Tom Whitworth  says:
3 weeks ago

I basically agree with your assessment. If the government knows of fraud and other savings in the system let them prove it by eliminating the fraud and implementing the savings first.

If they are successful at implementing savings, then we the people will know how much money is reasonable to talk about for providing insurance for the uninsured.

Tom Whitworth  says:
3 weeks ago

Is that a bad thing?

eovery  says:
3 weeks ago

Tom, Kerri and Pam, thanks for hubbing by, and for your comments. I approciate them.

Keep on Hubbing!

breakfastpop  says:
3 weeks ago

Great hub,

Let's see what happens. It just might get clobbered in the Senate. We can hope..

Tom Whitworth  says:
3 weeks ago

I saw today that Bill Clinton (Slick Willie) met with Democrat senators behind closed doors. I can't help but wonder if they were truly discussing health care or if Bill and Monica were having clandestine reunion behind that door.

Patrice52  says:
3 weeks ago

You are right in that the government doesn't run anything very well (too many hands in the pot). So I'd love to hear you thoughts on how to fix the problem. Taking away the fact that so many people are dying in America from lack of health insurance and health care (assuming we don't care about that), but instead looking at what the health insurance industry is doing to the economy, a point that effects the people WITH health insurance.

Actually 17% of our GDP is now going out in health care, a figure that at its present rate could rise to 35% before long, and we must consider the devastation this puts on our country's economy (as in when one industry takes so much of the collective income in any country, there's not much left over for any other industry to prosper). And we also have to remember that the "brightest minds in the business" are not going to lower rates because insurance is allowed to be sold across state lines in the hopes of creating competition. In our country today with the "brightest minds" in any business always looking out for profit they are perfectly aware that if they stick together on pricing they can still hang on to their enormous profits, in other words, creating a form of a monopoly by the biggest insurance companies. And we also have to bear in mind that tort reform will also not make the them lower their rates or fees, but will only give them more profit to soak up.

I assume that none of us are naive enough to think that any business today is going to lower fees or prices just because it now costs less for them to produce or sell a service, when instead they can just boast additional profits.

This is not a sarcastic comment, but rather I would really love to hear any ideas on what to do about the problem that is two fold, one the loss of lives in our country from lack of health care, and the other, the effect this industry is having on our economy that is expected to get much worse if left alone.

Patrice52  says:
3 weeks ago

I see that it's been a long time since you were down here in the trenchs. Probably the biggest problem is not the people who won't work, as a lot of them are already getting subsidized health care (many times through disability and Medicare or Medicaid) but rather the hard working Americans, many of whom are working many hours or more than one job, and still cannot afford health insurance because the insurance companies have methodically raised their rates until they can't possibly fit them into their budgets. As I mentioned many times on hub pages, I have friends (hard working people) who are paying $1300 dollars a month for HER health insurance alone, and using their life savings to do so.

Of course, I don't know your financial position, but for many hard working Americans this is completely unaffordable. This was what I was hoping you might address or have an answer to. I realize there is a misconception out there that people without health insurance are "lazy" and won't work, and I'm sorry you've bought into that misconception. But I believe the majority of the people without health insurance are hard working Americans who have been priced right out of the market of staying alive. I don't believe health care is a right, but I do believe it should be the right of the American people not to be ripped off by industries such as health insurance companies, banks, or credit card companies. So therefore I'm looking for an answer to the uncontrolled insurance companies as they raise rates to unaffordable levels (in their quest for ridiculous profits), puruse peoples records when they get sick to find any loop hole to drop their coverage, or simply raise their rates so high once they are sick (after paying decades of premiums) in order to force them off the rolls, as they are obviously trying to do to those friends of mine.

I'm sorry that this is the question you didn't want to answer...or didn't have an answer for.

Patrice52  says:
2 weeks ago

My friends actually did everything right. She had had that insurance for decades, then developed chronic lymphocytic leukemia and diabetes, and the insurance company stuck it to her. I believe in order to get her to drop the coverage. As I said, they did everything right, including working hard and developing a nest egg, which they are now handing over to the insurance company, month by month. She, of course, can't shop around for lower rates because she now has a pre-existing condition.

You say that sounds way too high. That is exactly the point, and this is not an isolated instance.

I agree with you in that higher education is very important, but not everyone can hold the resulting jobs. Some one has to do the lower paying jobs in America for America to function, and they too deserve affordable health care for all their hard work.