Obama warns U.S. will go broke if it rejects health care reform

I don't know where your rage against private health care is coming from, but I can tell you, you're completely clueless on the subject.

Oh, you really think so? Well, perhaps you should watch the frontline episode of national health care titled "Sick Around America." It's not biased news report by the ABC or Fox. It clearly reflects on the reality of problems with health care system. I'm not gonna ask about your specific opinion, but the documentary clearly tells you what is wrong with the health care system and why so many American citizens are becoming the victims.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/). It’s very intense.

Funny how the libs only defense of Obama's fiscal policies is to bring up Bush. How about simply explaining how Obama's plan to pour two trillion dollars into government health care is going to save the US economy?

You are simply assuming I'm among those liberals trying to defend Obama's health care plan. It doesn't matter how you look at it because that's not my prime concern at all. But, to me, the president Obama is on right track in shoring up the government's health care system. It sounds much more rational than allocating the same amount of budgets on military spending.

Stabilizing the health care system is very critical for the national economy because it directly affects an entire human(or national) labor. Employers who don't get their employees covered will see the consequence of undermining their productivity in the end. They will lose the number of their labor forces by serious injury or disease. It also makes the employers vulnerable to the lawsuits that the employee(s) demand(s) the compensations for the job injuries.

I'm not sure how much money is necessary to work out on the national health care plan. I personally don't see any problem with the amount of money to allocate as far as the current administration can use it in an appropriate manner. It's still better than simply throwing the dollar bills on war on terror campaign that will end up instigating a criticism from an international community and growing hostility toward the nation and its citizens. Off-shore purchasing on oil reserves does not help revive the national economy. We know that it has financially benefited to the limited group of people/agent-- the political elites, the oil companies, and the patronages relating to the previous administration-- namely GW and DC.

Amerijap - Privately-owned health care industries targeting individual consumers are also the ones laughing at their own sleeves. Some people think that private health-care insurance can protect their health by getting a better medical treatment through insurance.

I don't know where your rage against private health care is coming from, but I can tell you, you're completely clueless on the subject. When Obama wants to cut costs, you can take one guess where that money is going to come from. If socialized medicine is emplaced, I don't expect to see private health care last more then 10 years. It will all be taken over by the government. Look to Canada and England as models of this. Thats why so many of their citizens come to the US for treatment. Expect that to go away too.

NHS in Britain is a failure. Canada's is not much better. Socialized medicine will be a disaster.

How do you describe George W's excessive spending on military,

Funny how the libs only defense of Obama's fiscal policies is to bring up Bush. How about simply explaining how Obama's plan to pour two trillion dollars into government health care is going to save the US economy?

Are there any economists who actually believe Obama's spending spree is going to help the economy?

Ha, you describe it ‘spending spree.’ OK. Well, I'm not really sure if his stimulus package really takes into shape(if yes, when?), but let me give you a counterpoint. How do you describe George W's excessive spending on military, which apparently has nothing to do with health care plan? Do people believe that military spending on war on terror campaigns help stimulate national economy? If it’s not a spending spree, then what will it be?

It's not just the lawyers and some doctors. Privately-owned health care industries targeting individual consumers are also the ones laughing at their own sleeves. Some people think that private health-care insurance can protect their health by getting a better medical treatment through insurance. If you are employed and your employer ensures you to get a full coverage, there seems to be very little problem. However, if you're unemployed or laid-off, you're gonna have a lot of difficulties in getting an insurance in terms of eligibility and a monthly premium insurance. In most cases, you will make an individual contract with the insurance companies to get yourself covered if you're not eligible for your family plan coverage or the Medicare & Medicaid. The big problem with individual contract with private insurance companies is that you will have to pay a relatively high cost for a premium insurance. If you have some health problems in the past or at present, insurance companies are not gonna offer you an insurance. They are not willing to pay a high cost for medical treatment for you. If you want to claim the medical costs for any major surgery or medication while you're covered, they will execute rescission and make you pay for the medical bills that will amount from hundreds of thousands of dollars to almost a million.

This is the main reason why approximately 550,000 individuals in the US file for bankruptcy every year. So many individuals are falling into the cracks between the public(Medicare & Medicaid) and private health-care insurance. Some of them are switching jobs so that they can afford to pay for the monthly premium costs. Others even have to postpone the major surgeries to avoid rescission that will result in incurring a huge medical bill to pay.

You can check out Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko' or the sources on the PBS frontline regarding national healthcare system.

when you've laid out $678,421,195,261 and counting for mindless wars

The government has laid out far more taxpayer's money on social programs than it has on the military. And it sounds like it's about to lay out another couple of trillion on healthcare. Are there any economists who actually believe Obama's spending spree is going to help the economy?

Oy, Joe, you're going to need a source other then ABC news. Haven't you heard, they're the new CNN. Formerly known as the Clinton News Network. Anything coming out of them now is suspect. What with them now being firmly in the Obama camp. Please, find another source other then ABC News. Don't worry though, all the networks are biased your way, so surely won't be that tough to do.

So, lets talk once again about Health Coverage. 100 Billion dollars in damage awards every year. Double that in insurance premiums. Think of the money people could save if we reduced that amount to say 10 Billion a year. Heres the thing too. When we say damages, we're not talking about increased medical bills due to malpractice. Anything like that is dealt with. Money for the lost income etc. No problems. No, we're talking about people cashing in on "pain and suffering". So called trauma awards. Of course the ones mostly cashing in are the trial lawyers, but there ya go.

If damages caps were put in place, so that all the expenses are covered, insurance rates would drop accross the board, for medical insurance, to malpractice insurance. Doctors expenses would drop etc. The point I'm making here, is if you're looking for a magic bullet, that would solve the health care crisis, this is as close to one as you're going to find.

As true progressives we must blindly go forward and cut all historical ties with the past (no matter how successful). From this point on -your health meter is full and you are cut from your health past. -On this day you are deemed 100% healthy again! The past health care system must be destroyed!

=Obama-Change, HillaryCare and stacks of paperwork for the new bureocracy (and new jobs)..

Well, when you've laid out $678,421,195,261 and counting for mindless wars, and your economy is morbid, except for weapons manufacturers, I'd say, Mr. President, that the USA is well and truly broke already. Nobody told you that, huh? Now let's talk about repaying all that debt first, shall we?

teleprompter at 11:17 PM JST - 16th June Laughed at and booed -

There you go again trying to make something out of nothing...LOL You seem to missed the complete story for some unknown reason....Hm why word you seem to overlook the rest of the story?

Maybe you just missed it....But in an effort to help the far right I bring you the rest of the story...

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/Politics/story?id=7846870&page=1

The historic speech in front of a group that has blocked past reform efforts was met with respect -- he was interrupted 36 times by applause, including a handful of standing ovations. But at least once -- when he said he would not back caps on jury awards in medical liability cases -- he was booed, although the booing was notably restrained given the emotional attachment the AMA has to tort reform built on caps.

Now I can not wait for real health care and not this corporate controlled care. I spent 1000.00 dollars a month to cover my wife. Let me tell you, that was the worst thing we ever spent our money on.

1000.00 per month was suppose to be the best xEtxa provided through our company. But let me say that it was terrible. We had to wait for just about everything and when we had to do anything we had to call up and get a number.

After we got our number we would call our doctor. After we gave him the number, he then would have to confirm the number also. Then we could get the special procedure done. But, we had to wait a while because we could only go to Hospitals they were ok with.

More than once we had to wait more than two weeks to have something done. Worst part of all was when she needed a CAT scan. Well that one took too long almost 3 weeks. Do not ask how long it took for chest x-rays..

The AMA is happy with the ways things are right now. They are making hand over fist, so they do not care. But the American people are going broke trying to pay for their country home.

We need to get sky rocketing medical bill down. The only way to do this is by getting a Japanese style medical system in place.

“To say it as plainly as I can, health care is the single most important thing we can do for America’s long-term fiscal health—that is a fact"

Oh really, Obama? Long-term fiscal health? How about ending the occupation of the Middle East NOW. That may save a few bucks. And ending the Fed may help a bit, too considering 70% of all income taxes that the un-Constitutional IRS collects goes to pay INTEREST on the money that the Fed loans Americans. That's a bit of change that could be saved, don't you think?

Obama is a bigger bullshit artist than W ever was.

Laughed at and booed - what "haters" they must be! - when he went before the AMA to furrow his brows, point a finger in the air,quote from his unwarranted autobiographies and try to finesse yet another group of professionals he and all his Chicago hacks have misunderestimated:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama isn't used to hearing boos. For all the young president's popularity, the response he got Monday from doctors at an American Medical Association meeting was a sign his road is only going to get rockier as he tries to sell his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. The boos erupted when Obama told the doctors in Chicago he wouldn't try to help them win their top legislative priority — limits on jury damages in medical malpractice cases.

The wheels are coming off...

anyway, here are some simple maths:

current private premiums = cost of cover + cost of administration + private insurer profit

therefore;

cost of public health care = current private premiums - insurer profit

it confounds me how many people don't seem to be able to see this. take the profit of private insurers out of the equation and the cost of care can go nowhere but down. and don't fob me off about the "administrative blackhole" that a socialised system would be: how on earth anyone thinks it would be more expensive to administer for a single health care system, with a single set of costs, terms and conditions, vs. a system with numerous private insurers with a plethora of terms, contracts, conditions, costs, phone numbers, addresses etc. etc.

but i suppose at the end of the day if you use the prefix social~ most americans will be running for the hills before you have a chance to make any points about how a system would benefit them... it comes down to the fact that in america, private profit is everything, regardless of the damage it does in wider terms

American Healthcare system

america doesn't have a health care system

If he, or any past president, was serious about avoiding a bankrupt nation, he would have gotten rid of the federal reserve.

Seems to me, as an outsider, that Obama is going to do with the American Healthcare system what the Labour Party have done with the British one - destoyed it.

If I may ask, of those that are in favour of an American national health care, have you ever actually been in the Military or have gone to a gov run clinic? My biggest fear on this is that those working in US gov are worthless at the moment will be taking care of us. Go ahead, try to an get something from the embassy, make a call to Yokosuka.. you tell me if that is what you want taking care of you kids. now, if they can figure out a way and make the jobs within this system strict, then maybe we can do it.

Something has to be done, but I have no idea what the next move should be. It's just too complicated.

Molenir, I would agree and would like to suggest something like no-fault malpractice insurance with set rates but that would be a tough sell because it would involve the government getting involved and that solution always gets people's backs up.

The biggest benefit of a no-fault capped malpractice system is that it would reduce the number of medical mistakes. With "out of control" lawsuits hospitals and medical staff will do anything to avoid getting sued and that includes never admitting to a mistake. A very large number of hospital mistakes can be eliminated by improved systems and procedures. If hospitals don't admit a mistake it is hard to correct the practices.

One reason where we, those who are Americans, should look at is how much we pay in taxes, even for those of us living here in Japan. I have always felt that with the amount of money we pay in taxes, that lets politicians and US military members get free care, we should at least some sort of health care.

Fact is 20,000 Americans a year die due to lack of healthcare coverage. When the USA goes to a single payer system that number will go down to zero.

Yes, you're right. Oh your numbers are doubtless incorrect, but if everyone is covered, those currently dying due to lack of coverage will cease dying for that reason. Instead many more will die because of the long delay in treatment. Fewer people will choose to become doctors because caps will be in place limiting how much they can make, on the other hand, the trial lawyers will still be able to sue for damages.

You seriously want to reform health care? Do something about the 100 BILLION lost every year due to malpractice lawsuits. Fix that issue, and premiums will drop dramatically, and become affordable again. The cost of health care likewise will go down, and fewer people will be uninsured. Amazing how that would work right. But with Obama being in the pocket of the Trial lawyers, we all know that won't happen.

Some good points, proxy. You pretty much verify what conservatives constantly point out: people want choice.

California has a similar population to Canada but 1 000 000 Californians go to Mexico every year for health care but only a fraction of that number of Canadians travel to a foreign country for health care and most of those travel to see a specialist.

California has about 5 million more people than Canada. I suspect many in the number you cite are Mexican citizens returning home for health care.

But let's go with your comparison. I have family and relatives in the health care field. They comment on the large numbers of Canadian med professionals almost desperate to work in the US.

Got comparable tales of say, Ivy League med school grads or Stanford-educated docs beating a path to blessed Mexico?

teleprompter, your theory on people crossing borders is idiotic as thousands of Americans from as far away as Minnesota travel to Mexico for health care and dental work. California has a similar population to Canada but 1 000 000 Californians go to Mexico every year for health care but only a fraction of that number of Canadians travel to a foreign country for health care and most of those travel to see a specialist.

Indian reservations in many parts of America have had gubmint run health care for decades.

It has been a disaster.

From the article: 'The agency itself describes a "rationed health care system."'

Exactly, exactly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/ap_on_go_ot/us_health_care_s_forgotten

If you were to ask a US worker about health care reform, he/she would respond, will I receive quality care? Ask a doctor, and they will respond, will I get sued, if I do not perform a battery of tests, before proceeding with treatment. Government run health care, will be a bare bones disaster.

Surprised he brought up the elephant in the room, but that is what it comes down to. If he is wrong, and health costs will not bankrupt the USA, then if Americans want to continue wasting money lining the middlemen's pockets, they can go ahead. What's a few trillion between friends. If he is right and the USA will go broke, then everything else is irrelevant. All the arguments about socialism, quality of treatment, Canadian hordes etc. won't matter. They won't be able to pay for their "superior" system anyway.

oh for godsakes aday. first of all, you are off topic Second, where do I ever say I support what the repub politicians have done in that case? third, you are way wrong anyway. Who were the top recipients of insurance lobby money???????? yes, there were repubs there too, but you know who else was there and who was the biggest. Oh, btw, you really don't know what you are talking about do you? While you are reading counter to it, and that is on purpose, because they one of those insurance companies is going to make out BIG TIME!!

now, where is the post where I claim the insurance companies will go out of business? really disgusting blind loyalty lately on your part.

That was the crying from the post office when FEDEX and UPS came out. Nobody is out of business." Like who on this board was really old enough to understand anything when that took place? Besides, UPS only recently became a public company if I recall correctly!

skipthesong

i am particularly concern about the lobby money Hillary Clinton, Dodd, and other high ranking politicians received year in and year out.

You failed to mention the money and trips received by the republicans from lobbiest from insurance companies.

Let's hear the arguement/whine that insurance will go out of business and it'll turn into goverment run insurance.

That was the crying from the post office when FEDEX and UPS came out. Nobody is out of business. < :-)

zurcronium - do you honestly believe Americans will agree to the kind of health care you have in Canada when hordes of your compatriots routinely flood our border state hospitals and fork out cash for treatment?

careful how you choose you issues. he's right that its needs fixing, but what they have in plan is not. As a person who has worked in the medical industry previously (US Army and later on for the VA) I can tell you what a national care is going to bring if their plans don't change is going to be a disaster.

Additionally, I feel that many are not getting the proper word. There are many cities where people can get free medical care. however, telling people in the field that I will cap your money but not that of lawsuits is bad. There are thousands of fraudulent claims every year.

And, we should all be concerned that the push for a national health care would bring the following negative effects:

One place for all the procurement of medicine. Those doctors who feel certain medicines are bad, like what has happened to my wife (Japanese physician/gyno) are quieted. Government staff will be allowed to trade inside. claims against one doctor may lead you to fight the entire government system

i am particularly concern about the lobby money Hillary Clinton, Dodd, and other high ranking politicians received year in and year out.

There is no doubt that things need to change, but the plan the have in store for us is not a good one.

tele - "Obama wants this cuz it is the biggest leap they can make towards bringing about the One Party Nanny State."

The previous model didn't work. We've got a global recession thanks to out of control spending under the previous U.S. government, lax oversight of financial industry regulations, and because the previous model failed.

At least now the republican yucks are not pointing to the free market to save the US healthcare system like they did last time. We all know now that that excuse is one big AIG and Citibank joke.

Fact is 20,000 Americans a year die due to lack of healthcare coverage. When the USA goes to a single payer system that number will go down to zero. Fact is healthcare is rationed now in the USA, the 50 million who do not have coverage get no care unless they are nearly dead from their diseases. The USA pays over double the amount per capita than Japan for healthcare but does not cover all Americans and has poorer outcomes as well. Infant mortality in the USA is ranked 29th in a CDC study. Amazing. And this is what the republicans want to defend, all they are really defending is the profits of insurance companies who rips off the hospital who then rips off the customers.

It's not the pysicians who are so against health care reform. It's insurance companies. They are scared that new companies come out of this reform and they'll lose profits. Not that they'll do a better job, but they will lose policy holders. < :-)

The US pays more for health care than anyone else and somehow manages to still have 46 000 000 people not covered. This is a country screaming out for a public health system.

12 million of them are in the country illegally. Another 20 million are young - under 30 and by choice are not enrolled in an insurance plan. At least 5 million are between jobs and therefore not insured.

No one is denied treatment in America. And we have survival rates for cancer that Europe and Canada will never again achieve.

Obama wants this cuz it is the biggest leap they can make towards bringing about the One Party Nanny State.

"Obama made a quick trip to Chicago to try to convince skeptical doctors of the merits of his government plan to equip all Americans with "affordable" health insurance"

"Affordable" here means taxpayer-funded. I can see why the doctors are skeptical.

"Obama's more like, "You're either with us, or you obviously need to see another picture of this adorable puppy."

Har!

The US pays more for health care than anyone else and somehow manages to still have 46 000 000 people not covered. This is a country screaming out for a public health system.

We don't have enough doctors, and with insurance premiums skyrocketing, he wants to cut the expenses, and yet doesn't want to impose a cap on damages. Yeah, thats our President, still can't find reality, even with both hands.

It seems to me that private health-care insurance companies are the ones who need to be taken care of in the first place, because they have been cashing in (and some of them are despite this economic downturn) on free-market economy by ruining the lives of so many individuals.

Oh yes, cashing in by ruining peoples lives. Oh wait, you forgot to mention how many lives they saved. Hmm, guess that doesn't matter right. Its all about them being profitable and remaining in business in order to save more lives tomorrow too. Oh wait, nevermind, we aren't supposed to think about that. No, someone died because they couldn't get insurance, thats all that matters. Nothing to see here... move along!

Yeah, the government has got to put their fingers- especially on the health care industries. Simply, most of them are loan sharks under the disguise of 'private insurance company' by taking advantage of people who are 'uninsured' when they offer insurance coverage or medical underwritings.

It seems to me that private health-care insurance companies are the ones who need to be taken care of in the first place, because they have been cashing in (and some of them are despite this economic downturn) on free-market economy by ruining the lives of so many individuals.

Comedian Bill Maher is right.People are getting sick of seeing Obama on TV:Obama’s more like, “You’re either with us, or you obviously need to see another picture of this adorable puppy!”

Health care a "crisis" but 2 to 3 million Iranians protesting and revolting against a totalitarian theocratic, misogynist, genocidal regime in Iran is "a situation" according to our cowardly,"liberal" State Dept.

Hope and Change, and the same old politics of fear.

We have nothing to lose since we all already broke.