Obama vows affordable health care at Newport News rally

No one is saying to maintain the status quo.
The VP itself is nipping at John McCain's plan (funny how they do that in news articles now and not just on the editorial page), saying it puts the rebate money straight back into the insurance companies, which, of course, it does, *because* the families use the money to pay their premiums, as planned.
Wish they would just publish an article on what BO is offering, then another one on what JMC is offering, then let the voters decide for themselves. But the VP seems to have a vested interest in a BO victory, so even the news articles have bias against the R's right now. Cheers, MGM

Obama's healthcare is indeed not strictly government health care, but for more regulation. While organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business forecast that McCain's free-market approach would impose particular burdens on small businesses and old-line manufacturers that are already struggling, and does very little to reduce the number of uninsured while these businesses want to continue to provide coverage in order to attract and maintain a productive work force, Obama's plan actually leaves room for Republicans in the Senate to get the 60 votes needed to pass.

but no one addressed the issue of whether we can continue on the same form of national healthcare we have now. Like it or not, this is our system and it is increasing in cost at over twice the rate of inflation. And, yes, malpractice suits are a small part of the cost, and need to be addressed, but the impact is not nearly what insurance companies would lead you to believe. And, remember, a lot of the malpractice is legitimate and it is the only form of regulatory oversight with teeth that is effective with AMA.
Everyone seems to think that universal healthcare is strictly government healthcare. Many versions, as is the one put forth by Obama, is for private insurers to keep the business in the private sector, but addresses insurability, affordability and access. And if McCain earned his health care, so did I. I spent my entire career contributing to the economy in taxes, work, production of goods and services, and he protected it. He did his job, and I, by contributing to the GDP, which government employees don't do, did mine. Whose is most important? One without the other is pointless.
And, yes, I was in the Navy from 68-72, so I also helped protect.

Oh, yeah, those affordable overseas drugs. Can you guess where my friend's sister-in-law travels most from Dow Chemical??? Yes, China, home of the melamine baby formula. We are already buying parts or all components of some of our drugs from there and we are still not able to pay our pharmaceutical bills. I call it greed and, even as an R, I do ask for oversight, vast oversight, of the drug industry, before a lot of us who thought we got chemo turn out to have gotten melamine instead, or our teens start dropping dead of unregulated ritalin and adderal doses in their morning medications. Cheers, MGM

"In recent years we have had about 50K people go overseas for major surgery in places like India and Thailand because of cost and quality."

Now we are back on track! Tort reform is the key. Leave it private and get the lawyers out of the doctors hair. A lawyer wil ltell you that they are making the world safer via lawsuits. What you described above removes the patient from the 'safe haven' of the US porported by lawyers to have provided us with. These people are willing to literally risk their lives due ot the cost.

To ignore the fundamental problem and nationalize the healthcare will not fix this. Your example of domestic car makers is the perfect point. We are in a global economy that is not being competitive. No matter who pays for it, it is too much. Quit jumping to a goverment that cannot help to fix this.

Prepackaged food loaded with cholesterol and sodium does not help either. Overhead and administrative can be reduced, we need full transparency regarding quality and costs, increase competition in the insurance and drug markets, allow Americans to import safe drugs safely from other countries where medicine are much cheaper so that Americans don't have to flee to Canada or Europe, prevents drug companies from blocking generic drugs, and as in most other countries, forbid insurance companies to discriminate because of pre-existing conditions, and stop the long lines at the emergency room, care that's much more expensive than primary care, and expose lobbyists for what they are by broadcasting negotiations live on C-Span and expose lobbyists for what they are. Just a few items from the Obama plan.

Two reasons health care is so expensive in this country. One, because the cost of malpractice insurance is so expensive because we live in a litigious society where people want something for nothing. Two, because those nations with socialized health care systems almost all have government-set prices for medicines, which in many cases are below the actual cost of the meds. The result? The pharmaceutical companies have to charge more for them here to make up the difference. The pharma companies are not blameless (why are they spending billions on advertising?) but they do have to make money to be able to spend it in R&D.

If I end up paying for your health care I should have a say in your lifestyle. No alcohol, cigarettes or cheeseburgers for you. Your poor health choices are costing ME money. If you want to make your own choices pay your own way. That would never fly, of course, as we live in a world where people want a consequence-free society (government bailouts, no zeros for no work, etc).

and I want a new family sized SUV and a million dollars in the bank. Would you have that redistributed to me as well? And Blindvigilante at least McCain earned his in the military and the past 26 years serving in his state. Obama has spent 3 years as a senator 2 years of that trying to be the next POTS. Scared to death...that was funny being healthcare is the topic of discussion. In socialized medicine the waits can be long. Being healthy is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! Not the goverments! If you had bad medical problems and bills you could always ask John Edwards for some pro-bono legal help...he made MILLIONS off of suing hospitals and doctors...and at least Al Gores house in Tennessee is keeping the planet warm so you won't catch as many cold or flu bugs...

"Nearly 8 in 10 said they thought it was more important to provide universal access to health insurance than to extend the tax cuts of recent years; 18 percent said the tax cuts were more important." CBS News/NYT Poll March, 2007. In recent years we have had about 50K people go overseas for major surgery in places like India and Thailand because of cost and quality. These are usually self insured business owners. So the path runs both ways. You say we cannot have a quality health care system for all Americans. I am saying we cannot afford not to. The auto industry alone is screaming because they are losing the competitive price edge due to universal systems in foreign countries. The healthcare indices such as survival rates, infant mortality, longevity, hospital mistakes, etc. show the US near the bottom of industrialized countries, yet we are paying double per capita. Are we not smart enough to come up with a more cost effective system? The healthcare system we have is based on overtreatment and denial of claims. Is that what you want to continue with until it becomes beyond your own wallet?

For the first 23 years of my life I was covered under Gov't run healthcare for the military because I was a dependent. It wasn't perfect, but it was a heck of a lot better than being scared to death all my hopes and dreams would be shattered if I got sick during my last years in college. So, for everyone saying it can't be done well...ask John McCain how his health plan is working for him and has worked for him from his time in the Military until now PAID BY YOU. Being healthy and well is not a privilege for people who can afford it like driving a car or owning a home. Being able to go to a doctor and not have to file for bankruptcy should be a right.

"Now since about 80% of this country want some form of universal health care, are you saying 80% of us do nothing. "

I have numbers far different than yours. In fact, I have not only never heard of such a result, I have never been polled on it. What I will say is that a large part of you are not able to accurately describe how this system works. If you did, you would realize what your hoping for is literally impossible. As for the military, one of my earliest memories was my mother screaming and crying to get help for my brother in a Navy hospital. I have been in Canada and watched and listened to the locals complaining about national health care. I have seen many people from countries that have such a system fly here for treatment. I have seen the goverment overspend and screw up everything they touch.

Obama's proposal is the most idiotic plan I have heard to date.

You said "Nationalized health care is an incentive for those who do nothing to do less". Now since about 80% of this country want some form of universal health care, are you saying 80% of us do nothing. The comments sections are too short for a good look at the problem, but there is no way we can continue on the route we are on. Tax deductions do not solve the problem of runaway healthcare costs, denial of coverage to anyone with any medical history, a shortage of primary physicians (family doctors) in favor of highly compensated specialists, unregulated (or self-reguated, same thing) medical and hospital services, etc.. At the rate we are going, it won't be long before the only ones who can afford any healthcare services at all will be the wealthy and healthy, period. About 15% of this country is on single payer plans now (military, government workers) and they seem to be doing pretty good. BTW, Obama's plan is hardly government healthcare since the primary goal is to use the private insurers. So accountants will still determine your level of care, not your doctor, if that makes you feel better.

Hasn't the governments interference in the free market already messed things up enough?? The government now controls the banks, and under the Obama plan the governement would control insurance. They bailed out the automakers, the airlines, the banks, the insurance companies . . . I am sure that 'big oil' will get bailed out next. Ahh the smell of change . . . it stinks!

Nationalized health care is an incentive for those who do nothing to do less. It has no chance of working in America. As others have pointed out, we are the country whose Navy buys a $500 hammer. Our politicians actually use pork to steer bills through the house and senate. If you want change, then push for tort reform. Don't let another lawyer(Obama) tell you they can fix it when they invented the problem. How can you have a responsive and cautious goverment program when the citizens are not smart enough to watch the purse strings? As an example:

"Do you have that bill name and number? And in what branch of govrnment was it passed?"

Could anyone tell this regular poster and supporter of Obama which branches of the goverment "pass" laws?

Tax credits are the way. You cannot legislate doctors. Nor can you compensate lawyers w/o insurance. Your doctors already despise HMO's due to the control over them and billing.

The president is nothing but a figure head. His or her biggest power is the selection of judges. Congress is the devil! We can argue details all day. The government has NEVER operated one efficient program. I work for the federal government. I see waste at levels that make my head spin. I could live like royalty for just a small portion of what I've seen thrown away on a daily basis! Here's my vision of the future. I won't vote for either of these lackies. I'll vote my conscience. The youth and most blacks will vote for the first or second time in their whole lives. I predict that Obama will win this election by a thin margin. They want change(?) and a black man. We'll have four years of a democrat president and democrat-controlled congress. We'll have four years of Jimmy Carter politics (that is a scary thought). That suffering will be enough to turn this country back around to true conservatism again! Oh yeah, Nas is an idiot as is anyone that concures with his simple-minded diatribe!

England is the very little foreign news we get in the mass media. Health care is different in each European nation. Some countries in the mainland for example use a combination of nationalized health care and employer based coverage. Though it's mandatory it's not enforced with fines like Romney did in Massachusetts, a recipe for disaster. The US cannot afford to continue to argue about the perfect solution. We had 16 years to do it. I actually have TRICARE myself. Fellow Veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq deserve the same access to health care. McCain has been voting down funding for the VA time after time until the Walter Reed scandals broke and it was left for Obama to clean up the mess. Health care was not included by Bush Junior and McCain, yet it part of it of the cost of war. I don't call it socialized medicine, but keeping a promise this time around.

This is very funny, and sad. I see the Conservatives here posting facts, numbers, and dollar amounts. I see the Liberals posting emotions and the lies that they have been fed (and Chris33 posting cutouts from liberal blogs because he has no original ideas). Liberals are stupid sheep, free from independant thought and seeking feelgood solutions with no regard to economics. I will never 'argue' with them again, their religion is too efficient to alow any dissent.
I weep for this nation, we are going to heck in a handbasket and Liberals are at the Helm! Bush was bad, as he is NOT a Conservative! How will it get any better with Obama driving? Or McCain for that matter? This country needs a wakeup call in the form of a 3rd party taking control! The establishment must be overturned.

We won't be getting out of Iraq any time soon regardless of who is President. Obama lies about it now to solidify the base, but he doesn't want to be the one who "lost" Iraq. Obama's universal health care plan will cost the federal government more money, not less (name one financially efficient government program). Increasing taxes on "rich" people is classic Democrat class warfare & nothing short of redistribution of wealth. Who is the government to decide how much of the money YOU earn is enough? I don't make anywhere near 250K but the principal is the same. What if some government lackey decides my car is too nice & my house has too many bedrooms. I have more bedrooms than people in my house, which is more than I "need." Should I be assessed some sort of punitive tax so the government can give more money to someone the government decides "needs" it? Here's an idea: if you want more out of life earn it. One person sitting on his butt collecting a welfare check is one too many. If people who thought like this in Jamestown there'd be no United States.

Leaving Iraq will save us $200 billion dollars a year. A single payer healthcare system would save us another $200 billion dollars a year. That's $400 billion dollars a year saved. Increasing taxes on people making over $250,000 a year will produce another %200 billion dollars a year. Obama has the right idea....get out of Iraq, universal healthcare, and American energy independence.

An earlier poster pointed to California as a good example, which it is, but not in the way the poster intended. California is already the most liberal state in the union by a lot (so much so that when I lived there several people referred to it as the People's Democratic Republic of California). The result? If is asking the federal government for a multi-billion dollar bailout. Seems their plan isn't working out so well for them.

The thing about Obama and his plan that worries me is this: BEFORE last week's bailout, Obama couldn't explain how he was going to pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars of new spending he is promising (aka buying votes) (and I did read his plan on his web site). Now the fed just took on an additional $857 billion (even though the main stream media still refers to 700) but Obama refuses to cut any of his new initiatives. I was no math major - anyone care to explain the numbers to me?