Would you pay more in taxes to support a national based health care service?

Yes without a doubt I would be in favor of doing that. Health Cost are skyrocketing at an alarming rate and more and more Americans are either without it due to unemployment or the insurance that their job offers is inadequate. There should be no reason why one American man. woman or child has to worry about whether or not they can afford to go to the doctor or whether or not they will be decimated financially if they have to go to the hospital for any reason. Health Insurance should be a basic right available to all Americans regardless of income or job status.

No, a national based healthcare system is not the answer....free enterprise works, the government does't do anything well, let's not give them more money and power. We don't have a national auto insurance or home owners insurance system because those were never considered entitlements. The poor get health care today, they flood our emergency rooms with non-emergency items and never pay the bill which gets written off and added up as a cost of doing business.

Why have we stopped teaching personal responsibility and personal choices and consequences. A large part of this change is because of our government schools. We have too much federal government in our lives, these are state issues that should be handled at the state and local levels.

If the Government wants to be in the "business" of outsourcing and re-qualifying it's own job status' instead of hiring "employees", they are now hiring "contractors" to do the same job. What that means is that if you are a contractor your employer whether it be the gov't or private busn. no longer has to provide any benefits. No vacation. No retirement. No health care. No nothing. I ought to know, I'm a contractor(first one corporation changed my job status, then the gov't) and I get taxed out the ying yang!

A few months ago, I needed to see a doctor. Called one place it was 300.00 for an initial office visit...before x-rays, lab tests or any medication required. Called another place just to see if I had heard wrong, and that was 200.00 before previously mentioned extra's. And that was the discount doctor!

Wake Up America! You are next. Companies all across the nation are getting wind of hiring "contractors" instead of employees or simply downsizing or outsourcing. When that happens, how are you going to afford health insurance?Or any other benefit for that matter? For instance, a single woman the monthly costs can range anywhere from 100.00 per month with 3000.-5000. deductible to 400.00 per month with 1000.-1500. deductable minus maternity, dental, opticle... along with all the other "benefits" covered by the Employer, You are in for a shocker! Especially if you have a family.

If people in the Healthcare industry where humanitarians then we wouldn't be in this situation. And until they are, I say YES to National Health Coverage!

No way! Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security are going to fail in the next 20-30 years. Why should we add another unsustainable program to the national scene?

We need to learn from SS and m/m. It sounds nice and is an easy sell to the public to say that everyone will be covered, everyone will have healthcare but it is not the right thing to do. There is a reason rich people from other countries with socialized medical systems come to America for surgery.

I'm not saying the system works really great now, but it would be much worse under some nationalized system. We don't need Hugo Chavez's ideas here.

Absolutely not. A national based health care plan will never work. It would be laden with corruption. We pay too many taxes now. There are better answers than a national health care plan to make health care affordable for all. The first step would be to get rid of HMO and employer paid health benefits. They don't pay for your car insurance, your home owners insurance, or any other personal insurance. The result is that there is a competitive market that keeps prices down and gives us plenty of choices. If our employers paid us the money they are presently paying to our health care providers and were prohibited from providing health care to us, it would open the market so we would shop, just like we do for every other insurance. The possibilities would be infinite. Imagine, while your young, only buying catastrophic health insurance because you don't need to go to the doctor very often and could afford to pay for individual visits. Start your family and then add OB Gyne and Pediatric insurance. As you get older and the need arises you add more insurance. How great would that be?

I don't need or want the government telling me how to manage my health care. They do such a great job with everything else they manage (read sarcasm here) I just can't imagine how great a job they would do with my health. No thanks.

This will take some time to work out.

A first step would be to first nationalize and organize the flow of health information. A national health care ID and database for US citizens. And to eliminate pre-existing condition restrictions from current insurance companies.

For example, if somebody lands in an emergency room unresponsive while traveling, the hospital should be able to punch the person's info into a computer and get all important health information... including allergies, conditions, insurer (for now) and person to contact in a matter of seconds leading to better decisions.

Too many people suffer as a result of lack of information flow.

There is an unbelievable amount of informational red tape and waste in

Yes... but first of all, the plan would need to make sense. This will take some time to work out.

A first step would be to first nationalize and organize the flow of health information. A national health care ID and database for US citizens. And to eliminate pre-existing condition restrictions from current insurance companies.

For example, if somebody lands in an emergency room unresponsive while traveling, the hospital should be able to punch the person's info into a computer and get all important health information... including allergies, conditions, insurer (for now) and person to contact in a matter of seconds leading to better decisions.

Too many people suffer as a result of lack of information flow.

There is an unbelievable amount of informational red tape and waste in our system(s). Too much importance is placed on privacy of information. Privacy can kill somebody and invites huge potential for fraud by providers and prescription fraud by drug-seeking patients.

Later on, once we have figured some financial logistics we can put together a national healthcare system.

The potential benefits here are enormous. They even include better national, unbiased data for research into fighting disease, developing treatments and improving diagnoses.

By eliminating red tape and waste, the program would not over-stress taxpayers.

Maybe:

1) How much is going into that system now?

2) How much more will be taken from me?

3) WIll All in the US be taxed and have equal access for any issue?

4) What about elective things?

5) What about social issues like Abortion?

Part of me wants to have health care managed like a utility with a pre-scribed profit margin and standards of excellence, but at the same time I realize we are talking about a government running them thing - I'm not sure it can be done. The free enterprise system is still offers the best health care the wordl has ever known.

I would be willing to pay more taxes if it meant we would have a national based health care service, however, I don't believe we need to fund health care that way. Perhaps limits on litigation and mal-practice insurance. Perhaps the cost we are already paying for health care as individuals, and as corporate funded programs can be re-aligned. Health care, when you look at it closely on some line items seems ridiculous, for example; asprin $4.00 apiece, bandage $7.00 etc. I have received these on line items on a medical bill and it boggles the mind that this can happen, how is it justified.

No. If I have to pay more for a national based health care service, then the service becomes a huge corporate welfare system, relieving employers everywhere of their current obligations to provide healthcare for employees. Tax corporations to the extent that they currently pay for healthcare--the will benefit enough from the stability of knowing that their healthcare costs won't continue to skyrocket. Then, if there's still a deficit for the program, tax only those Americans currently earning in the top 5% of income and increase taxes on capital gains.

Health care in this country is denied to MANY people. I am one of them. I was laid off my job and cannot afford private health care insurance. I need surgery. The costs would wipe me out financially. Even the costs involved in preventative care and yearly 'maintenance' are a difficult financial stretch. I cannot qualify for Medicaid. I have too much money (meaning enough to survive). Even if I could afford insurance, try getting it with a pre-existing condition. We need health care changes in this country. Do I want national health care? No. Not if it involves the government and is subject to political whims. A national health based system to which we all contribute, managed by people with no vested interest in government, drug companies, health care professionals, hospitals, and the insurance industry might work. The money is there. It's being wasted.