right from the start toll the public that privite insurance is out and a single payer public not for profits system based on the Canadian system is going to be put in place no matter what. That is what is needed and once it is in all of the US will agree.

Didn't find the right place to post yesterday. But...we DON'T have rationing in the Canadian health care system. We see the general practitioners we choose, and are referred by them to specialists if necessary. We pay a minimum monthly premium. And the system overall does an excellent job providing quality care. We have a humanitarian system based on the fundamental idea that no one should profit from someone else's illness. Why is the Senator interviewed allowed to make these ignorant claims unchallenged? It is so clear that those with vested interests in for-profit care--a shameful idea if you look at it with fresh eyes--are waging a propaganda campaign, using fear mongering and lies. Isn't the interviewers job to challenge such claims, even from Senators?

Pisano, Have you ever lived in one of these countries? I have. I've lived in two other countries with differing health care systems and traveled through many. Most recently prior to returning to the US, where I've witnessed first hand how our health care system has quickly unraveled, I lived for eight years in Germany. I previously lived there as a single person while this last period was spent with my family, including two small children. I had coverage under first the "public" and then private insurance schemes available there. With few, unimportant, exceptions, I noticed no differences between the two. Also, I was able to choose my own doctors and switch or see a specialist at will. There was no in or out of network and each of my chosen physicians was an independent practitioner with his or her own facilities and a nice Mercedes and home. The only thing they didn't have was a massive billing staff and the only thing I didn't have to do, that is a constant requirement since returning home, is fight with my insurance company!

Contrasting the two I would say that the quality of care was probably equivalent while the cost, ease and flexibility of the system was vastly superior in Germany. Here at home I am only free to "choose" my doctor if he or she is "in network" or I am able to pay vast sums of money above and beyond my insurance costs to pay for the privilege. People with money will never have restrictions on the health care they can buy. For the rest of us, the freedom of choice is illusory at best.

Is the German system perfect? Get real. What is? Can we learn from it? Absolutely!

Plan Administrator,

Good point. Maybe I should just say "big."

Darren

Darren,

You say "insurance giants" in a somewhat negative way. Since generally 80-something percent of claims experience is the result of usage by less than 20% of the participants, the more people in the plan, the more likely premiums can be kept under control. In health insurance, bigger is better.

I would like to know if President Obama and the others pushing National Health Care are willing to give up the plans that cover them as President, Senators, and Congresssmen and accept the coverage they're proposing for the people. I wish everyone would write they representatives or call them as ask them to give up their coverage and accept the coverage they expect us to accept. It's time our representatives started representing our best interests and not those of the administration and lobbyists. I am watching very carefully how each of my Senators and Congressmen vote and their votes will determine who I support in the next election.

nonsense pisano! my family and i lived in Canada while i went to grad school. the health care was outstanding and the tax was much cheaper than insurance.

National Health care results in better care ... look at those countries that have it the outcomes are better in most respects and less expensive .. my health care costs are increasing by twice the base inflation rate and more.

We deserve National health care, but Obama is most likely correct to go for a hybrid which doesn't throw us into utter confusion. Private and public can and do work together in the US...
except possibly in the eyes of ideologues like pisano

Please, will everyone calm down, and really think about what this health care reform could ultimately do to us~ and, I do not mean in a good way~ If you have ever traveled to a country with national health care, you will know, if you needed services, how fortunate we are to be able to choose whom we see, when we see them, and have a say in the care we receive~

I do not want anyone telling me that I can not go to Boston for my medical care, just because I live in Ct~ If Obama or his family had some real illness which needed a specialist, he would not go to the local hospital, and he most certainly would not stop at one opinion~ What is good for the president, and the senate and the congress, should be good for the rest of us mere mortal US citizens~

No national health care, thank you~