He is offering his vision of health care.


Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, seeking to distance himself from his leading rivals, touted his healthcare expansion package as doing more to cut costs and deal with root problems facing consumers "than any other proposal in this race."

Obama's two main rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination - Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and former senator John Edwards of North Carolina - have offered universal healthcare plans, while his stops short of mandating everyone have health insurance.


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I read about his plan when it showed up earlier this week. I don't disagree with all of it but none of the plans are doing much for the folks who just can't afford health insurance of any kind.

How do you mandate someone to get insured when they don't have a pot to piss in?

IMO, it is like all the other plans; it still gives the system health for profit.

Well, I'm fine with a for profit health care system. It's the services we are getting for the money we are paying that really sucks, and the poor being locked out of our health care sysyem that needs to be addressed first. IMO.

They can mandate programs until they are blue in the face but it's not going to change health care for the poor.

CHUQ wrote:IMO, it is like all the other plans; it still gives the system health for profit.

You've hit the nail on the head, CHUQ. Any healthcare plan that continues to involve big insurance is doomed from the start, imo. Every Democratic candidate but Kucinich and Gravel are advocating plans that still allow big insurance to fill their greedy pockets. They don't take into consideration the millions upon millions that are gainfully employed but still don't make enough to buy an insurance policy.

What we truly need in this country is a single payer national healthcare plan that covers every single American.

Spot on, Treehugger. The single payer is the only answer to the prob of total coverage. Sad it is not more supported by Americans. They seem to listen to the predictions of creeping socialism, meanwhile many die for lack of treatments Sad!.

CHUQ wrote:Spot on, Treehugger. The single payer is the only answer to the prob of total coverage. Sad it is not more supported by Americans. They seem to listen to the predictions of creeping socialism, meanwhile many die for lack of treatments Sad!.

It's not supported by Americans because most Americans (overall) don't understand health insurance. If they did, they wouldn't want big insurance anywhere near our healthcare.

I worked in health insurance for the better part of 20 years. I've seen first-hand how they work. Their goal is to rake in as much cash as possible while giving as little in return as possible. The last year I worked for big insurance, my CEO got a $42 million dollar bonus. That's right.....bonus. Our healthcare dollar at work right there. Each year the cost of medical care increases - and each year, big insurance adjusts benefits to compensate. It's a rat race that the American consumer will never, ever win.

We need to get big insurance out of the mix entirely when it comes to national healthcare. Big insurance will still make a fortune off supplemental policies. However, to entrust big insurance to oversee healthcare for the poor is utterly asinine. It not only won't help; it will make healthcare in America even worse.

I say eliminate the middle man (big insurance) and expand Medicare to cover all Americans. The system's already in place - and Medicare is a pretty efficient system (I've worked with it for years), especially for a government entity. Of course, it's not perfect. Adjustments would have to be made along the way. But it's far better than lining Mr. Insurance CEO's pockets with millions of dollars.

Good post! And I agree, about the best thing that is happening is us boomers are coming of retirement age and seem to need health care more often. IMO, that is why it is becoming a very large issue and will continue as such.