45 millions Americans are living a life without insurance. How do you plan to provide healthcare to those?
924886
By law hospitals have to give life saving care even if the patient cannot pay.  There are already low cost health clinics all over the place.  People have the option of medical bankruptcy which does not effect their credit rating.  So pretty much those 45 million should start thinking of taking care of themselves in my opinion.\n\nAnd out of that 45 million, how many actually need insurance.  That s just 15% of the population, does a healthy 25 year old really need full coverage?  How many of those are exercising their right not to buy insurance even though it is available?  These are numbers that are not represented in a blanket number.
1174605
anything to do with healthcare....with the millions of baby boomers on the horizon they will outnumber us and our resources....
368463
Well, the situation is... in the U.S. if you're rich, you can afford insurance and medical care... in Canada, everyone gets it but not on their schedule... so rich Canadians come here to get it on their schedule...\nSo... I look at the census... the median household income for America is approx. $40,000, so that's half of America making $40,000 or less a year. If your household is making $40,000, (probably  a two income household, with two people making on average $20,000 each)you probably can't afford even a small procedure to be performed and if you get a procedure, you'll be in debt for at least a couple of years (not to mention the costs of medication), and that's if you're insured. (Also according to the census, 32 percent of Americans don't have medical insurance).\nWhat I'm saying is, according to these numbers, over half of America clearly can not take advantage (without severe financial penalty) of the American healthcare system as it stands, and thats a sad state to be in. \nAnd it's getting worse as insurance goes up 5+ percent a year (for the past few years) and wages are barely rising at all. \nSo, if you're rich, you probably like it, if you're not... you probably don't.. but there are more poor pepole than rich, so hopefully we can get some changes.
69270
Good Question!  I don't know why it has to be so complicated - the insurance industry has done nothing but complicate the medical world for so long now, that I suspect their lobby has had a lot of influence on part d.  They're trying to tell professional physicians how to do business - without knowing anything about you.\n\nIf someone could figure out a way to simplify all of this, individuals like us could afford to get health care and the prescriptions we need without a "conglomorate" who is only in it for the money and doesn't know anything about our situation or condition deciding it for us.\n\nSimplify!  It' the key - too much beauracracy around it all
989859
We need a health care system in this country and it will be hard to get. You know who is in congress. pro business!\n\nWe need a way to pool the Monet, an have some say into some things, like costs!\n\nHMO's who have people who are paid over 2 million a year plus bonus, plus their stockholders. They are taking all that from you before they have paid a thing!! There are over 450 HMO's in NJ!\n\nWhen I retired from the state, all of a sudden the HMO who represents retired state workers can get pills that I was paying over $12.00 each, I can get a 3 month supply for $4.00! That's right! $4.00 for three months!\n\nMedications is too expensive and needs to be brought under control. I don't have an issue with someone making a profit, but a 14 Million dollar income for 1 person in an HMO? That is obscene, and they have at least 3 more making more than 2 million a year. Now multiply that by the # of HMO's and the money they return to their shareholders, who didn't work a damn day!. That's a lot of money that goes to everything but health care.\n\nI have a ton of those example's, and I am sure we have enough smart people, who are not politicians, who can come up with a health care plan. What do you think an HMO is?
135468
Nobody, is required to provide health insurance..That is a benefit, that you negotiate, with your employer..
1057597
In my case I lost my job due to a disability I can no longer do it which leaves me without health care, in others it is because their job left them for China or Mexico. Health Care in this country is in crisis but no one wants to believe that, I place the blame squarely on the insurance company's for the high cost and the lack of health care for everybody. Believe me there is not one person in this country immune to the effects of losing a job. It can happen to anybody.
1002737
Too expensive. What if you had surgery, then you got an infection, a serious one? The health unsurance plans in America stink royally. We the payers are getting the short end of the stick for the large Insurance bill. Really good insurance comes from your local farm bureau. Check them out!
345810
America is the only industrialized nation in the world who does not have a national heath care system. People who aren't wealthy, don't have health insurance, and aren't poor enough to qualify for medicaid, get screwed.\n\nIsrael also has guaranteed housing, while we have homeless.\nDoesn't make sense to me...
644466
Do you often poke at hornets nests with a stick?\n\nThey have already improved their quality of life immensely just by coming here.\n\nBut some sort of community based program for basic health care for infants and children would be a good idea if you can get any jaded Americans to subscribe to it.
941323
I am one of 45 million people without access to affordable health care. It affects my life every day as I am a diabetic and I do not take all the prescribed medicines that I am suppose to. It will probably shorten my life but it is the best I can do. I do not think it is a big issue for the general public, they are not effected by it one way or the other. But for those of of us that need to be able to see a Dr. regularly, It is a dangerous situation. I think that the real answer is to do away with the private insurance company's and offer national health care so that everyone has access to it if they need it. I understand that this would not be free health care as it has to be paid for by taxes, however I would rather see my money going for people like me then to send 10 billion a month to a war in Iraq that should have never been.
369892
I would check with the state you live in. For example my state (NY) has a plan called healthy NY for working people that have no insurance at reasonable rates. Go to your state's website to check.
1162676
do you live in the USA? well i think that we should take care of our own first unlike what we currently do! we need to stop spending billions upon billions of American dollars over seas and our space projects and take care of home first ..... then worry about everything else..... the USA should not have a homless population muchless starving familes!
879592
Wow! I'm amazed by the bias and misunderstanding evidenced in the answers so far. . . I have lived in a country with "socialized medicine" (Denmark) so I know something about it.  To answer the question, I believe that the U.S. may now be the only western country without a national socialized health-care system.  \n\nAs some mentioned here, in socialized medicine, taxes or other federal and state revenues would pay for our individual medical costs.  But to assume that this would automatically be a big hardship for the taxpayer shows a misunderstanding of the way such a system works and the options in the set-up that we would need to consider.  \n\nThere are many ways to pay for socialized health care, and they don't always involve raised taxes.  For one example, consider this: right now, our tax dollars are wasted to an enormous degree on the pet projects of various legislators - projects that most of us do not know about and wouldn't care to be paying for!  I would like to see some of this "pork-barrel" spending done away with (and I believe that we are moving in that direction as people educate themselves about it and demand change) - that would go a long way toward funding things like a national health-care system.  Other forms of government waste exist also, where funds would be better spent on insuring all our citizens.\n\nThe biggest thing that would worry me personally about such a system, and that may be much of the reason why we don't yet have it in the U.S., is that its establishment would necessarily require some level of federal-level regulation.  Americans (myself included) have a traditional distaste for too much government control on the federal level.  \n\nBut in this case, federal regulation and the meddling that would come with it,  may be a necessary evil that we need to consider - because the alternative is to keep going along the path we are on, in which with every year we see fewer employers able to insure employees, the costs of individually-purchased policies grow more outlandish, and the numbers of uninsured citizens increase by thousands.\n\nI think that it is telling that we are the last free-world, western, civilized nation to NOT be insuring ALL its citizens.  In America, we believe that citizens have a birth right to some things - like education and social security.  I believe we need to start believing as a nation that everyone has a right to be treated when they are ill without it bankrupting them.  It's really a right to LIVE.  It seems elementary that we would want to keep all our citizens healthy, not just the wealthy and lucky.  Something is going to have to give, and soon. \n\nMac at ASKEW\nhttp://askew.blogharbor.com
1129366
I have Blue Cross Blue Shield Care First.  And I pay $40.
1030298
No their are alot of ppl going to the hospital with no insurance they come in all cultures: White, Black, Brown, Green, Yellow. and not only the poor, its easier for them to get heath care then it is for a two parent family with jobs, unfortunately the price for health and dental coverage is unbelievably high so a lot of ppl are uninsured. \nAs for schools alot of them are closing in the poorer communities at least I know they are where I live.  Due to not enough funding, class attendance, (and not just Mexican children)\nand not enough teachers willing to work in those communities. I know some colleges will send practicing teachers to these schools just to have a "teacher" there. So the schools close and those children have to go somewhere.\nDoesn't everyone these days own a car or three?\nI'd blame our government for not looking at the real issues and investing our money in things that are not as important like a sports stadium.
184080
First, Corrections:\nTerm, Whole, Variable, Universal, etc. are all forms of life, not health insurance.  \n\nSecond, Assumptions: \nSeveral assumptions are being made in my answer. \n1.You are looking for Health, not Life insurance.\n2.You are not eligible for insurance through your employer, therefore you have to get your own.\n3.You are a citizen of the United States.\n4.You are buying health insurance as an individual, in other words, you don't run your own business that can deduct the cost of insurance.\n5.You are under the age of 55.\n\nThird,  Know the true purpose of insurance:\nThis is important from a philosophical, as well as a practical standpoint. In all its forms, insurance is intended to “cushion” the individual from excessive financial burdens in the event of UNEXPECTED costs. While I abhor “capitalized screaming” the term unexpected is important! Most people believe that insurance implies a reimbursement. In the old days they called this a tontine. But this is not the purpose of health insurance. Health insurance was originally meant to keep you from going broke when some fool t-bone's you at an intersection, or you contract pancreatic cancer. That said and understood I can make a suggestion that can keep costs down, save on income taxes (if you itemize) and give you health coverage for regular health care needs as well as prevent catastrophic financial loss due to a serious health event.\n\nFourth, The Suggestion:\nLike him or hate him, George Bush got through Congress a great thing called “The Health Savings Account” or “HSA” for short. Basically it has two parts.  \n\nFirst, a savings account where you can save up to ~$2700 (single) or $5,450 (family), or your health plans deductible, per year, which ever is less.\n\nSecond, a high deductible health insurance plan that acts just like a regular Preferred Provider health plan or PPO for short. You pick a doctor from the company's list of MD's basically. This insurance plan will usually have a co-pay (some don't) and will protect you case some fool t-bone's you at an intersection, or you contract pancreatic cancer.\n\nBTW, I don't have any “skin in this game." Just went through it recently.  If this is all too confusing, get an independent insurance agent to help you, they should bend over backward to help. They make commissions when they sell these products.\n\nI wish you good health.