Healthcare Debates

[Guest guest]

I am glad to see a healthy debate over the heathcare problems we face today. I

went to the websites that Carl cited and found them very interesting and I

enjoyed the little animations to help understand the bill. Everyone will have

their own opinion and I hope we can have a friendly debate as to why you have

formed your own opinion about the bill. Some feel it is fair and some feel like

it is being forced down our throats. I just posted what I read, but I also

enjoy reading other's who do their own research, which is what makes (I think)

for a healthy exchange of beliefs.

We should all do our own research to back up our views, so we will not appear to

be biased. Carl's bandwagon may be different, because he is in a different

position. I feel for you Carl, but I think by the time that you will need

insurance, there will be something you can rely on and I know you will do your

homework.

I think Bobby is right when she says that the insurance companies are greedy,

but who is it that controls the prices on the drugs we take? Who goes out and

raises money to give the researchers to produce these drugs? Some belong to this

group and there are many others out there that we need to praise, but the drug

companies do not pay the greatest amount to do the research, they get government

grants.

I complain often enough about the enormous costs that people like Jackie, Bobby,

Ernie's dear wife, Len who has spent years in hospitals, Jerry and others

including myself who have spent a fortune traveling to research centers to get

into these trials; living in hotels, motels and apartments and having to eat in

restaurants, just to get a bite out of the apple. I think we have a gripe, too.

Why doesn't big Pharma pick up some of the tab? I don't know who has invested

more and traveled more than Jackie or Bobby. If I left anyone out, I'm sorry

but I don't know your situation. She had a mutation, the dreaded T315i, but

there are mutations which are probably even worse and now she has had to move to

a transplant and has to remain in Houston for 100 days after BMT. She has to

live in apartment when she is not in the hospital getting infusions and some of

her family has to be there with her at all times, there are usually two at a

time. My heart goes out to those people, too. To repeat what Bobby has said, we

give up our bodies, too. Time and time again, we have failed to respond, still

looking for the holy grail.

There are organizations that assist with paying for drugs and I have read there

are some that help with insurance, but since I still pay for my insurance, I am

automatically disqualified, but I am insurance poor, I know some of you have

heard of that expression. I have not researched that part. Maybe someone else

will have more information.

I think people who are against it are worrying about the huge debt we will be

passing on to our children and grandchildren and the added question of whether

we will have rationed health care and a death squad who decides who will live.

That is also a big concern to many.

The French health system is not perfect, nor is the English system. When I

needed a doctor, they were all on strike and I had to find a private physician

and a bad experience there, too. I had a small encounter with it in France, but

I am citing here an article from the Dallas Morning News (the one I got when I

lived in Dallas) on the two healthcares. Compare the numbers folks before you

come to any conclusions and keep an open mind that there are different opinions

for different and personal reasons:

" Rice University alum Dutertre, who's lived in France since 1968, has

had good and bad experiences with French health care. " Many liberal Americans

are convinced that the French system is the be-all and end-all solution to

health care costs in the United States, " she said. " But the system is costly to

both the workers and the state. In fact, it is going BANKRUPT. "

" Bankruptcy looms for America as well. Health care absorbs more than 17 percent

of the U.S. economy, or $2.4 trillion. The French fork over 11 percent. In 2006,

U.S. spending averaged $6,714 per person. The average resident of France spent

$3,450. This year, U.S. spending is expected to near $8,000 per person, while

French officials estimate spending there will come in below $5,000. It's not

that the French are younger. One in six of France's 61 million people are over

the age of 65; one in eight Americans are over 65.

" France and the United States pay for their health care in different ways. Most

U.S. health care spending is private. The government's share – what you pay for

in taxes for Medicare, Medicaid, military and other government employees – is 46

percent. The rest is paid through insurance split between employers and workers,

and in out-of-pocket expenses borne by consumers.

" In France, national health insurance pushes the government's share of health

care spending to 80 percent. Consumers and their employers pay for the rest

through supplemental, private insurance and out-of-pocket expenses. In both

countries, patients with the money to pay for more or better care not covered by

insurance are able to buy it through private clinics and doctors. Health

expenditures have grown faster than prices for nearly everything else in both

countries for many years, despite decades of reforms aimed at capping prices,

supply and demand. President Barack Obama has made a priority of providing

health insurance for all Americans while lowering health care inflation. France

has insurance for all but battles health care costs in the National Assembly

every year. "

http://tinyurl.com/qw8vgn

__________________________

FYI & thanks everyone for their input,

Lottie Duthu

_________