Thanks, Massachusetts!

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Don’t worry Lady, your not the only one that hopes this thing dies. I’m all for healthcare reform, but not this travesty they’ve come up with. Considering how well the government runs the DMV, USPS, Medicaid/Medicare, SS programs (do you need me to name more?) one would think people would want them to stay the hell out of the healthcare business.

I come from Canada and so I have experience with government run healthcare. It's not as terrible as you might think but it's a far from perfect system too.

I'm glad to see other people on here feel the same way I do. I hate when people accuse me of wanting more people to die because I am against health care reform.

Like you (And the person who posted above you) I am NOT against health care reform, I am against this monstrosity of a health care reform bill being considered now. I'll be the first to tell you major changes are needed in health care. but the current legislation is NOT the way to do it.

I also don't like the way they have tried to ram this massive and far reaching bill down our throats so quickly. Health care is a huge issue, one that should rightfully take time to address properly.

[KitterCat]

Social security has problems, but I'd like to see someone improve on a system that quite literally serves every citizen in the country.

SS was not originally designed to serve every citizen. It was meant to serve the small amount of people, usually women since life expectancy was longer for them. It has grown to the point where it "serves" every citizen. Problems have arisen due to it being bases on a pyramid system. Originally 16 people funded 1 person, now if I remember correctly its down to 4 people funding 1 due to a decline in birth rates. The problems been sent into overdrive via government officials taking money out to fund their pet projects. I fully do not expect this program to be around by the time I reach retirement.

So yes, I would like the government in the healthcare business... they won't be perfect, but they will be a major improvement over the current system where profit is more important than the patient.

Seriously Smiley, do you really think that the goverment -an entity that will tax virtuly anything they can think of- is not in the business of making money?

Government is already in the healthcare business. Don’t believe me ask any doctors how much they have to pay for medical insurance due to the threat of being sued. My OBGYN - $90,000 a year and that’s for a doctor who hasn’t had any suits. Ask how their monitored on how much narcotics they can prescribe to a patient whos in chronic pain. Tell me why I cant bring medical insurance from one company across state lines and keep it. heck in the case of medical insurance alow the general public to buy goverment issued medical insurance at the rates they charge goverment employees. I've seen my father-in-laws medical bills while working as a police officer who had state issued medical insurance. I'd love rates and service like he recived.

I will fully agree that yes we need healthcare reform. I don’t think we need this bill. We need healthcare reform via tort reform, allowing medical insurance companies to sell across state lines. We need to be able to buy our drugs from other countries. How come pharmacys can have their pills made in third world countries for pennies, but the public is told they cant even buy in Canada because of quality control? We need to stop telling our doctors their gods and heven forbid they make an honist mistake.

[protege]

Seriously Smiley, do you really think that the goverment -an entity that will tax virtuly anything they can think of- is not in the business of making money?

If there's a way to tax something, they'll find it...and do it. Look at all the taxes the City of Pittsburgh has come up with in an effort to drive all the business out of downtown Seriously, they tried to hit up commuters with a tax for working in the city, but not living there. Needless to say, several employers said "fuck you" and moved across city lines.

Closer to home, my borough has had several taxpayer revolts over the years. Mainly, because people get tired of being constantly nickeled-and-dimed, and simply won't tolerate it.

[smileyeagle1021]

Seriously Smiley, do you really think that the goverment -an entity that will tax virtuly anything they can think of- is not in the business of making money?
.

The difference being that the government taxes everything they can so they can turn around and spend as much as they can... considering most for profit businesses operate under the premise that they charge as much as they can so they can keep it.

[guywithashovel]

Throughout George Bush's terms in office, he talked about how he never compromised. What you're asking is for Obama to be a Democrat version of George Bush. I didn't elect the Democratic George Bush, unwilling to compromise. I elected Barack Obama, a man who's willing to see and discuss both sides of an issue, and try to reach a compromise between both sides that makes EVERYBODY happy. That is who Barack Obama is. That is the man who America voted for. That is what we NEED. Someone who listens to people, and cares about what people want.

I didn't word that very well. Yes, we need to compromise. But it just seems to me that they're reaching a bit too far. AdminAssistant said it best. They have basically been bending over backwards to appease people who are merely pounding their fists on the table and spouting all kinds of terrifying conspiracy theories (e.g. death panels).

Also, I often feel like Obama is a little too concerned with being liked instead of just implementing the things he promised us. It seems like his idea of compromising is caving in to people every time they launch an infantile attack against him (e.g. the joker picture I mentioned earlier). Like, "Oh no, they just called me a socialist and compared me to Stalin! We gotta drop the public option."

[jackfaire]

Maybe he is also concerned about the fact that he is the first non caucasion president this country has ever had?

[Dreamstalker]

Let's be honest, the dems had a year to get healthcare done and they missed the opurtunity by dragging their feet and not getting a united front until it was too late.

While I agree with the delays, that is the fault of the Republicans. Although the Dems could have pushed harder, they didn't.

Nobody could pull us out of the mess we're in in one year. At least there's a plan.

I'm a MA resident and I'm as pissed off as everyone else who is intelligent enough to see through the wool that Brown tried to pull over everyone's eyes (gee, if wearing a barn jacket and smiling is all that's needed to get a few hundred thousand people to follow you blindly, why hasn't my mom taken over the world yet?).

I was seeing comments on Boston.com crowing "I'm a registered Democrat and I voted for Brown because I'm voting for CHANGE!" He's not going to actually do anything original, and my household still has hope that he'll get bounced out at the regular election.

[ladyneeva]

I want to be clear I am in favor of health care reform. This current bill is NOT health care reform, it is nothing but ensuring insurance company profits.

Tort reform and allowing insurance sales across state lines will NOT lower prices for the consumers, all it will do is increase the profit margins for the companies. Just because a company saves money doesn't mean they pass those savings on to the consumer -- or if they do, it is a tiny tiny fraction of what they saved, and only for a brief time until they slowly start raising it a little bit here and a little bit there until it is right back where it started.

Making sure people can at least see a doctor when they need one and are able to get access to whatever medications he prescribes without having to choose between treatment and food is too important to leave it to the non-existent charity and good will of corporate America.

[Hyena Dandy]

Compromise with THIS Republican party?

Don't confuse the whackos with the real politicians. There are Republicans in Congress willing to compromise. And there'd probably be a lot more if the Democrats hadn't run the house the way the Republicans had a few years ago, as "We got all three points, we'll just ignore you."

Edit: And yes. Compromise with THIS Republican party. Whose representatives in Congress were elected by the people of THIS country. You don't have to agree with them, but you have to work with them. They're willing to compromise, at least on some of the issues. If you just give it up as a lost cause because of those Tea Party nutjobs, then you're making a big mistake. You're making it Us vs Them. This is America. Its a country of people of various views who have to live and work together. Which means nobody can get EVERYTHING they want, if BOTH sides recognize that, then we can at least get done what we need, and make everybody happy. So shut up about "THIS party" like its a boogeyman in the closet. A good percent of people in this country are Republicans. Many of them are INTELLIGENT people.

We need to forget that Republicans and Democrats are PARTIES. They're groups of like-minded people. And if we treat them like opposing armies, like big bad boogeymen, we're gonna be in a VERY bad place. Remember.

A house divided upon itself cannot stand.

Edit: And before you call me a right-wing nut job or anything, I would have said the same damn thing to a Republican. We can't give up, because COMPROMISING, finding what works for the MOST people, not just THIS group of people, is what America is all about.

[HYHYBT]

Sometimes you have to take that red state/blue state thing with a grain of salt. For instance, Arkansas is Bill Clinton's stomping grounds, and Jimmy Carter hails from Georgia.

Carter's one term was a long time ago, and Georgia has changed since. We've been mostly a Republican state since around, oh, 1990 or so.

And, yes, Obama should live up to his promise to repeal DADT and DOMA. But you have to understand how hard it must be to pass a measure that the majority of Americans oppose.

Last I heard, a fairly large majority OPPOSED DADT. I can understand not wanting to pass laws that your constituents are against, whatever your personal feelings, but why the reluctance even when they're for it? I don't buy the "but the Pentagon doesn't want to" argument, either. If Congress passes the law, and the President, who supposedly is Commander In Chief, directs them to follow it, they will. It's not even as if it hadn't been done before.

I voted for Obama under the assumption that what he would do was compromise to actually get things done.

I assumed that, like most elected officials, he would get very little done. And then voted for him anyway out of fear. First, fear that we would have even more Republican appointees on the Supreme Court, and later, after the convention, fear of a Palin presidency. (and yes, I am praying for some well-placed retirements before a certain case now in progress gets there. I know it's not right to want someone to become ill, but maybe Scalia or someone will just get fed up with the DC traffic or something, I don't know, anything.)

As for health care, I have heard that 30-40 years ago, health insurers were required by law to be non-profit operations. If that is true, I don't know how it got changed (but would guess Reagan) and I don't know how to put it back, but that's what needs to happen somehow. I just don't see a fair way of going about it.

In fairness, DMVs are improving, the post office is a miracle in and of itself (you bitch about the lines, but who else is able to effectively get your parcel to anywhere within the country in 3 days or less without charging you $20 for a document). Medicare, my grandma was on Medicare, not once did she have a problem with it. Hell, she ended up in a nicer convelescent center than most of the people she knew on private insurance. Social security has problems, but I'd like to see someone improve on a system that quite literally serves every citizen in the country.
So yes, I would like the government in the healthcare business... they won't be perfect, but they will be a major improvement over the current system where profit is more important than the patient.

I wouldn't know how the DMV is doing: haven't been in about ten years and don't have to go back for another 8 or so because they keep renewing my license by mail. Which ought to shorten the lines for those who actually need to be there... Post Office? Love 'em. As you say, nobody else could do what they do, everywhere, for anything near the price. But when it comes to health care, I'm not so sure. My understanding is that Medicare works pretty well, but Medicaid is a mess. Specifically, since I get this sort of information from the doctor in the family (though I may of course be remembering it slightly wrong), Medicaid pays barely enough for the practice to break even on a visit. And that's when they bother to pay at all, which they often don't because like many government agencies they're good at that sort of thing. So if everybody were on that, which certainly would be cheaper than expanding *Medicare*, nobody could afford to practice medicine.

Seriously Smiley, do you really think that the goverment -an entity that will tax virtuly anything they can think of- is not in the business of making money?

If the government is in the business of making money in anything other than the literal method of actually creating the bills and coins we use, they're exceptionally bad at it. Notice the deficit that we have every year, and every year larger than the one before (excepting one or two years a while back, depending more on how you count than anything real)?

[lordlundar]

Don't confuse the whackos with the real politicians. There are Republicans in Congress willing to compromise. And there'd probably be a lot more if the Democrats hadn't run the house the way the Republicans had a few years ago, as "We got all three points, we'll just ignore you."

Really? There's Republicans openly stating that they are willing to compromise and work with the Democrats to fix the country? Great! Fantastic! I love the idea!

Slight problem though: where are they? Because they're certainly not out there getting the message out that they're willing to work with the democrats. Instead you get people like Beck and Rumsfield out there who are serving as the party's mouthpiece, with the message of "all we want is our party back in power".

And yeah, the Dems have been arrogant and power crazy themselves lately. Guess politicians are a hard group to change, regardless of the party they're with.

[Hyena Dandy]

Really? There's Republicans openly stating that they are willing to compromise and work with the Democrats to fix the country? Great! Fantastic! I love the idea!

Slight problem though: where are they? Because they're certainly not out there getting the message out that they're willing to work with the democrats. Instead you get people like Beck and Rumsfield out there who are serving as the party's mouthpiece, with the message of "all we want is our party back in power".

And yeah, the Dems have been arrogant and power crazy themselves lately. Guess politicians are a hard group to change, regardless of the party they're with.

Yes, there ARE lots of Republicans like Beck who are running off at the mouth. And you hear a lot from them because they make good news. But Olympia Snowe, for example, is a good example of a Republican willing to compromise and play nice with Democrats. So is Arnold Schwarzeneggar, who despite my inability to spell his name, and his tendency to make ridiculous comments, has really shown that he's willing to look at both sides of the issue. Senator Brown openly made comments that he'd oppose a bill banning abortions, which just goes to show that not everybody is 100% on either side. And I'm sure if it weren't for the damn Tea Party people, we'd be seeing a lot more cooperation from both sides. Hell, McCain used to be hella good at compromising before he ran for President. Same thing with Romney. There's lots of moderate Republicans, they just tend to get less coverage.