Healh care effort stumbles at starting line

[WillieW]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_go_co/us_health_overhaul

[kenny blankenship]

1. Leadership FAIL

[Autumn]

2. I think it was tripped

on purpose.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

3. It's like what they say about a committee of blind men designing the elephant

"The end result may be a bill that's more affordable but covers fewer of the nearly 50 million uninsured. It's too early to tell what will emerge."

That quote above is just completely unacceptable to me. Someone needs to grab the reins and take control of the discussion. To me, the obvious person to do that is President Obama and it's too bad he didn't step in more forcefully sooner - but I believe there is still time to reclaim the discussion from the chaos.

He should just say - "We're doing what I outlined at the AMA. Now, figure out how to pay for it. I will veto anything less".

[Indydem]

4. I do not understand how this Dem health care plan helps me, or millions of others.

EDIT: I posted this as its own thread, hoping to start a discussion...

My circumstances are somewhat different now that I am married, but when I was single:

I was living in an apartment alone making $26,000 a year. I had crushing consumer debt, a car payment, utilities, and rent. Not to mention rising food and energy costs.

I had just enough to squeek by each month, sometimes having to skip a payment on one bill to pay something else.

Not to mention, according to the insurance actuaries, I am a helath risk. At 6'2" and 300 lbs, I am morbidly obese and apparently just waiting to keal over from a heart attack or stroke. Despite the fact that every battery of tests I have ever had run show I am perfectly healthy with great blood pressure, great blood sugar, fine cholesterol and good heart condition, my insurance would have run $300+ per month!

Through it all, I managed to come out on top. But if I were subject to this plan the Democratic "leadership" has cooked up, including the president, I'd be bankrupt. There is no way I could have paid my bills and paid an additional $300 to private insurance. I work for a small business with three employees, and they will surely be exempt from having to provide insurance to me.

According to the government, $26k for a single person is making plenty of money and makes me eligible for no government assistance. I find it highly unlikely that I would qualify for the public options they are offering.

I chose not to have health insurance because I ws a 25 year old healthy adult with no history of health problems. Under this plan, I would have had to go bankrupt, or pay a penalty on my taxes. I still do not have health insurance, and I am fine with that. The likelyhood that I would suddenly get sick is highly unlikely.

This plan is going to ruin the lives of millions of Americans with its glaring deficiencies.

Lets get single payer and quit deciding who gets screwed over.