[Edited for Brevity]

THE WORST PART OF THIS BILL IS:
P. 100/101 “COVERAGE FOR CERTIAN NEWBORNS – In the case of a child born in the United States who at the time of birth is not otherwise covered under acceptable coverage, for the period of time beginning on the date of birth and ending on the date the child otherwise is covered under acceptable coverage (or, if earlier, the end of the month in which the 60-day period, beginning on the date of birth, ends) the child shall be deemed to be a non-traditional MEDICAID ELIGIBLE…for purposes of this division and Medicaid; and to have elected to enroll in Medicaid through the application of paragraph 3.”

Only 917 pages to go!!!

Mom

1) I also see health care as a product and not a right. When I was up in Canada in the late ’80s, they were so proud of their public health care system. Now, I think it’s safe to say that it can be very frustrating to Canadians, at the least. I heard it could take up to a year just to get an MRI. So, I don’t want to see us in the same boat. The good news is that Canadians pay a lot less less for prescription medicine. So, I think we should look at the successes and failures of all the existing public health care plans before we head down that path.

2) The real elephant in the room with universal coverage is; how many of the 50 million uninsured are illegal aliens? And, how do we intend to cover them? And, what if they are paying taxes? Or not? And, aren’t they already eligible for Medicare? Nobody in office has the stones to makes these decisions, so I they are taking the costly route, which is including everyone. I don’t have a solution for this, so I sidestepped it in my post. Obviously, it can’t be ignored that easily.

3) I am going to have to disagree with you on this one. I have a 20-year-old son and health care is a big issue with us. When he was a minor, he fell off a roof when I was between jobs and ran up a big bill for me. He has a job at Ralph’s now, so that he can have insurance while he is in college. Unfortunately, he doesn’t take a full load of classes, so I can’t cover him on mine. I think even young people should be insured, so they don’t run into huge medical bills.

4) We need Tort Reform, Insurance Reform, reform in prescription drugs and cheaper education for doctors, just for a start. I would like to vote for the politician who is going to take that platform and stick with it. I haven’t met one yet that has that kind of courage.

Thanks for your wise comments.

I, too, have Kaiser and I have absolutely no complaints. They’ve never tried to restrict my level of care.

Here are some other points I’d like to add:

1) I am of the ilk that sees health care purely as a commodity and not a right.

2) Mr. Obama and many of the other socialist Dems in Congress love to cite the millions of uninsured in this country as another reason for a National Plan. But that assumes that everybody *wants* healthcare insurance. This is patently false.

3) It really makes little sense for healthy young people in their 20s who do not have to support a family to have full healthcare coverage – catastrophic coverage should be all they need. Yes, by adding this demographic to the “insurance pool” you can spread the risk, but this forces people to pay for health care that may not want it. (see #1).

4) If Obama wants to make health care more affordable for everyone, he needs to address tort reform – that is the biggest problem of all in my opinion. Of course, since Congress is filled with lawyers, good luck on that one.

My $0.02 (after taxes)

Len
Len Penzo dot Com