One Nation Under Medicare

What Obama does, call it "fakes and lies"

When others ask, tell them why

Tell those gathered around

???Our investment stealing, ponzi scheming, tax evading, and favor the elite ways are fiscally sound!???

When it comes to health care

Some should not receive

Services due to pre-existing conditions and disease

Insurance companies, HMOs, and pharmaceuticals, we must unite

To stop Obama from taking our right

To deny care, to abandon patients, perform un-needed services, and halt the massive fraud

That we underwrite

Keep' em fearing national health care

Tell'em its socialized; create despair

It costs to much! It cost too much!

presenting more distortions should be enough

To convince them to give up

I don't understand

Why would a sane person stick to medical plans

That scheme to deny coverage

And tie patients' hands

Wake up America and take heed

The health system and their lobbyists are not the least pleased

About providing people the affordable health care they need.

I think we may end up with a health care system similar to Hawaii. Or similar to what Medicaid does in many states now. The customers are not complaining so much.

But there needs to be more. I think one good way to cut cost, is to be more simplified with diagnostic (technically more sophisticated, but a simple system for the customers). Perhaps, people can put test and scan results on a CD. And then they could upload it to a health diagnostic organization.. to get a second opinion, or to get some long term preventive advice. There are some scanning machines better than a cat scan. Cancer can be detected earlier, or perhaps an individual would be told to take FDA approved supplements to prevent cancer. An individual with diabetes in the family could start some type of FDA approve supplement when they reach 35. Maybe there could even be dna diagnostics.

Americans should follows the "WHO" recommendation on the World Best Health-Care System.Amzang a HeartOperaton Cost here in US 127K just about 22 K there,wthout compromisng the High Standard Procedures...Amazing!!!

Check it Out here: http://sgcgo.com/singapore-health-care-system/

Competition is fair, but the point is, insurers try to weasel out of paying up what you have been paying for!
Why is this allowed? You buy auto insurance, and when needed, you get nickeled and dimed to death.
But miss a payment, then wham, hit with penalties. Pealties for them should come into effect if they dont cover what you payed for. Paying insurance is for coverage, not getting it "passed on to you", because you have already paid!

Its Real Shame that "50 Million Americans"are not Protected on health-care,yet living in proclaim the most Advance Nation,because BOTH can't afford it.

Another Alter "alteration" of reality -- slightly askew to outrageously askew of how the current healthcare system actually works. His "reporting" that Medicare administration costs are just 3% OF PREMIUMS versus the 20 plus percentage in commercial insurance is a ridiculous slanting of half the picture.... Medicare premiums don't cover the cost of the program. In fact, they fall waayyyyy short, hence, the every increasing deficit. In other words, 3% of inadequate is still inadequate; and he conveniently leaves out the billions of dollars spent by providers in trying to remain Medicare compliant. Gee, forgot about those costs, Alter? Just doesn't fit in the nice picture of why the government option is really our "only one."

The other twisting of realy that Alter continues to purport...the tax deductability issue of private, employer based health plans. Why is NOT taking money from the employer that's been mandated by the market to offer health insurance...who we should be damn happy that they are offering such coverage plans....why is that a COST to the US taxpayer? Again, being the liberal-progressive minded guy he is, Alter equates NOT taxing something or someone as the same as expensing or costing the US taxpayer money. Well, here's something to "roll your tongue around" Alter, its not the US government's money to begin with!

Lastly, Alter continues to twist the complications of our health care system into some simplistic notion that commercial or private insurance doesn't need to compete? That saving cost is of little interest to them? What planet does such thinking come from? More savings makes them more money? Hell, isn't that why we bitch and moan all the time when Blue Cross or someone else doesn't cover something that we think they should? And what about the shear market crushing and altering effect of Medicare and Medicaid? Why no analysis of how over 1/2 of our system is already government controlled? Why no mention that they "compete" by mandate and by a fee schedule so low that everyone takes a loss? How is that efficient or even workable for the long run?

Alter, pull your head out of O's *** and put down the one-world manifesto and do some real analysis of what is a very complicated problem, but a problem only increasingly made worse the more we look to idiotic politicians and one-world progressives for answers.

Uncompromised Health care reform would probably have a greater effect on Main Street stimulus than the stimulus bill.
The hard fact is Health Care costs have no doubt caused as many, small business to close their doors as foreign competition has. And make competition much more difficult for those still hanging on.
The unsustainable labor costs of Detroit are clear evidence of this, but it is nation wide. And the effort to reduce costs is always directed at employees take home pay not at the huge profits of insurance companies.
Toyota for example hires part time and contract labor to whom they provide no coverage or retirement benefits what so ever. They do pay comparable wages but have a much lower labor burden as a result.
Obama stated that Health care provided by business was a "tradition" when the reality it is evidence of the failure of the government to act on behalf and "For the people". Instead opting to act "For the insurance companies"
Health care reform should be just as important to those who have coverage as to those 50 million who do not.
It is important to literally every citizen of this country whether they realize it or not.

McAllen, Texas is over eight hundred miles from El Paso. Not exactly "nearby." Texas is big and diverse. Look into it.

Dear Senator or congressperson X

You and I both know that YOUR reputation is beyond reproach, but there is this feeling out here in the real world that the obvious facts about health care will have little effect on your less virtuous colleague???s in their twilight world of souls and favors bought and sold. When my angry friends throw YOUR name about with profound disrespect, I of course, immediately jump to your defense and explain you are doing the best you can.

It???s all those other guys.

When Wall Street discovered that their multi-million dollar Christmas bonuses were in jeopardy, your friends on Capitol Hill panicked and poured everything we had into the top of Wall Street???s ravenous machine. It is of course an apparatus designed, to whirl and spin money OUT of the system into their hungry pockets and not designed to send money where it is needed most. Somehow your less informed friends on Capitol Hill actually expected this shameless mechanism to mediate our problems for the greater good, but you may have shared our deep sense of betrayal when absolutely nothing came out at the bottom of this ruthless device to benefit those in real need.

We live and learn.

So let???s not make the same mistake with our health care system. We are dealing with another huge mechanism designed to spin as much money out of the system as possible and not to send it where it is really needed most. It is they say, the American way! Yeah, we???ve certainly had a great party here in America. In our protracted time of plenty, our picturesque 19th century rugged individualist ideology was something to behold and perhaps, even something we could actually afford in the short term.

Unfortunately this is the 21st century and the cost of maintaining our crumbling world empire now greatly exceeds the value of the plunder our corporations manage to send home. By some estimates for example, we???ve already spent a trillion dollars to kill a million or so Iraqi men, women and children. That???s thousand dollars per head and the price of their oil still went UP, WAY UP.

Plainly we are up against the law of diminishing returns. For profit murder and for profit medicine, share a common trait. We???re not getting much bang for our buck. If for no other reason than the fact that we are already broke, it is time to choose what the rest of the modern world???s experience has conclusively shown to be the cheapest, the most equitable and most efficient way out.

Finally, this healthcare debate has taken on a symbolic importance that goes well beyond the realm of mere necessity and the tragic lethal numbers we have posted thus far. IF you fail to deliver, what little faith still remains in the virtue of your good offices and what little hope lingers for a new day in America will have foundered on the familiar shoals of greed and cowardice. We are counting on your celebrated virtue and uncommon selfless courage to see that this doesn't happen AGAIN.

Sincerely, taxpayer Z

Sorry Jonathan but once again you ignore real facts and instead resort to Bolshevik Propaganda. Medicare admin costs do not include IRS costs in collecting the funds. Does not compare the average claim amount which is much higher for seniors. It totally ignores Federal Pension costs for the Government employees etc. Jonathan when you provide all the facts I will take you seriously.

you don't know the industry, just like the democrats. pre-taxed benefits save small companies money, and make healthcare more affordable. if you tax healthcare insurace, you are further crippling our nation, instead of serving as some sort of fake robin hood. its easy to be a philanthropist when you are already a millionaire. ask Mr. Kennedy about that one.

Single payer insurance will not work . As things are doctors over charge , and order unnecessary treatments and raise the charges by large per-centages every year . This would either drive the single payer insurance out of business or they would be as present day insurances . Raise rates to where more people lose insurance . Our Cities , Counties , States , and the US Governments all own and operate clinics and hospitals . Since these governments are already in the health care business why not expand it and allow the uninsured to be treated at these facilities instead of getting in to the insurance business . There is some posibility this could be done without the total approval of Congress . This would also put an end to the insane increases of health care costs and would compare with Canada and other intellegent countries .

Sir: As a retired Federal employee of 35+ years and under Medicare for two years I take serious umbrage in the sentence ???The fabulously popular free program for the elderly???.??? contained in your 29 June 2009 Newsweek article ???One Nation Under Medicare.??? I feel strongly that you owe readers an apology for implying that Medicare is FREE!
Medicare payments to the elderly are not free; we paid Medicare taxes bi-weekly during our employment. The premium costs, paid by recipients, are covered in the booklet ???Medicare & You 2009 (updated yearly). This is the official government handbook with important information about the following: What???s New, 2009 Medicare costs, What Medicare covers, etc.
Part A (Hospital Insurance) Monthly Premium
Most people don't pay a Part A premium because they paid Medicare taxes while working.
You pay up to $443** (see below) each month if you don't get premium-free Part A.

Part B (Medical Insurance) Monthly Premium
Up to $308 per month.

The current "compromise" replacing a public option with a non-profit coop is a fraud. I should know. When I started teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1978, I chose a non-profit plan. A year or to later, my non-profit provider was purchased by another insurance company, and that insurance company converted to a "for-profit" organization.
That's the problem with a non-profit coop. There is no guarantee that the non-profit coop will remain non-profit. It could be bought by a for-profit insurance company, or it could be controlled by one. Either way, people buying into a non-profit coop will pay higher prices, just as people with health insurance right now will foot the bill for the insurance industry's lobbying and advertising campaign to defeat the public option.
I totally agree with rawdibob. Medicare is NOT free. You pay for it through a payroll tax. (At least that's how I pay for Medciare.) Medicare also needs to be reformed to cut over head, to cut Medicare PLUS premiums, and to reform medicare D, so that Medicare itself can bid on popular prescriptions. An article by Jamie Court, called "Medicare for All" published in the Los Angeles Times on January 25, 2009 proves that Medicare is indeed a viable public option.
We need to expand people's options. By all means, we can keep a non-profit coop, but let's also let people buy into Medicare regardless of their age.

As is insurance companies charge you for betting that something will happen . The public insurance should be done the same way and this will cover the cost as with any insurance . Medicare recipients get sizable tax that increases every year on their Social Security check every month before they see the check . This mess going on in congress is the old "smoke and mirrors" game and when the smoke clears nothing will have changed . The vote count and the cost are just part of the game . Both sides are playing for a way to blame the other side and no public insurance program can get started unless Congress does it , and having control of the funds and the law making makes them the most powerful branch of our government .

Any one who thinks Medicare is free does NOT know what he is talking about. First of all, there is the 3 percent tax on all income. Then there is the tax on doctors who are only partly compensated for their work.

The 3% Medicare Admin figure has been debunked by numerous studies (NEJM, Kaiser, McKinsey). It is actually more like 6-8% and growing at rate that is twice as fast as Private admin, reflecting private admin's investment in capital to improve technology, communications, etc.). Nevertheless, it is a significant difference, but the message is not furthered by clinging to exaggerated and inaccurate statistics.
Further, a new "public option" would have to bill for premiums, collect premiums and maintain a constantly changing enrollment base. These costs are NOT reflected in the 6-8%, because the costs to bill and collect the small amount of Medicare premiums that are paid by enrolles is actually being done by private insurance companies. The enrollment issue is huge. Once on Medicare, you are always on Medicare...until you die (and often beyond, if the fraud reports are accurate). A competitor to private plans will have to deal with people coming off and on the plan. The reconciliation to the billing process is extremely complex and is already screwed up in Medicare and Medicare Advantage (read some of the posts), and those folks aren't coming off and on the plan like they would in a public option competing with private plans.
Unless those crafting the details of any legislation do a little more research and study than Altar, we'll end up with a bill that passes, but can't be enacted, because the actual costs will fall outside the financial parameters of the approved legislation.
Honesty and fair treatment of the facts and the details of a solution must be employed, or it will doom the ultimate objective.