Comments on: What they said about the health care reform bill

By: AJ

AJ — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:56:56 +0000

Because Americans are easily deluded by fantasies of superiority.

By: danvilledan

danvilledan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 04:03:32 +0000

When I retired in 1999 I was paying $329.00 per month for health coverage. When I became Medicare eligible 6 years later I was paying $1,349.00 per month. Now I am on Medicare and paying $625.00 per month for Medicare supplement. The system is broke. Why do people think that we have the best medical system in the world when it is being controlled by big insurance companies.
We need single payer!

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:04:01 +0000

The only thing wrong with the DMV is the wait in line, as far as I can tell.

Have you ever waited in line for your “private” health insurance to pay? If so, you would see that the real comparison is DMV and the private insurers, who delay reimbursement and settlement of claims for years. To make matters worse, after waiting for the private insurer to “investigate you claim” for months, they manage to find out that the treatment or procedure isnt covered…..

By: EdiBirsan

EdiBirsan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:25:06 +0000

I would love to be able to get true medical coverage for $600 a month. In March of this year Blue Cross/AKA Anthem raised my rates to $1650 a month.. that’s about 20,000 a year ! I had to crash my coverage down to the very basic: Hit By A Bus and MAYBE your covered to get it down to $1300 a month. The idea of simply taking Medicare and changing the age requirement to -0- has a lot of appeal to it. However what we need is also price reform where maybe there is a single price for the same medical care much like say changing your Oil or car work and the price range does not vary by a MULTIPLE of up to 20 based on your coverage.

By: Elwood

Elwood — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:55:18 +0000

If you like the DMV, you’re going to LOVE government health insurance.

By: John W

John W — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:04:39 +0000

Having attended a number of health care reform events over the years (mostly nonpartisan in nature), I’m always astonished at the presence of people who are obviously on Medicare but who oppose what they call “socialized,” “government run,” or “single payer” health care. If they are opposed to government involvement in health care, they should turn in their Medicare cards. Although I’m glad we had Medicare for the past 42 years for my and other people’s parents, I suspect we would have made much more progress toward universal health care of some type if, instead of Medicare, we had had 40 million uninsured elderly in addition to the 45 million non-elderly uninsured and millions more underinsured. Programs like Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS took the pressure off to create a rational system that works for everybody.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:51:39 +0000

Works for you, maybe, but not for millions of Americans who are not eligible for Medicare.

Some are like me, who work for small businesses and/or are on contract due to employment cut backs and layoffs, and simply cannot afford the $600 a month health bill to stay insured. Many others who ARE insured, and pay a hefty premium to boot, discover after the fact that the services they end up needing are “not covered” by their private insurer, so they pay both for a premium they never use AND the out of pocket for the service they do need. This is an unworkable system.

Why are we not seriously considering the possibility of expanding a Medicare payment system to include all Americans as an option? Government universal payment is not the same thing as government-provided care. Then everyone could enjoy the benefits you do – Medicare primary with a Kaiser-like (or other private plan) as secondary….

By: Patricia K. Burkhart

Patricia K. Burkhart — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:12:37 +0000

Please do NOT pass this bill. You may have covered all of Americans, but you’ve destroyed what most of us have as a workable system. I have just recently retired and have Medicare as my primary and Senior Advantage with Kaiser as my secondary. It is working very nicely – thank you. Leave it alone. I don’t like the idea that the federal government is getting into our personal lives and dictating what my doctor can and cannot do for me. They are making the decisions – not me and my doctor! Federal Government does not belong in our personal lives. Find a better way to cover those who do not have health insurance. You are about to tax many small businesses out of business – and for your information – that means more loss of jobs. Thank what you are doing! Are you even listening?