Did you know health care costs are the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in America?

Yes. A pity that people forget that and fall for the lies spread about reform.

I am always amazed how many Americans seem not to be aware about the issues with healthcare relying on FOX and other sources to spread misinformation about the healthcare system of the USA and those abroad.

First of all, Obama wants to make insurance more available to all and change the system so that it is cheaper. He also wants change so that the insurance companies find it harder to get out of paying for treatment. The system he is proposing looks similar to that which works in Holland and Switzerland where private companies are involved in providing insurance.

Second, of course universal health-cover sucks. That is why we in Western Europe have it. We think, hmm, our healthcare system sucks. I know, lets keep it. I guess that is the same with Japan and Canada as well.

Third, Obama campaigned on reforming the healthcare system. He said he wanted to make insurance more available and he was elected by the American people to do this.

FACT - the US has higher death rates for kids both for kids aged under one and those under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.

FACT - American insurance companies push up prices and work to stop paying out claims on those they cover.

FACT - the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.

That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, Cuba, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage.

Last of all if you do not like the policies that Obama was elected to bring in, he can always be voted out of office in 2012.

That's a bit misleading. They HAD insurance, but for most the reason for bankruptcy is that they lost insurance either indefinitely or long enough to cause a financial problem.

It's an issue yes. It's not a simple one to solve though. There are a lot of side issues that impact it. A government managed system though will never fix the problems, at least not without introducing a whole lot more issues than it fixes.

In the end, money still doesn't grow on trees. Someone has to pay for it and the government never generates money. It only takes it from the people. So if it's coming from us, why can't we develop a system that fixes things without filtering money through government and losing half of it in the process.

No, you are wrong. It is credit card and other debt which drives personal bankruptcy. You see, a hospital cannot take your home, and seldom garnishes wages. There is no real reason to bankrupt on medical bills. As for rating 37, that is because we rank below all universal healthcare countries. Even though most really suck in quality. We have the highest quality of healthcare and our insurance system is better than universal. We only need to be able to pull the 30 mil without insurance into the fold.

Yes. And that shows that health insurance in the U.S. does not do what insurance is supposed to do -- protect against catastrophic risks which cause bankruptcy.

Insurance companies do not like to insure catastrophic risks. They would rather make their money taking on lesser risks which are not really a gamble under a system in which many pay into. And the would even more like to make their money doing administration for others who take the risk, like in the Medicare program where they are the intermediaries.

I think the public option should focus on catastrophic risk and that people should be encouraged to have Medical Savings Accounts for lesser risks like minor emergencies and for checkups, immunizations,etc. People should be able to eliminate the middleman on ordinary medical expenses. That would give them a lot more power to negotiate price, and individual choice as to whether and where they get specific health care would not be infringed upon.

I agree with you, but there are other so called civilised countries suffering the same problems. The UK may not be as hard done by, but the waiting lists are off the scales too since the UN opened up.

Hell I am a Scot living abroad in a country that is in very much the same boat as the US, I have paid thousands of dollars for sub standard treatment, that had I spent in the US would have been fixed by now.

I am very concerned about Americans suffering because of the insurance companies too, I can only hope that they see the sense and cut out the middle men that are lining their pockets with their hard earned cash.

Yes I knew that.

The richest country in the world has a third world healthcare system.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200808...

The current American health insurance industry is a legalized racket where the good American people are more or less forced to pay for protection that may or may not come when it's needed at the whim of cynical insurance sharks and thousand of Americans literally die because insurance companies refuse treatment

No. Irrespsonsible people who do not plan for the future and care for themselves is the number one cause. You need to do a tad more research. People list numerous reasons for bankruptcy and medical bills is one of their excuses. If med bills were the only problem, they could arrange payment plans or declare medical bankruptcy.

and illness is the number 1 cause of death,,,,,,,

most of those people have health insurance too, provided by the government through Medicare

the health care system is very screwed up in America. In Australia everyone has free health care insurance, and in most or all other countries as developed as America.

So we want to create a health care system run by the government that is mandatory for all 300+ million citizens because "most" of the 100k people that fill bankruptcy a year could have used it? That is .00003% of the population...

There's got to be a better idea than that... or at least a better excuse to want to control the citizenry.