A public plan will reduce costs and improve access

What ever happened to Free Enterprise? Our governemnt, mainly the Democrats, want to be in charge of everything. This guy couldn't even get the Health Secretary job because he owed Federal taxes. How do these people get away with this? Why doesn't the IRS go after them?

Everything in the govt is broke because we have become a welfare state, where no one thinks they should have to work, just be taken care of.

TOM DASCHLE DOES WHAT HE DOES FOR MONEY ----- THATS THE BOTTOM LINE.

TOM DASCHLE IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN A LITTLE MAN THAT ASPIRED TO BE PRESIDENT ----- HE FAILED THE TEST.

TOM DASCHLE WAS REFUSED A RETURN TO THE SENATE; BECAUSE, SOUTH DAKOTA RESIDENTS SAW THE TRUE DASCHLE. A WORM THAT WENT TO WASHINGTON TO GET RICH.

TOM DASCHLE KEPT FEDERAL AVIATION INSPECTORS FROM DOING THEIR JOBS , COVERED UP HIS INVOLVEMENT AND POSSIBLY THAT OF HIS WIFE. HE PROTECTED HIS CAMPAIGN DONOR FRIEND AND HIS DEFECTIVE PLANES.

RESULT : TWO DOCTORS FLYING ON A DEFECTIVE PLANE DIED.

HEY LITTLE MAN TOM " WHAT WERE THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DIED ? "

TO ALL THOSE INCORRECT MORONS THAT ACCUSE ME OF BEING A REPUBLICAN HATER; I AM AN INDEPENDENT VOTER , THAT VOTED THIS YEAR FOR PREZ OBAMA " THE ORIGINAL BLACK FLU SOCIALIST POND SCUM ".

I ALSO ATTACKED FORMER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR OF SOUTH DAKOTA WHO KILLED AN INNOCENT MOTOR CYCLE RIDER. THAT GOVERNOR WAS RECKLESS AND DROVE THROUGH A STOP SIGN. THAT GOVERNOR THOUGHT HE WAS ABOVE THE LAW.

I REMIND VOTERS THAT (S H I T) RESIDES IN BOTH PARTIES.

THE REAL SHAME IN THIS COUNTRY ARE THOSE CITIZENS WHO PROTECT WRONG DOING OR BURY THEIR HEAD IN THE SAND AND SEE NOTHING WRONG.

Just I don't understand about this Administration if they know what is the situation on this Country right now what are they waiting for and provide for what people needs are they waiting we beg for it, just 20 years ago for a basic year coverage we didn't pay any extra money for a consulatation on dental services now you have to pay 40% + , the medical sistem get out of control just 10 years ago what realy happen here this is some kind of pay back to the consumer for mal practices at some hospitals ? I understand Doctors have to finish their practices at other Country's because they are not able to practice whit drugs here in USA and is more expensibe for a doctor to graduate complete but it doesn't mean the Licenced Doctors have to encrease for the services to the public require right now not only Hospital's and doctors goin out of business but everything else the more we talk about the more we discover how enbarrassed is all this situation and how the sistem got out of control to benefit only few people, can't believe we get this mess from people suppose to protect the health from American people what is the idea to ruin economically this Country what we did to deserve this enbarrased situation, at what point people will be pushed to the wall how long this new administration will keep with falce hope just two days ago Mr Bernake announce at the news this economic situation will change soon this summer when most people know this is not true this is not because I have issues to this President this is because for fact so far they can't make only one thing to be accomplish the cuestion is if they can't make it why they keep this job ? . Thank-you for be listen

This article does not touch upon the clear lossers in the debate. The providers. The rates paid to providers under the public programs have dropped or been stagnated for years. One example of this is the rates paid by the NYS medicaid system. There has been no increase in provider rates since 2001. Meanwhile, all of the other expenses including Malpractice have doubled over that time period. Medicare is the same story as the providers get the shaft. In NYS only 38 % of providers except Medicare and more are dropping out as we speak. The government only cuts cost by reducing the rates paid, and the providers fight back by dropping out. Providers do not want to work more for less. Yet that is what they are being forced to do. In the end, I am sure the government will force all providers to join up or get out. This will include elective procedures as well. The Medicare system has not improved or helped the overall healthcare environment. In fact, it could be argued that it has done more harm. As for the writer of the article. Maybe he should help amend the tax code so all americans can enjoy the benefits that he enjoyed when he did not pay his income taxes. I do not want such a man changing the face of healthcare in this country.

Using Europe as a model this article is nothing more than propaganda. Costs will increase fraud will increase and health care quality will diminish.

Also, Vancouver has been sending their "at risk" pregnancies to Sealtle for quite some time now. Something about not having enough high tech monitoring equipment available.

Just saying.

Your assertion the Federal Gubbmint will deliver a lower priced GOOD product that increases access and keep quality high and responsive the best in the world, is a FALLACY. it is also ABSURD! Take a look around. WHERE does the Gubbmint deliver a good low cost product?!?!? WHERE????

You libs are an outrage and outrageous. You really seem to believe this nonsense.
Maybe if you paid your taxes, i might take you seriously. MAYBE.

One more thing to Mwalimu, Your suggestion that Medicare offers a much more efficient and effective system than the free marking is just simply wrong. Medicare is fraught with fraud and mismanagement. Wasn't it last year or the year before that a GAO audit revealed that Medicare couldn't account for a couple billion dollars? They couldn't find it, it was just gone.

The efficiency of the market place, on the other hand, is evident to anybody who looks at it honestly, it's ability to adjust and compensate for changing conditions is second to none.

Hi Mwalimu,

I have actually looked at infant mortality in the US vs the world. It's a pretty striking statistic and the media love to show it without context. The reason the numbers appear bad is precicely because of our superior system. The US leads the world in infants who die on their day of birth because we've got the technology, expertise, and intensive emergency facilities to offer even the most premature and underweight infants a shot at survival, thus infants that would be listed as dead at birth in other countries are listed as live births because doctors in the US will take even the worst cases and attempt to save them. Not surprisingly, I've never believed WHO in their rankings, and their numbers regarding infant mortality are apples to oranges, but it makes good copy.

As far as litigation costs go, what's a small fraction? I'd say they're far reaching because they come in the form of substantial insurance costs to the practice/doctor and they result in high dollar tests being ordered just to mitigate potential suits.

Free enterprise in it's purest form is what gets you $300 PC's and $20 DVD players. Right now, doctors don't compete in the free market. You can bet if they had to answer questions from their patients about how much it costs to suture a laceration or set a broken bone and also answer about how long the average wait in the exam room is or if they've ever been sued there would be a lot of changes in how they do business. No doubt there will be some low life practices they prey on people, but in the free market they won't be able to survive with the competition. Also, I'm not advocating completely unsupervised medical care, they would still have to be licensed and keep current on accreditation.

Beyond all that, the idea of going to the government for health care is terrifying. Have you ever had a good experience at the post office, the DMV? Have you ever had to navigate the immigration bureaucracy? The government pretty much doesn't do anything right, why would you want to go to them for health care?

Roy

How does a man that is not a lawyer earn one million dollars a year working fo a law firm?

First off, we do have the best health care system in the world, and it could be better, but not with more government intervention, with less. Anybody that believes our current health system in any way resembles a free market is nuts. Medical professionals are very secretive about fees and quality and the government has their hands so deeply involved in regulation that there is no way you could every confuse health care with a true free market exercise. Further, insurance not only isn't the solution, it has created many of the problems we currently enjoy.

How about a little history. Prior to Jimmy Carter, health insurance was not all that common. Jimmy Carter came along and mismanaged the economy to the point where stagflation and interest rates rendered corporate pay raises and traditional forms of compensation valueless. In an effort to find a means to provide meaningful compensation to their employees, corporations began offering health benefits. This practice became more and more common, to the point where today, some thirty years later, most people see health insurance as the responsibility of their employers. .

Why is this relevant? Because insurance removes the standard checks and balances that usually occur in a free market system. When I go to the doctor, I never ask up front what his fee is going to be. All I care about is that I've got a $20 co-pay. I don't really care if he performs a few unnecessary tests either, again, $20 co-pay. Because of this, there is no market pressure on health providers to keep costs in line. When you're insured, somebody else is paying the freight, so cost doesn't matter.

Add to this the cost of litigation, the cost to comply with incalculable government regulations, the cost to keep a staff that processes insurance paperwork and the belief by most people that they shouldn't have to pay for their health care and you see why the situation is what it is.

I recently found a general practitioner that will not take insurance. She has a staff of one, her fees are not only reasonable but they're posted (at least the common procedures are). She says her reason for going this way was the onerous regulations put upon her by the insurance carriers and government (She doesn't take medicare). She's the best doc I've had since I was a kid.