Health Plan Used by U.S. Is Debated as a Model
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Though candidates suggest adapting the health care program that covers Congress and offering it to millions of uninsured Americans, such a plan would be unlikely to cut costs.
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By Grand Forks Herald, N.D.  Feb. 14--There is a slope. And it is slippery.   Especially, it seems, regarding issues of public health.   Lawmakers in North Dakota and Minnesota have spent lots of time on health  proposals -- bills that protect us from ourselves.
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By ANNE SAILE If you&#39;re following the health care policy debate, yo. bly got a sore neck. Some say we&#39;re living in the best of times.
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Yesterday's piece on health care and the presidential election got a great response, and some of it from Republicans, using the slogans and logic I hoped they wouldn't. But that's okay, it helps me focus my rhetoric on the precise point of disagreement, and hopefully by illuminating it, I can either convince some of the Republicans to come over to my side, or help eliminate some of the confusion on both sides. Or maybe it'll just keep the argument from slopping over into all kinds of irrelevant issues. The basic Republican argument goes like this. Why should I pay for the health needs of people who are so irresponsible as to not have health insurance.  If I got it wrong, please set me straight. Now I'd like to answer this, very carefully. The Democrats aren't proposing that you should pay for the uninsured. Key point. They either agree with you, or know that they're not going to get their proposal passed unless they take this into account. The Obama plan says you don't get care unless you have insurance. His proposal aims to get a lot more people insured. Clinton goes one step further, by requiring everyone to have health insurance.  Also, you already pay for the health needs of the uninsured. Whether you or I like it, we don't look the other way when someone is in need. You may feel the system should work differently, but that's not responsive to the proposal the Democrats are making. The debate is how health care works for the non-indigent.  If you have property, a car, a house, or if your kids go to private school or college, or if you want to take a vacation, or have a baby, or exercise between jobs, getting sick without insurance is a sure way to go from being middle class to being poor, quickly. This is why we have health insurance, to smoothe out the risk, to protect our family's lifestyle. It seems to me it's a good thing. It's the market solving a basic human need.  So this is what we should be discussing, how can we get insurance for all the people who want it, or should we require it for everyone -- this is the debate of 2008. This is what the Democrats are putting on the table, and what McCain, or whoever is the Republican nominee, will have to respond to, if we're going to have the respectful debate everyone is talking about having.  Why is this such a problem?  A lot of people, even healthy people without pre-existing conditions, can't get health insurance. And what if you have a pre-existing condition? Do you really think it's cool for the insurance industry to refuse them coverage? Why is that a good thing? I honestly don't get it. Consider the penalty for not having insurance. (See above.) So far the leaders of the Republican Party have managed to keep health care off the national agenda, but this year, it's there. If you doubt me, just ask a few people you know, and don't just ask poor people or Democrats, ask Republicans. Disease isn't a party issue, and while poor people tend to have poorer health, even well-off people need health care. And most people can't afford to pay for a catastrophic illness, and enough of them can't get health insurance to make this an important national issue. If you disagree with this, please let me know why. PS: Phil Windley asks where it stops. Should we provide free housing for the homeless? And what about free cable TV for people without cable TV? (He provides other examples.) No, this is only about health insurance. It's not about any of the other things mentioned in Phil's post.
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President George W. Bush and White House rival John Kerry are pushing competing remedies for the crippled US healthcare system, with some 45 million Americans are unable to afford health insurance.
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With soaring insurance costs squeezing workers and employers, votersâ choices this November may well be swayed by an issue that has great personal significance to Americans and their pocketbooks: health care.
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Projections for 2005 show that most Americans and businesses should be worried about what is becoming the most costly aspect of their daily lives - paying for health care.
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Supporters of Tennessee&#39;s plan to cut spending on its expanded Medicaid program believe it could be a model for other states fighting rising health-care costs.
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Recent insurance-cost hikes spotlight the deep problems with how the US pays for health care. Both presidential candidates need to be paying closer attention.
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President Bush and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry are offering distinct plans to help Americans cope with the rising costs of health care.
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Question: If government and business leaders do their part to lower the cost of health insurance, should people be required to sign up?
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As far as I can tell, health care gets very little coverage in the blogosphere. Yet health care is one of the most important issues Americans face today, and it&#39;s one of the areas in which Bush&#39;s policies have had the most nefarious effects.
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he faults in the American health care system become more glaring with each passing year. Large numbers of Americans have no health insurance at all, and those who do have insurance are faced with soaring premiums
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Though candidates suggest adapting the health care program that covers Congress and offering it to millions of uninsured Americans, such a plan would unlikely cut costs.
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Many people agree that America&#39;s health-care system needs fixing. Few agree on how to fix it. During last week&#39;s debate and in a flurry of political ads that will become more intense as the Nov.
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President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are promoting very different plans for improving the nation&#39;s troubled health care system, either of which could dramatically change how millions
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When millions of American workers sign up for annual company benefits this fall, many will be given an option for a dramatically different kind of health care package known as a health savings account, or HSA.