Keep in mind that I put some of the blame on doctors, the pharmaceutical companies and on people that abuse the system (such as going to demand an antibiotic for a cold as my mother-in-law does). I just don’t think health care should be a for profit industry all the way around. I think a lot of expenses incurred by doctors could be curbed without the outrageous overhead of dealing with different insurance companies. And there should be no recissions (unless fraud is evident) or denial of preexisting conditions such as chronic diseases and life threatening diseases. That’s bullshit.

I give you much love and don’t want to see you out of work, of course. I just want people to be able to get a decent policy and not have to pay through the ass to get the coverage. I’m all about compromise. I prefer Universal healthcare, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. It’d be nice if people with your heart and spirit were running things, that’s for sure. Then we’d all be better off.

I’ve become much more pragmatic in my older age. We’ve lost the art of compromise these days. I agree we need a better healthcare system in this country. Working for one of the “big bad health companies”, I get a different view. There’s lots of reasons we raise your (and my) rates. For example, this year I saw my new numbers for 2010, and I’ll be paying something like 15% more, but I only pay about $35 or so a week for health care, a steal in today’s economy. I’m fortunate that my company picks up the other over $11,000 it costs them to insure me. I nearly choked when I saw the number. Part of the problem these days is that it costs over $12,000 a year for an “average” health care plan to insure a family of 4. We need to get that under control and reduce the costs of health care as well as getting health care to those that can’t afford it.

So preach on, sister, preach on.

Lovely, huh?

Your point about the number of pages of the bill is what exactly? Is that too much for people to read? Too comprehensive? Big Bill Scary? Legislation shouldn’t be 2 pages long– unless is single-payer/universal health care coverage. Otherwise, if those crying about the length of the bill can’t handle it then perhaps they should give their jobs to people who can not only READ but who will properly legislate and not try to govern through fear.

Point #1:
Medicare’s donut hole (enthusically passed by Bush’s Repubs and DINOs) will be fixed. That will save seniors thousands of dollars a month. Administration will be streamlined and become more efficient. That is, until the republicans get control back and then the shit will, once again, hit the fan.

Point #2:
Price gouging is specifically addressed in the legislation. You mention my half-assed list which says specifically that anti- price gouging policies will be in place. Perhaps that cut-and-paste talking point should have been omitted.

Also, if the insurance companies want to go this route, which is something else I’ve addressed in my post (which you obviously failed to read), then that will anger citizens even more which will force Congress to act further toward single payer. They, the insurance companies, will be committing fraud and will be held accountable. It’s the taste that’s important here. Don’t let that freakish quack McCaughey scare you so much.

Point #3:
Easily fixed by ending our unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not only that, but this bill will actually cost less than what we’re paying now– giving us a savings, according to the CBO, of $856billion instead of the trillions that republicans and insurance hack McCaughey would have you believe.

I would rather have our money spent saving lives and helping our people than killing our people.

Insurance companies are going to benefit from this legislation. If you’d have actually read to the post on which you’ve commented you would have seen that I’ve addressed that. This is because of the overwhelming fear created by idiots like McCaughey who would have people believe that the government here, unlike the governments of Canada, France and England, can administer our health care. And so, because of the crybaby, fearmongers, we’re stuck with the government simply subsidizing health insurance for those that the insurance companies would otherwise reject.

The “kill grandma” meme is played out and bullshit. It doesn’t fly here. And neither does anything Betsy McCaughey has to say. She’s making a pretty penny trying to get people like you to oppose any kind of health insurance overhaul. You’ve fallen for her breathy, boldface lies. I haven’t. She’s a crank and not worthy of the attention you seem to bestow upon her. Her arguments are not in the slightest bit credible and there is no way in hell I’ll read anything that woman writes.

Also, just so you know from now on (I’ll be updating my comment policy), tinyurl.com/bit.ly/ or any other link shortener service. isn’t needed to obfuscate links here. I prefer to know where I’m going prior to clicking the link. I’ll go ahead and change those links for you now, but in the future I’ll simply strip them completely when they’re added to comments on this blog.