The dark lords of the right wing figured long ago that their fortunes were tied to derailing whatever administration succeeded the Bush debacle, and they knew well in advance they were sure to lose the election. They knew it longggg ago and have been sharpening their swords in expectation of shredding whatever major initiative this administration, regardless who headed it, first hung its hat on. It just happens to be Obama and healthcare.

It’s almost comical how quickly their plans unfold after the shit hits the fan. It still shivers me timbers how soon their story of who and what was behind 911 hit the media. They nearly explain things before they happen. And boy were they ready for this fight. It’s a mockery of democracy.

The only good thing to do is take the profit motive out, which would be to offer the option of a public plan, but if the government offers a plan without the overhead of advertising and $billion CEO salaries, the plan is going to be cheaper (and that’s the whole idea…that’s what we want!) But, if that plan is cheaper, everybody and their brother is going to switch to the public plan, so it’s going to put the private insurance companies out of business (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing…I mean, I don’t miss private fire stations…) So, if there’s a cheaper public plan offerred, then given time it will be the only plan, so we have to trust the government.
And that’s the bottom line.
After years and years of these guys screwing us over and lying and putting themselves first (note Congress’s health care plan…), nobody trusts the government anymore…I mean we REALLY don’t trust the spying, lying, CIA-sponsored terrorism-spewing United States Government.
So, until our government does enough right to earn our trust again, health care costs are not going to dramatically change for the better…there’s just not a logical way it can happen, no matter what bill they pass. Much ado about nothing, I fear. Which is why if I become seriously long-term ill, I’ll heavily weigh moving to another country; it might be the best financial and quality-of-life gift I can give my children if the situation arises. And as a proud American, that sucks.

in this country there is no more forward thinking, just what will be the bottom line when they report at the end of the quarter.

Everything seemed to work just fine when we had the mom and pop operations. From resturants to banks, when they were small they worried about the customer and not the mega profits. so lets get rid of these to big to fail corporations and get back to reality with smaller and more efficent operations.

I have held residence permits in both Austria and Germany and carrying health insurance is a requirement to be a resident. I had to report my income earned in those countries (might have been in all eu countries) and they based what I pay on what I earned. I never used it, but took a few of my athletes into the hospital and service was always excellent…and better yet, they were definately more focused on the injuries than the paperwork.

We have a “chicken little” enviroment that is nurtured in this country. The sky is always falling.