The Dem.'s put the bill together without any amendments or input from the Repub.'s and all the Repub.'s but one voted against it. Now this writer says the Repub.'s fault it is a pile of stinking garbage. This guy would not know the truth if it bit him on the butt.

Obama said that health care reform at 16% of the economy is way to high and we need to bend the cost curve. This Bill will ensure health care will be 21% of the economy and cost will go up; yet, Obama declares it a victory. You are the first to call him on this and I congratulate you!

I disagree. Republicans passed a very large prescription drug bill under Bush and had other proposals, so it's a falsehood that they want to do nothing. They simply want to approach this in a slower more incremental manner.

Let's prioritize and fix each problem one at a time so we don't take on more than we can effectively handle. Let's follow up and get things working before taking on more.

It's the democrats massive confused approach that doesn't even really get to the heart of the problem that they're trying to obstruct. Not healthcare reform.

"Blame for this failure is partly the fault of Republicans who've abdicated responsibility for advancing a positive agenda on the calculation that obstructionism is more politically advantageous. The whole ordeal makes me sick."

I echo the TRUE statement of Taongo 121 and ask why later comments ignor this.

As a resident of Mass. which has a plan that the federal reform very much models, I have to say that Conor Friedersdorf has it EXACTLY RIGHT.

Not even in the long run, but very quickly - if this bill is made into law - people will come to realize that they are worse off than they are now, and we're all pretty bad off, except for the very wealthy.

Wah, wah. Republicans are liars and Democrats are the problem.

Fuck the both of them. I want another eighteen parties with equal clout in this country, not business running government or business running government running crazy religious gay men.

On that note, the article is at least succinct and logical no matter how you may feel about it.

While I am truly for reforming health care I do not wish to reform it by reformers who don't even know what is in the bill! Worse by a populace who really doesn't care what is in the bill because what they care about more is that Obama did it!

Furthermore, this is completely one hundred percent a political issue no matter the costs. (pun intended)
Just remember if this health care bill was rushed through at any and all costs it will not lie on my shoulders.

I have been a life long democrat but I am no longer a democrat do or die! The glory is in the fact there are millions just like me.

What is happening in the rush to push this through smacks of stuff we read about in countries I would never not in a million years wish for this country.

I would not blame it on either political party, but on the nature of politicians in general and the American public.

First, the politicians: we elect them. They are meticulously packaged entities whose every word is often vetted by committees of staffers whose whole job is to make sure that their politician remains electable. To remain electable and elections are extremely expensive, a politician must not offend the big contributers or deeply upset too much of the voting public. I wish that politicians wore the names of their sponsors on the clothes and cars, just like NASCAR drivers do. Then we would know who, for all intents and purposes, owns their allegiance and often, their vote. You must remember, the big money sponsors like stability and predictability. As recent events shows, sudden and unpredictable financial events can hurt everyone.

Second, the American public: As a nation, we are not engaged in the political process. If asked, most of us could not name the two US Senators from our state, our local member of the House of Representatives or the local members of our state legislature. Yet, these are the people who write our laws and levy taxes. They have more effect on our lives than the President or the state governor. We very seldom hold them accountable for their actions or their votes. The net result is that the laws they pass often benefit their sponsors at the expense of the public at large.

I do not mean to sound cynical, but to quote a long-dead urban politician, "We have the best government [that] money can buy!" If you want to know which companies, organizations and individuals will benefit from the current health care bill, just look at the list of those endorsing it.

And do not forget the news media! They are not highlighting the fact that most of the benefits do not take effect for several years. This gives them an expectations gap to capitalize on for the 2010 and 2012 elections: they can harass the politicians of both parties, asking, "We paid billions for health care reform, where are the benefits?"

The only way to change this, is to become aware of what our politicians are doing, which groups they are kissing up to, and which groups they are screwing. Do not expect the media to help, as they are often cheerleaders for one side or the other and they frequently place entertainment before hard news.

If you want real change from our government at any level, do the following very simple steps:
1) Take some time and learn about the issues that are important to you.
2) Think about how you would like to see the issue resolved.
3) Write a letter or send an email to your state legislators, your Congressperson or your US Senators.
4) Repeat the above three steps for each issue that concerns you. This last step is extremely important!

Of course there are holes, but you have to start somewhere. I am sure when Social Security got its start there were holes. Now that the holes are identified let's work for solutions to patch them up.

"and we are not saved..."

This is what happens when you let lawyers reform healthcare

This story is a ridiculous, childish criticism of a great bill. It's a good example of how spoilt and self-involved Americans have become. Even when something good comes out of Washington some couch potato critic can always find something he doesn't like in it. BOKO

I am an independent candidate for president. My Health care program does not involve insurance companies or any government bureaucracy. Health Care is an issue that ties up one sixth of our economy! My idea makes way more sense.

We can agree our economy, as heartbeat, is near collapse; the dollar is in the dumpster for months, and could permanently go lower, making us into a permanent secondary lender; one of our prob limbs, the growing rolls who lost their health care insurance along with their jobs.

My Loose Penny Program, presented here, is a capital injection that will instantly begin to repair our economic muscle, by repairing our health care delivery without government intervention, but to create actual jobs, mission critical diplomacy is required.

President Obama needs to get off the fly around health care campaign trail, wipe down the makeup on his eyelids (with cold cream) and summon all our fast foods, supermarket; Target and Wal-Mart CEO's to the White House to ink my proposed infusion solution.

The only thing wrong with this proposal is it's mine. It is my 'out-of-the-box approach, and personally I have an expressed stake in the political process as a candidate for president. Were his advisors only willing to set that issue aside we would all benefit!

Obama went to Cairo and Copenhagen. He can meet with KFC. Your loose pocket change will make the critical health care diff rinse.

Every chain must participate in my Loose Pennies Program, regardless the size of their enterprise. My purpose: an additional two-cents in the cash registers of many thousands of locations nationwide, wherever we fast food eat and shop. For every item registered over the counter we want two pennies extra, added as patriotic gratuity.

This proposal is not for a government mandate. Anyone can refuse to pay the voluntary two cents gratuity. Burger, fries and a drink totals six extra cents, pennies off the pavement. Regardless what we purchase at the market; we are only pitching in some loose change out of pocket. 40 items at the supermarket could easily add up to $150. Does another 80 cents inhibit your generosity?

A worker chosen by the workers to represent them can meet with the managers to approve the total pennies for everything out the door the week before, dividing that total by everyone's hours worked.

Then we include up to $2 dollars extra for every hour in the worker's paychecks. A $5 deduct for a Medical Malpractice Pool is on my planing board, which employers don't have to match, so their sticker prices won't rise from any extra cost of doing business. The chains won't be squeezed from our Medical Assurance pay raise, that, a plus minus spreadsheet wash!

The worker's pay increase doesn't come out of management's pocket, but work place production will grow. When someone quits, the crew might ask the boss to leave them pick up the slack, so they earn more money!

The overage, beyond the $2 dollars hourly extra in every pay, goes to interest bearing Medical Savings Accounts, with the worker's name on his or her portion. Two dollars an hour in a forty hour week is more than $4000 a year. There are other innovative possibilities because the prime issue inspiring our voluntary gratuity is Health Care.

The president can ask everyone on the low end of the economic chain to divide their bounty as follows, at least what I am guaranteed to do as president: The president can order the $2 an hour extra be a take home half in cash, with the balance going to dramatically grow these proposed Medical Savings Accounts, a health care solution for at least ten million uninsured people.

More than ten million of the uninsured people will have their medical care access guaranteed with a Medical Savings account they can share with their spouse, significant other, and off spring. The medical savings account, as a health care solution beats health insurance!

Insurance companies are dedicated to making money, not protecting the sick from financial disaster. When an insurance company cancels your policy because you have an expensive disease, they don't refund your premium. But with a Health Assurance Savings Account, when you quit or get fired from the job, your medical savings account goes with you!

After a year behind the fast food counter, a 40-hour per week worker could have more than two grand in their Health Assurance account. Ten million uninsured people at the bottom of our economic food chain might not have health care insurance but all would carry Health Assurance. In the event they don't feel right they have access to medical care, and a second opinion, because the money to pay is there! When it's your money, unneeded procedures evaporate.

Other companies, besides the fast food chains could have the "public Lev option" of creating Medical Savings Accounts, in lieu of providing an insurance policy for their workers.

A sensible choice solution eliminates the insurance company monopolies. A worker could opt out of his company's insurance policy. The employer's end would go into his paycheck, a raise in take home pay. The half the worker was paying would still be withheld, and go into the worker's Medical Assurance Savings Account.

Small businesses unable to afford insurance coverage for their employees could set up Medical Assurance Accounts.

Is there any government bureaucracy involved in my program? Is my proposal 1500 pages of unreadable language?

This two cents program works for the medical professional, too. You agree to the fee, the doctor swipes your Medical Assurance card and the money is debited from your Health Assurance account. The Dr.'s cost layer represented by his required compliance with the insurance company bureaucrat is out of the mix.

This proposed over-the-counter voluntary two-cent gratuity, $344 dollars monthly doesn't bash government. These out of pocket pennies go to the working not so rich, without intrusion. Government bureaus are by-passed, except to investigate anonymous complaints about businesses that may be cheating their workers.

In all the dry cleaners add a nickel to every shirt pressed, a dime for every dry cleaned piece. In all the family operated dry cleaners, medical savings accounts will replace the worker's share of their family's health insurance.

This 2 cents extra covers 90% of all the minimum and lower wage jobs in USA, juicing the recovery by pumping the bottom of our economic chain, enriching the people most likely to purchase goods with their money!

The fresh dollars these people spend will create jobs. Those in low echelon hourly jobs, working 40 hours a week will have $80 extra weekly in his or her pay envelope, the diff rinse between scraping by and getting ahead; the advantage of $75 after a $5 per week set aside for our Medical Malpractice Pool, $40 in their pay with a minimum $35 earmarked for Health Assurance Savings.

To restate: $2 an hour X 40 hours is $80 fresh dollars a week, $344 a month, more than $4000 fresh dollars a year going to more than ten million UNINSURED working people, based on our voluntary two pennies on every item over the counter in all the fast food chains, WalMart, KMart, Target, and every supermarket chain.

The $80 extra a week is divided in half. $40 for pay envelopes, $40 for Medical Savings Accounts. Then $5 out of the pay raise for a Malpractice Insurance pool, which Dr.'s are invited to join, by putting in $5 per office visit; and $5 from your Medical Savings Account into a Catastrophic Illness Pool.

You are working for five years at Burger King. You are an assistant manager. You started out flipping burgers and stayed with your Medical Assurance Savings. You have kidney failure, need dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant. That is catastrophic.Your Medical Assurance Account won't be depleted on the spot.

Relative to Malpractice Insurance doctors and dentists, the med professionals are invited to participate with $5 per visit, so they can down the road, cancel their Malpractice insurance. Then we establish a reasonable award for all the different malpractice possibilities, allowing the aggrieved party to get a lawyer in the event there is a disagreement. This lowers the cost of a Doctor being a Doctor and gives us a chance to develop a public access data base that identifies doctors who are repeat malpractitioners.

Millions of uninsured not so rich people building Medical Assurance Accounts will directly benefit from this voluntary deal. We gain from tipping our pennies to working folks, as these millions of uninsured won't be crowding emergency clinics for care, which we all pay for, a tremendous savings for the taxpayer!

Emergency health care cost is infected by the actuarial projections of how many uninsured people might use an emergency room walk-in for care during the course of any year.

Working people in min-wage jobs with Health Assurance accounts pay for their access on a need-to-be seen basis. In addition to medical savings accounts, the two cents gratis could secure a million mortgages near default, a contribution to neighborhood health as deserted house disease is a cancer that devalues the whole street.

For the rest of our uncovered citizenry, doctors and dentists must be allowed the volunteer opportunity to do tax deductible charity, treating them. A charity patient is anyone without insurance. The plan: doctors do $50,000 in charitable medical services and deduct the $50,000 off the top of their federal tax. Then, after all the deductions, the doctors take an additional half off their bottom line; twenty-five thousand or half, whichever is greater.

Medical professionals could perform $100,000 in charity and deduct $50,000 off their tax, and because they only owed $49,000 in taxes, earn a one thousand dollar income tax credit. This health care approach cost effectively makes sense.

Doctors won't be at the mercy of an insurance companies,' take it or leave payment for services rendered. People suffering from unaffordable premiums, with pre-assurance from their physicians, will begin to cancel their overpriced insurance policies.

Every doctor will have a waiting list of patients waiting to be classified as charity. Doctors will have more patients, their work incentive: Freedom of Income Tax.

Isn't this one-line change in our tax code easier to digest than a fifteen hundred page med-reform tax increase stick-it-to-us vaccination, unread even by its authors, our congress? Would insurance company's shills show up at town hall meetings screaming, "It's a communist plot! Down with their two cents for medical savings accounts?"

Every doctor and dentist will have a sign on the door: "No insurance? I'm here."

These ideas will enrich our economy from the bottom up, possibly save a million mortgages, and insure access to health care services for many, if not all the millions of uninsured people, whilst leaving the rip off insurance companies out.

The long-term solution to our health care prob limb is free medical education for doctors, dentists, and all related personal, our goal one hundred thousand doctors graduated every year until we have one family doctor for every thousand people. A national marijuana tax could fund this program, as could a three per cent reduction in military expenditures. Politishinz are good at identifying issues but fold their intestinal fortitude as those who finance their campaigns govern the solutions.

In that light, the above proposed change in our tax code, encouraging doctors and dentists to treat the uninsured as a deductible charity, could not pass either House of our current congress absent a million person public outcry first.

Robert J. Samuelson wrote, in the Monday, September 14, 2009 The Washington Post:

"Americans generally want three things from their health-care system. First, they think that everyone has a moral right to needed care; that suggests universal insurance. Second, they want choice; they want to select their doctors -- and want doctors to determine treatment. Finally, people want costs controlled; health care shouldn't consume all private compensation or taxes."

The above Loose Penny Solution covers all of these issues. On Sixty Minutes, September 13, president Obama repeated, "All Americans will be required to have insurance, but those who can't afford it will get subsidies." Health Assurance Savings accounts are a better idea.

Obama's plan: Subsidizing an insurance policy creates a whole new layer of bureaucracy which is unaffordable and unnecessary.

I am the unknown poet, a long-time candidate for president, roasting in the sun.

Once upon a time our Fourth Estate was independent, standing watch, reporting true. Today's corporate approach to politics locks out the unknowns who seek public office, a primary reason there aren't any candidates. You announce, "I'm a candidate." The editor's don't ask, "What are your ideas?" But, "Show us twenty million dollars." And without access to buckets of ducats, the access to broadcast speech, to present their platforms is also blocked. Blog in the bog, dog.

We need to renew our politics, starting with the reestablishment of our First Amendment Right to televised political speech. Upon this essay, I requested e quill time of our television networks, to give my independents' response to president Obama's health care speech to the congress, which was broadcast by the networks and cable networks aired live, September 9, 2009.

I have to stop posting and prepare my petition for the court. The issue of my First Amendment Right to speak will go to the Supreme Court.

michaelslevinson.com

The only hole is in Pelosi's head!!!!!