I don’t agree with government health care, but with single payer it would be the classic right / left divide regarding liberties vs. government benefits. As Sahara points out, What Obama is planning instead isn’t good for the people at all, as is becoming increasingly common with plans from Washington where corporatism and cronyism rules.

However, Republicans do have a health plan, at least Ron Paul does, and he has reintroduced it as a bill. I’ll get it. (and in answer to your statement about coverage, that same flaw would still be in Obama’s plan. Insurance companies would have complete control over your health care and what is covered, and you wouldn’t even have ‘competition’ to protect you. RON PAUL’s plan cuts out the insurer and puts the control back with the patient.)

HR1495 Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act of 2009

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1495:

Here is his discussion of it during the campaign last year (a different number) and why what we have now is not ‘free market’ but post 1970s ‘managed care’.

http://www.worldhealth.net/pages/ron_paul_health_care_freedom

Furthermore, because it is one of Ron Paul’s bills, it is about 2 pages long. He thinks legislators should READ the bills, not hide things in them.

And this next one is to undo the violation of medical privacy provisions of the stimulus bill which will otherwise require your doctors to put all of your medical information into a central database any government connected provider will have access to.

HR 2629 http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-05-25/ron-paul-introduces-free-choice-in-health-care-bill/

I CANNOT afford to pay others’ healthcare!!!!

Mr. Obama criticized the Republican “McCain” Plan in the General Election. It is funny how NOW he is adopting most of it!

When will we realize, just like with education, throwing money at a problem is not going to fix it! Obama knows that, but his greedy buddies in the teachers’ union and managed care (HMOs) are ready to get their payback for getting him elected.Think about it for a minute. How much do we spend on education. And, what effect has that had on education? Almost none. So, why do Democrats espouse throwing money into a sinking ship… we need reform not more MONEY. But, then Obama will upset his most harden supporters, the Teachers’ Unions!! This is fact.

Sailorjohn, I get $200 a week taken out of my paycheck for health care insurance premiums. That’s 25% of my total pay.

There is more than one side to a coin. I wish people would stop thinking of this as a handout and start seeing a broader perspective about this issue.

EDIT: hospitals don’t turn anyone away, but they give you a bill thats through the roof anytime you have to go in! Something needs to be done, it isn’t good enough to say what we are doing is working because it isn’t. And if the plan he wants to implement doesn’t work we need to try something else. The state of health care in terms of cost in this country is deplorable. And btw, there are plenty of people with full time jobs who cannot afford health insurance because you have to pay an exhorbitant amount out of pocket ex: a full time waitress

EDIT#2- you’d rather them put up their homes and end up needing some form of gov’t assistance anyway because they have no assets or money? what do you think people do when they have no $ and no way out? they get on govt programs, and who do you think pays for that?

http://www.forhealthfreedom.org/Publications/HealthIns/HMOsRise.html

Dissatisfaction with HMOs has led some to call for increased regulation of the HMO industry. Government officials express concern for patient protection and access to health care. Yet government action did much to encourage the spread of HMOs’and government action continues to steer people into HMOs.

HMO Act of 1973
Unbeknownst to most, Congress has essentially mandated managed care for everyone. In response to escalating costs in the Medicaid and Medicare programs, Congress looked to HMOs for assistance.

In 1973, it passed the HMO Act which offered government subsidies to HMOs and gave nonlicensed HMO executives the power to challenge the medical judgment of licensed physicians.

The Act also mandated that all businesses with more than 25 employees offer HMOs as a health care option. Until then, most employers, fearing increased costs and utilization, had avoided HMOs.

States Force People Into Managed Care
During the early 1980’s, Congress began allowing states, through Medicaid Section 1115 waivers, to herd Medicaid recipients against their will into managed care programs. By June 1996, over 40 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) touts the waivers as providing “states with the much-needed flexibility to develop innovative solutions.” That flexibility, however, violates federal Medicaid law, which prohibits limits on treatment or choice of doctor.

HMOs Gain Solid Ground
In 1995, Congress repealed the employer mandate, but by then, HMOs had already gained a solid position in the medical marketplace. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, the percentage of working Americans with private insurance enrolled in managed care rose from 29 percent in 1988 to over 50 percent in 1997.

Who Benefits From HMOs?
By mandating managed care for some patient groups, and by passing legislation allowing HMOs to deny care, the government has assured maximum profit for HMOs, with little risk. Public officials profit politically by promising “free” health care. Managed care allows politicians to promise health care without actually guaranteeing access to it.

Americans are rightly concerned about managed care. However, in public policy as in medicine, proper diagnosis precedes proper treatment. Proposals to increase the regulation of HMOs stem from an incorrect diagnosis. Government- directed managed care is not the cure; individual choice is.

The solution is to get the government out of the private sector. Not to pretend like we have a free market and add perpetual regulations on everything.

Unless you actually DO understand that all the problems we face are because of government meddling, not the non-existent “free market”, but blame the free market anyway because you would actually prefer crappy government run healthcare. Is that the case?