Public Thinking About Coping With The Cost Of Health Care:
How Do We Pay For What We Need?
A new analysis of the results of the 2008-2009 National Issues Forums on Coping with the Cost of Health Care indicates that forum participants see the nation's health care system as at or near the breaking point and no longer able to be sustained. Public Agenda's report, based on discussions involving more than 1,000 citizens in deliberative forums held in 40 states and the District of Columbia, shows that U.S. citizens are so gravely concerned about the cost of health care that many worry about it daily. Their concerns are wide and varied:
- being wiped out financially by a catastrophic illness,
- losing employer-provided coverage due to a job loss,
- keeping up with escalating co-pays and deductibles, and
- paying for even minor medical expenses – a problem for the nearly 50 million uninsured.
Participants in National Issues Forums on this subject overwhelmingly favored some kind of national health care program that would ensure appropriate medical care for all citizens. But participants were uncertain how to proceed and what such a system would look like, suggesting that the public has not reached a considered public judgment about what direction reform should take.
The findings of this report, prepared for the Kettering Foundation, suggest more work is required to move the national dialogue forward: people need a clear set of policy choices, with inherent costs and trade-offs spelled out, with an opportunity to deliberate about those options.
I am simply NOT getting any.
Why should I? So I can live longer, be more stressed out by being unemployed and unemployable? So I can end up homeless? NO THANK YOU!
This country is in a much worse state of affairs than the media tells the American Sheeple about. I bought into the American Dream fraud. I have 21 years of education can't even get a job in my own disgustingly corrupt country. It is a not an accident that people that don't even speak English get the jobs that should belong to Americans. The industrial/ military complex is in control now, We have no rights, no quality of life, and no chance of ever getting it back.
The idiot politicians in control of this country who have sold us out, The BANKSTERS, The Federal Reserve and the monster mob called government can take a royal hike. We would be so much better off without them! I abhor what they have done to my beloved country through greed and corruption.
They can stick their stinking lousy MAYBE healthcare package where the sun does not shine. The effort is futile because it is just another lie on top of millions of other lies.
Linda Lee
www.HotFlashCommentary.com (if you don't like it, don't read it!)
With that attitude, good luck finding a job.
Ms Lee,
Your attitude is very nonproductive. Our country is not a static object - it is a constantly changing , evolving work of committed, positively focused citizens. When we look backwards at a fixed point in time and say that was"best" we stifle all types of growth - intellectual, technological etc. I would be the last person to say we are where we want to be at this point in our history , but I and many other people feel that forward is the only way to go. We must try different things in order to reach our goals and create a better, more just and productive society for all our citizens. The disruptions of discourse and misleading statements being made regarding healthcare at the recent town halls have been an example of the backward-looking fear of progress many in the country are giving into. Change IS frightening to most people but change is how our founding citizens formed the United States - they struck out with great bravery to form something NEW.
This is a tough one. I can understand the frustration of all on this subject because the fraud/lies and unbelievable stealing our elected government officials have and still are doing to us (the people they supposedly work for). This cannot be put on one party all you have to do is research online the contributions to the politicians and see WHY THEY NO LONGER WORK FOR US, but we work for them. We, all citizens, need to work together to resolve the very, very serious issues confronting this great nation as it moves forward, and yes I do mean forward. I do NOT support either the House or Senate health care proposed bills. I've read most of both (1018 pages of House and 615 of Senate). You can read and download both bills at this website:
http://www.defendyourhealthcare.us/houseandsenatebills.html
(I downloaded so I could continue to study)Here is something that we need to really think about with these and then ask yourself if you can even trust our President. President Obama has said just on health care plans that he would NOT sign a law that would not be revenue neutral. Neither are, yet he is pushing for them.
Also, go to this link for the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) report that specifically says, these bills WILL COST US MONEY, they will NOT be revenue neutral and President Obama has said the bills must be revenue neutral for him to sign. See costs at CBO and also remember in the House bill some healthcare that is included is NOT allowed to be counted as a cost.
CBO Info:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10400/07-26-InfoOnTriCommProposal.pd...
And then costs from 2017-2019 http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10400/07-26-InfoOnTriCommProposal.pd...
Also, please note when you go to the website listed below for the CBO report that it has used the Lewin Group for its analysis. You may also see the more detail on the actual costs of the health care plans at this website: http://www.heritage.org/research/healthcare/upload/Lewin_public_plan_nat....
Read this from the CBO about the Senate Health Care Bill:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/103xx/doc10310/06-15-KennedyLetter.shtml
"According to that assessment, enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010–2019 period."
Where will President Obama stand on his truthfulness to us now. Please read my other post on “Talk It Over” Ask Public Forum” and subject of National Debt. This will provide some very interesting budget deficit numbers that need to be considered as we move forward and that many people have not thought about. I won’t get into all the corruptness of all the past administrations, what good does this do. What I do want is for US (the American citizens) to work together to do something to help people. But let me tell you one thing that I know for a fact that I have a problem with and why I know that abuses and loopholes like this in any program continue to have fraud, abuses and stealing at even greater lengths. I know a young woman, age 25, pregnant and not married. She owns (outright, no lien, no payments a 2005 Lexus IS250) has $4000 in saving and $4000 in a retirement fund. She is in college and earns about $12,000+ a year. Her boyfriend (father of child) makes around $50,000 a year. Here is the great part, she is on Medicaid and WIC. So since there is NO ASSET TEST (in other words, since it does not matter what she owns or has in cash or assets) she qualifies for Medicaid and WIC as she does not earn two times the poverty level of income (a little over $29,000) per year, the government DOESN’T EVEN CARE that her boyfriend can help (and in my opinion should help). Is this right? I don’t think so. So this is one reason why I am opposed to the government handling anything else. Please we need to come together and figure things out better.
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