This sounds like the only reason for employers changing plans less often is that health care reform will lower the costs.

IMHO, health care will remain broken as long as it is associated with employment. This just adds/keeps an extra layer of bureaucracy to a system that already has too much. My ultimate preference is for single payer like Sweden has (it works really well there putting Sweden at the top healthiest nation, and does it at 60% of the GDP relative spending as the USA), but I see the public option as absolutely essential otherwise. Without it, where is the cost control going to be?

I think we should just take employers out of the loop entirely. Then maybe I can afford to start a business.

A-men.

I hear opposition to health reform coming from people who want to dismantle government and lower taxes — but I /never/ hear opposition from people who think that their private insurance policy is fair, easy to use, or reasonably priced.

I wouldn't automatically choose government as a solution for every social problem — but I _do_ choose it as the only way we're going to provide an alternative to exploitative private insurance practices, and no plan I've seen other than a strong public option has convinced me that it will force significant reform of health insurance corporations.

All best,

Nick
publicoption.blogspot.com

The insurance companies run on 1 1/2% - 2% profit. Why stop at universal health care, why not universal grocery stores. We must eat to live and the grocery stores run on 5%-7% profit. How dare they profit when we need to eat.
The following shows how the wonderful Govt. run Medicare works vs. the private Medicare plan (Medicare Advantage Plans) Which would you choose for your parent, grandparent or for you when you turn 65?

Original Medicare ONE PHYSICAL PER LIFE TIME you pay 20%
Medicare Advantage Plans (most) ONE YEARLY PHYSICAL TYPICALLY $0 copayment
Original Medicare NO PREVENTIVE LAB WORK
Medicare Advantage Plans (most) Routine Preventive Lab Work
Original Medicare High deductibles and co-insurance no cap on out of pocket costs.
Medicare Advantage Plans (most) No deductibles, max out of pocket for member
Medicare Advantage Plans (most) Offer fitness classes, 24 hour nurse hotlines, preventive dental/vision discounts, nurse case managers they offer preventive health care that will keep overall costs DOWN.
________________________________________________________
The average person who keeps original Medicare pays
$96.40 for Medicare per month
$150 - $200 per month for their Medigap/Supplement Plan
$40 for their part D Drug Coverage
$60 per month for their drug copayments
That totals $346 - $390 per month for their health care.
A husband and wife will spend around $720 a month on Medicare a supplement and a drug plan.

The average person who has a Medicare Advantage plan pays
$96.40 for their Medicare per month
$40 (average) cost for Medicare Advantage Plan with drug, Part D coverage
That totals around $130 per month, with average Dr copayments of $20 per month and average drug co-payments of $60. The total is around $210 per month. That is a savings of over $1,560.00 per year.

My sister and her husband (retired military) only pay $461.00 for an entire year's premium for medical insurance. I pay that almost in 1 month. Why can't the regular non-military people have the same kind of insurance and premiums as the military does? The medicines are between $3 - $22. Really? Is it really that hard to figure out? It would not be if there were not so many greedy people involved. Obama is asking the house/senate to decide how to fix/reform health care when they don't have a clue since they don't ever pay or have to worry about paying for it. They have no clue what regular families go thru…do I buy the medicine for my babies or do I put groceries on the table?

Perhaps you have heard of the USDA, they have been around since 1862, regulating and controlling the food that we eat.

In addition, the least fortunate people who cannot afford food can apply for Government programs to assist them with buying food, or providing the very basics for them.

We already have a similar system for food as the proposed system of health care.

You can't make health care about the 'average' person, when you do that, everyone slightly below average gets to die!

The question we have to ask ourselves is: If the government isn't setting the boundaries for health care, who is? Right now the insurance companies ARE setting those boundaries, they ARE allowing people to die, and they ARE creating 'death panels', we currently have the system that everyone fears!

Some see the alternative as the 'government run' healthcare, I see it as the system working for me. I pay taxes to pay these representatives to solve national problems like health care, food, communication, and defense, not to respond to cowards that post under the name of a website and not the name of a person.

First of all, Second Revolution, you can't convince anyone that the insurance companies are running on 1.5 to 2% margins. Not when the CEOs are making multimillions in bonuses. There is a never-ending round robin of jack up the medical costs to cover the insurance discount and then jack up the insurance rate to cover the increase in medical costs and then jack up the medical costs to cover the jack up in discounts and on and on. So all of the money handlers are raking in the money that is supposed to cover the cost of my healthcare and yet health insurance is covering less and less because the CEOs want more and more.

I would be more than willing to have my medicare tax deduction double or even triple to give all peoples in America access to healthcare and have the government bargain for price since it means a much bigger pie for the industry. I also believe that the cap should be taken off of the Social Security tax. Then there would be no problems there as well. Rich people should always remember that "to whom much is given, much is required."

Now on another positive note, this organization and others should get together and plan a march on Washington to show that more Americans want government to push this reform more than those naysayers who "marched" this weekend. Actual film footage shows a not to big crowd. We could outshow them with the actual millions that they are claiming unrighteously were there for their march. The march for civil rights and the march against the Viet Nam war and the inauguration crowd was truly a mass showing. I think we could make a similar showing. What say ye? Let's just DO IT!!!

SecondRevolution, and this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen, actually makes the best argument possible for a strong public option. He proves first that private insurance and public insurance can cooperate without private insurance going out of business — second, that good public insurance drags down the prices of private insurance, which grows more competitive — and third, that all this can be had for considerably less cost than our current system of private-only insurance (all these costs are less than what I pay now, and I'm a healthy young person).

Nobody's arguing for a Canadian-style system, SecondRevolution. What we want is exactly what you're describing — private options forced into real competition with public options, and choices between the two.