Health Care Reform Forum

Comments  12

1. Jim Zambrowicz 3/21/2010

   If the health care takeover is good for everyone, why are all members of congress and the President of the United States exempt from this plan?  If you want to see how government health care system works, go visit a VA hospital.

2. Matthew Call 2/20/2010

   Gary, just this week President Obama said he’s stepping in to offer a compromise health care reform bill, aiming to bring the House and Senate together. You can read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/health/policy/19health.html. Also, the AFL-CIO has a good breakdown of the differences, and similarities, of the two bills: http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/. And you can always keep track of what WEAC’s doing at our health care reform resource page, www.weac.org/healthcare.
   

3. Gary Hummel 2/20/2010

   I am still trying to find a readable summary of reasonable length that shows where Congress is at with health care. For all the discussion, diversion, dissension, etc. that has gone on it seems there is no condensed version available for public consumption. Just what do we have at this point?

4. Susan Tupper 2/16/2010

   My reply to Mike Mielehn is that providing health care for its citizens is not communism, socialism, or a nanny state.   Most of Congress agrees that the soaring cost of health care with no rules to govern what private companies can do or charge in order to make a profit is breaking our entire economy.  Small businesses cannot afford health care for its employees.  These employees often work 40 hour weeks and yet have to buy their own health care and be subject to the arbitrary rules of private insurance companies.  These employees are exercising personal responsibility.  They hold down  much needed jobs in the private sector.  The Republicans like to talk about helping small businesses.  As the spouse of a person who runs a small business, I can say that providing health care for those employees would be the number one request for most snmall businesses to prosper in our economy.  I feel the purpose of government is to take care of its citizens most basic needs and in most cases, government does a much better job of this than private corporations.  I would prefer to pay my taxes to government in return for health care for everyone, than to pay insurance companies who treat me and other American unfairly and unequally.  By the way, our country was not founded on the principle of personal responsibility.  It was founded on the principles of Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Health care equates to life for many Americans.  Every other Democratic country in the world understands this except our country. 

5. Dennis Batchelet 10/31/2009

     As retired folks, we have been following the debate closely on the much-needed health care reform issue. However, we are trying to piece together the ways it will be paid for. We could use some help understanding this. We know it will be paid for partially from the $800 billion in waste which is a part of our current system and we know that tort reform will also be a part of the final bill, as well. In tort reform, we are understanding that if doctors don't have to worry so much about being sued, they won't practice so much defensive medicine, which is ordering many more x-rays and tests than are probably needed. We also know that if there's a "public option", competition will be fostered when health care providers and insurance companies would have to compete with the gov't-run program.  We just heard that a 5% tax would be placed on individuals' income if they earn $500,000 per year and couples whose incomes are at least $1 million. Beyond that, we don't know where the rest of the savings would come from and how it will be paid for.
   
      We believe the government can do a good job managing a "public option" and we can learn from the experiences of England and Canada to prevent abuses found there. After all, since the very beginning, our government has done a good job of improving the lot of most Americans. Without government, there would be no workplace safety standards, unemployment insurance, social security, low-interest college loans, public schools, Head Start programs, etc.
   
   Dennis Batchelet
   
      Comments appreciated, especially concerning costs of the proposed new programs

6. Mike Meilahn 10/20/2009

   The government has and continues to spend money that we do not have. I am all for helping my students succeed, but not at the cost of their future.

    

   This country was founded on the principle of personal responsibility. My family raised me though hard work and very little money. I saw the possibility to better myself and provide for my family. So, I worked hard and now I am here.

    

   I say no to handouts without any sense of responsibility to become better. Government health care is nothing more than a handout as a blank check. I have seen very little from our government making our lives truly better. Creating a nanny state is nothing short of communism. I remember that communism and socialism are failed experiments that have cost far more than the gain.  Make health care affordable, but keep the government out of it.

7. carol levendusky 10/19/2009

    We need some sort of regulations. Companies should not dictate where you go for your health care. How come some insurances will not cover preventative care? My husband has been laid off after thirty years and with no severance pay.
   We can get Corbra for awhile, which eats one of his unemployment checks. Medication is another thing we need to control in this country. My husband was charged $55 dollars for one pill, plus the fee of having some one give it to him at the hospital. In a long run I don't see many changes happen in my lifetime. There are too many former Congressmen working as Lobbyists to prevent anything happening. It is sad when both parties have let this get out of control. Reminds me of the banking system.
   

8. Bill Rowden 10/18/2009

   Certainly health care is extremely important.  We do live in the greatest country in the world.  However,  if the congress members will not commit to participating in a public option, why should we be stuck with what they shove down our throats.
   
   Reform is needed in portability, pre-existing conditions, competition and torte reform.  It is so important that it shouldn't be done in the rapid, non-logical way in which they are going about it.  Let's get some reform first and then think about a public option.  There are just too many individuals being bought out on this one.

9. Josh Stendahl 10/17/2009

   I want health care reform, but there has to be a better way than for the government to run health care. Start with Tort Reforem, next talk about letting companies compete across state lines.
   
   Just keep the government out of it.

10. Matthew Call 10/14/2009

    Health care reform will benefit everyone - it's that simple. There are those out there who are being blocked from getting health insurance because their jobs have hours just enough not to qualify. There are those with pre-existing conditions who are being denied coverage. There are people getting sick and subsequently dropped from their plans. And then there are those who have insurance with skyrocketing costs that ultimately will cost too much. Health care is too important to leave to chance, and we must act now.
    

11. Bill Hurley 10/14/2009

    We all know people who have no insurance or are underinsured. How important do you think it is that we develop a system so that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care?

12. Bill Hurley 10/14/2009

    Thanks to Edna Feldman-Schultz, world language teacher, Janesville, for sharing this perspective (published in the October 2009 issue of WEAC In Print):
    
    We live in one of the best countries in the world, where people’s generosity is known all over the universe, but we tend to forget about our own friends and families who cannot afford to take their loved ones to see a doctor, pregnant women who cannot have the advice or treatment from an obstetrician jeopardizing many times the well-being of their unborn, or the elderly who choose
    which one of their medicines they are going to take because it is impossible to buy all of them.
    
    People do not realize that health care is such a basic need and becomes a done deal to some or a death sentence to others. There are hard-working people trying to survive and take care of their families, but because they work 35 hours a week and not 40, they don’t get benefits.
    
    When my students don’t have health care and are gone for too many days, they cannot catch up once they are back in school, perpetuating a vicious circle that keeps the poor and the uninsured at a disadvantage – not only physically but also academically. If you cannot be in school, you cannot learn. If you cannot learn, you cannot succeed or advance in life. Health care plays a huge role in my students’ well-being and academic achievement.

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