I'm not trying to be flippant or antagonistic, but this is a sincere question: is this the best the "Right" has got on the health care debate?! HSA plans (lol) and poster people willing to go into massive debt for a family member?! Again, I'm serious: is this THE best you've got?

If so, you're not only dead in the water--you've been dead for so long you're past the stinking stage and are nothing but bleached bones.

And please: Americans aren't buying the fearmongering about nationalized medicine. Nearly 80 percent of the people in this country want some sort of a government plan to help keep private insurance honest (which, sorry free market lovers, they have NOT been). And if those same folks say the government can't do anything right, then, as Obama said, they've got nothing to worry about, right? People will flock to their "superior" product.

Game. Set. Match.

Oh, and the AMA, Walmart (lol), the drug companies and a host of others (some who have probably, ironically contributed dough to the Mackinac Center and such places) are lining up behind Obama and the democrats.

There will be a government option plan. And it can't come soon enough, given the tripe being thrown out recently in Grand Rapids.

Did they cover that part at the conference, too? Are you telling me they really tried to meld these two things (HSA and an existing condition example) on the same stage?

Why is a right-wing company like Walmart supporting Obama's plan? the AMA? Drug companies?

And, again, a dead serious question: did they or did they not bring up HSAs and a patient with a pre-existing condition on the same day at the same conference in Grand Rapids?

Stop the juvenile personal attacks and answer the questions. That will help more than anything.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/19/opinion/polls/main5098517.shtml

Again, you're grabbing at straws and veering off course (as usual). And you never did answer my questions on why so many (traditionally) right-wing entities are lining up behind Obama's plan.

Your ilk has always said the government can't do anything right, so why does the private sector have to worry about this? They have the superior product and people will obviously flock to the superior product. The private sector have proven itself over and over again in health care ;)

You and some of your youngin right-wing friends benefited tremendously when the government got involved in student loans and made the private sector accountable in that arena. Same is going to be done in health care (whether you like it or not).

And why no mention at this blog of the recent good news that a GM plant chose Michigan over (gasp) a right-to-work state? What about the 1400 new high-tech jobs coming here?

You take nothing but glee in the negative. Anything good happens to this state and you completely ignore if any dem had anything to do with it.

Hypocrite.

1. Did they or did they not trot out HSAs and a patient with a pre-existing condition in Grand Rapids? Pretty simple question.

2. What is Walmart, the AMA, and the drug companies all lining up IN SUPPORT OF OBAMA's plan?! Crickets chirping! Hello!

3. What about the cons to HSAs? They are plans that are only good for the young and healthy--yet you guys think it's a great idea to force everyone in Michigan public service to have one. So much for your vaunted "freedom," eh? Lol...

In your own little world, your own little tea parties, your own little bunkers, that stuff sounds good and it flies. Not in mainstream America.

Yeah, and the guy in Grand Rapids wasn't a plant, either. Lol...

An HSA? LMFAO! Maybe, hey, you can't put a price on life, you know, so she shouldn't blink about going into massive debt to pay her medical bills. That seemed to be a theme in GR the other day.

You may not like how I'm asking these questions, but they are legitimate and they deserve answers--answers that won't and can't from your camp.

The government's costs would be covered by a combination of higher taxes and cuts in projected Medicare and Medicaid spending.

Keep the fearmongering going.

"When presented with the option of a government-administered health insurance plan similar to Medicare to compete with private health insurance companies, 72 percent are in favor and just 20 percent oppose. Even 50 percent of Republicans favor that option."

I went back and re-read this thread and still can't find the "questions" I was asked to answer. There was some "theoritical" claim by Gillman about what a beautiful world we'd live in today if there was zero medicaid and medicare and government involvement in anything (wow--and cats and dogs living together and fornicating, I'm sure)...and links to polls that approached the health care debate from a different angle of questioning than the one I did...but where are the questions I'm supposed to answer?

That aspect is but a fly buzzing around the gigantic head of this thing. The illegal alien thing as a whole is an entirely separate issue that needs to be addressed on all levels.

Again, my personal view. Will the health reform contain something like that (illegal health care)? I don't know. It's not a deal breaker for me.

Will the final version contain a tax on health benefits? I'm hopeful it won't, given what Kennedy has done lately and other concessions made by some pretty big players. But if it does? Still not a deal breaker for me--even though I personally will feel the pinch.

Right now there's a lot of horse trading going on and people are seizing on bits and pieces and trying to say "ah, ha! see!" Nothing is in stone yet. But if by the time they get done slugging it out it becomes necessary to tax health care benefits, I--a person who stands to lose just as much as any person you can front as an example--would still support it.

The Right's answer so far as been to foist cost and risk onto the backs of its citizens. That's no long-term solution. Come on. There's been nothing that has been proposed by the Right that has been anything better than band aids on a gaping wound.

I've:

1. Answered each question asked of me
   
2. Provided data for my belief
   
3. Asked that others do the same

Blow off. You've been owned. You've got nothing.

I prefer a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. I find GOP plans and private-insurance companies talk of reform to be a bit tepid. They both are like the kid who is only "sincere" because he got taken by the scruff of the neck down to the principal's office.

Where were these sincere reformers the last decade? No, the public is finally fed up and the dems have the power so now the GOP and insurance carriers are throwing (rather weak) plans out there in an attempt to appease everyone for however-many-more decades.

I don't think a government-run plan means doom and gloom and us turning into Soviet Russia or something. Such talk in irresponsible journalism. I've never bought such all-or-nothing logic concerning gun control, and I don't buy it now.

The theory that makes sense is that these entities see the writing on the wall and know reform is going to happen with or without them. Them agreeing to something means they're at the table and being part of the debate--instead of on the outside looking and having zero say.

I think for them it's the lesser of the available evils (in their mind).

They've sized up the situation and are trying to get an audience with Obama to get a stake in things.

I haven't seen anyone in Obama's camp advocate a Canadian-type health care system. In fact, Obama flat-out rejected such a notion the other day. But the government does have a role to play. Yet we see these outlandish hypotheticals and fearmongering. Hey, newsflash: the CURRENT SYSTEM IS SCARY ENOUGH! No need to look into some crystal ball to predict doom and gloom. Look around you right now!

What "freedoms" do people have now with health care? I have some of the best health insurance around and I need to make damn sure anyone I see is in my network. If I needed surgery (God forbid), I not only have to make sure my surgeon is in the network--but the person knocking me out better be there as well. And you'd be surprised how many times that isn't the case! I have friends who have experienced such nonsense--with "great" insurance!

If I need to see a specialist? I better get a doctor in my network to please pretty please write a referral. Otherwise my "Cadillac" insurance isn't going to cover it (or if they do, I have a hefty out-of-pocket).

A teacher friend of mine (you know, those folks who have it too good and have Cadillac insurance) has an inoperable brain tumor. Guess how many public fundraisers her family has had in the last 2 months to raise money for all the stuff her insurance doesn't cover? Three. And counting. And this is a person who belongs to a group often maligned by the Right as having it cushy and too good.

Enough of the lies and the nonsense. Enough!

Nearly 70 percent of ALL bankruptcies in this country are caused by medical bills. Re-read that.

The government doesn't have to be "the" player but it needs to have a role, a plan, an alternative to the private sector. That should be painfully obvious to anyone!

The stale arguments that the "free market has never really gotten a chance on its own" concerning health care ring hollow and lack any sort of compelling substance. Seriously.

I noticed the democrat plan was actually much cheaper, at 160 million compared to the Republican plan at 500-700 million.