President Obama and the Democrats need to give up working with Republicans on Health Care Reform and CLAIM THEIR POWER!

for a vote. Pelosi might run it through the house(HR 3200), but Reid is terrified that if they have a vote, then all those useless senators will be exposed, and maybe face consequences on election day. I myself, would like to see that vote, then match up the lobby money with the sellouts.

Folks on this board need to see what Obama is doing with regard to the Health Insurance debate currently going on in America. He's toning down the rhetoric. He is letting those that present non-verifiable information about what is being put in this bill play themselves out.

Stand by, everyone. Let this thing play out. I know Obama wants a fast track on this thing...but, this isn't the way to get this thing done. And, it's really not fair to the majority in the nation that is against any kind of single payer plan or something like that so this time will be good to allow the legislators to come up with a plan that accomplishes getting our country's uninsured a health care vehicle yet keep the current system that so many want in place.

Patience...that's the key.

I understand that many, even most folks on medicare are happy with what they're getting in health care bennies. My post wasn't about medicare and to equate medicare with what I was talking about on a "single payer plan" for our nation is unfair. And, let's be honest, medicare is broke and has all kinds of problems corruption both by doctors AND receivers of care. In addition, medicare is small compared to putting 40,000,000 more people on the rolls if that's what they're truly suggesting and then, if it's a "single payer system", MANY more millions. Government has proven it does a horrible job of managing programs. Social Security, VA and Champus benefits, Medicaid, Medicare and so forth are in shambles. Why would anyone think that a "single payer system" would be managed well? I have heard soooo many stories about how people in on medicare have problems with getting care to receiving authorization for care. Yes, there are many that don't have these problems and if those are shown it will make what I am saying sound wrong, but just how many people know retirees on medicare that have had problems? And, how much do we lose through doctors abusing the medicare system and overcharging and requesting extra/unnecessary tests and treatments etc?

I truly believe that our government has to put in place some kind of government system to help those that cannot afford health care. A single payer system, in my opinion, isn't it.

aged 65 and older had insurance. The program succeeded until 2003 when Bush and his enablers enacted the Medicare Advantage plan allowing private insurance to do the job that had been done by the government. From the New York Times....

The White House is counting on convincing seniors, with their powerful lobbying presence in Washington, that in order to fix the overall healthcare system, they have to cut the fat out.

For the last few years, Medicare Advantage has been a sheltered corner of the national health plan.

When congressional Republicans first began expanding private insurance options for Medicare in 1997, advocates argued that the plans would actually deliver services more efficiently and hence less expensively.

But the spending on Advantage plans grew over time.

The plans now cost the government about 14% more per person than does regular Medicare, according to a recent analysis by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which recommends reimbursement rates to Congress.

"Payment increases have been so large that plans no longer need to be efficient to attract enrollees," the commission's executive director, Mark E. Miller, told Congress in June 2008.

Today, the sheer size of the program, which serves about 10.2 million seniors out of more than 45 million Medicare users, offers an opportunity for savings that the Office of Management and Budget puts at $177 billion over 10 years.

Obama joined the Advantage critics in 2007 while campaigning in Iowa, when he cited the arrangement as an example of Medicare waste.

Now his plan is to reduce payments to Advantage so that they are equal or comparable to the payments for regular Medicare.

Here is a study that shows that retirees like their medicare (study done by Health Affairs)

This study, done by The Commonwealth Fund shows patient satisfaction comparing medicare with private care, (starting on page 103).

Medicaid, Medicare and Schip public health programs do have some problems. The majority of those problems are caused by 8 yrs of Bush cuts and flat funding to those programs. So while the need for those programs continued to increase, the funding decreased, which has led to the majority of problems. If all public health programs had been properly funded then we would see nothing but complete success in those programs. Bush and the Republicans never believed in public health programs and did everything that they could to privatize and minimize those programs.

Even though funding to SCHIP and Medicaid were slashed and flat funded, those programs have still done remarkably well with the money that they have to help as many children as possible.