Most Americans want overhaul of health system

What about the law suites that doctors have to deal with they do call it practice of medicine

What about couples with seperate policies, my wife and I had seperate health insurance policies with our companies, yet when our son was born we added him to each policy to cover the cost, so we would not go bankrupt. I am the primary insurance holder, yet since they only had my wife's information when our child was born, they started sending the bills to one company which should not of payed them but did, then one hospital sent us a bill for 15,000 after we payed them the deductible 2,000. We were sent to collections, and got the collection agency to say you don't owe them anything they billed each company for 20,000 and collected 2,000 and tried to recieve 5,000. One insurance company demanded their money back, which screwed up most of the claims paid. My wifes policy paid most of the claims, until we got them involved with the collection process, then they denied every claim, and requested payments back. 19 month's later we are still fighting to get the claims paid by the appropriate company, I do hold some of the payee's responsible for the issue, becuase after being notified of the issue, the usual response was it doesn't matter their the same company and they paid for it. Of course they aren't, and I used those conversations to get me out of paying a debt which I should not own.

I was born, and lived in the US for 44 years before I moved to Sweden. I have lived here in Sweden for the last 9 years. When I moved here I, as most Americans, knew that I was in for one of the worst medical systems in the world because the Swedish medical system is a purely Socialist system supporting a deviant welfare state. Therefore I would face medical rationing and incompetence at its worst.

Sorry to say this - but we Americans have no idea what we are talking about! The medical system I have found here is MINDBLOWINGLY SIMPLE and VERY EFFECTIVE (efficient). It would work in America if we were not so GREEDY! (Can you say HMO?)

To help dispel some ignorance, Sweden is first and foremost a CAPITALIST Country! In fact is has been rated as the 2 or 3 strongest capitalist system in the world (depending on which International accounting firm is doing the reporting - and yes, the U.S.A. is always THE strongest!). This should be big news to most Americans because we only know that Sweden is a "socialist" country (as in socialism is next to communism) and/or that Sweden is a welfare state (Swedes define "welfare" a lot differently than how the Americans understand it!).

CHECK THIS OUT!!!! - NO medical exclusions for PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS!!!!!

The health care system I am going to describe is NOT FREE! People have a tendency to say "free" health care when in fact it is a "National Health Care System" that is a "Single Payer System" supported by our TAXES! (Just to confuse you, I should mention that we also have "PRIVATE" doctors and private medical centers and even private insurance if we want to buy it - I just use the free public health care system!)

Neither I nor my family HAS EVER had a problem with the medical system here. Adults pay a co-pay of about $20 every time we see the doctor. Co-pays help keep the unnecessary visits to a minimum. There is a yearly cap on co-pays so that after paying about $300 there are no more co-pays! Those who are under 18 have NO co-pay and ALL Swedish children's' dental care is included too!

When my children are sick and need to see their primary doctor, they are seen THE SAME DAY, usually within 4 hours of our call. There is NO WAITING in the waiting room for the doctor like I experienced many times in America. You are in with the doctor within 10 minutes of your appointed time!

When my wife got desperately ill, the ambulance took her to the hospital, she was treated IMMEDIATELY in the emergency room and once she was stabilized, they admitted her to the hospital and started running tests to find out what was wrong. Four days latter she had a pacemaker installed and was back home. The ambulance ride, the emergency room, the 4 days in the hospital, the surgery and the pacemaker cost us about $75 total - that was seventy-five bucks!!!

Prescription drugs are payed for on a yearly basis, so that we pay 100% of the cost of our prescriptions up to a certain dollar (kronor) amount then 75% up to the next dollar limit and then 50% of the cost and then 25% of the cost. Over a certain dollar (kronor) amount we get the rest of our meds without cost until the next yearly cycle starts. I think the most we ever pay per year is about $250.

I have seen talk here of how bad National Health Care because it is so bad in England. It is time to wake up and realize there are a lot of different options of how to implement a National Health Care System with a "SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM" being only one option (AND, IMHO, THE BEST OPTION). As I mentioned earlier, the Swedish system reminds me a lot of the HMO systems I used in the US.

There is also a BIG SAVINGS the single payer system provides for us consumers that no one has mentioned yet. A single payer health care system reduces other costs we have - such as providing MUCH cheaper car insurance, house insurance, life insurance, ... because the insurance companies no longer need to cover the medical aspect of the insurance! Someone did mention the employer passing on their health care savings to employees wages.

The company you work for will no longer have to pay the rising medical premiums and therefore be not be justified in firing people because the employee can't quit smoking or because they decide to go skydiving or racing cars in their off time, which the employer's insurance company currently says will raise the companies medical premiums!

A single payer system will stop the abuse of the Medicare and Medicaid systems. No more "staged" accidents to obtain the large medical payouts

From the MSNBC article "Your health care questions answered" - "the UK government spends about $3,400 per year per person on health care - the U.S. government pays at least $2,600 per person already for health care" -

DID YOU SEE IT!?!?!? The US taxpayer is ALREADY paying 2/3 of what could be the tax for our "National Health Care System". All the other industrialized nations seem to be able to provide QUALITY health care to their citizens for around $3,000 per person - and EVERYONE is covered! America is currently spending around $6,000 per person and we have MANY tens of millions of people who cannot get health care because they are not insured or are UNDER-INSURED!

The single payer system WILL reduce the health care costs and WILL NOT REDUCE QUALITY! I am currently living the proof of this statement!

GREED and ignorance are what is keeping us from obtaining the health care the citizens of America needs.

There is TOO MUCH MONEY to be LOST in a Single Payer Universal Health Care System and the HEALTH CARE LOBBYISTS will spend as much money on our congressional representatives as it takes to keep our health care dollars flowing in!

The health care industry uses FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) words like RATIONING, LACK of CHOICE, INFERIOR QUALITY, TAXES, SOCIALISM, ... and anything else the American consumer can be told to fear. Unfortunately, the ignorance of the people who buy into the FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) of the Health Care Industry helps keep the congress in line too.

Oh, and as a side note, I, a truck driver, make about $3,100 per month and I pay just under 29 percent in income taxes, my wife, a computer worker, makes about $5,000 per month and pays just under 35 percent. I see our taxes as very reasonable for what we are getting for our tax KRONOR.

I think the goverment needs to step in on health care, a 3400% increase in a cancer drug is a( little) off track , it is like they want these children to die, and frankly if it was me i would be in their face. I might be wrong but i think the lobyist have had a hand in the rising cost also. the old saying THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POORER GET POORER

This country truly is a disaster when profits become more important than lives. I hope alot of doctors and those in the industry read this so I can tell them with what they are charging, the people they are "saving" might as well be dead. The massive cost of getting sick destroys their lives just as much or worse as the disease itself. What good is life when you are $50,000 in debt and are harassed daily to pay it all off now and despite that fact you have already sold everything you love it is not even close to enough. You should have just let them die it would have been quicker. This entire system we have should be curled up in a tight ball and throw away so that at least those who become sick can have a life afterwards.

The only way to control the rising cost of healthcare is for a single payer, universal plan, like Medicare. There is a bill in Congress, HR676, first introduced in 2003 by Rep. John Conyers from Michigan. There are 90 Congressional co-sponsors, it has been endored by the National Presbyterian Assembly and the National Assembly of Unitarian Universalists. It has the support of 490 labor unions and countless Americans. The American College of Physicians endorses a single payer plan, and 59% of American physicians support the same concept. Yet, this bill has never been brought out of Committee for a public hearing under either a Republican or Democratic administration. What is the problem with a national discussion? Focus needs to be brought forth on fact not fiction and fears. HR676 is a plan that is publically funded, and privately delivered, not socialized medicine, as in Great Britain, where the government employs the physicians, nurses, etc, and owns the hospitals. All information needs to be brought forward and we need all the facts.

Right on Skypilot- no one can make a valid argument against single payer. The people trashing it are just pawns tricked by the insurance lobby, Limbaugh and his ilk, etc., that do not know any better, or they are wealthy and self-centered enough to only care about themselves. Fear works wonders (socialism/communism, dying while waiting for a heart bypass, 6 months to see a doctor, lines at the local clinic, rationing, high taxes) all B.S. Any true American making these arguments should be ashamed. The rest of the agenda driven, ultra-greedy societal leeches deserve a terminal disease.

HR676 is a great idea, but it has three problems. 1) Republicans (and some Democrats) are in the pocket of the insurance lobby 2) Spineless Democrats afraid of any real change 3) An ignorant population that is too easily manipulated by massive media campaigns by groups with clever sounding names that appear to be on their side

Evidently Americans these days are too stupid and lazy to do any research on their own and have their positions spoon fed to them-sad.

The truth is that no one is willing to discuss the morality of healthcare for profit. Currently, healthcare in the USA is no better than illegal drug dealers. The number one reason for bankruptcy in the US is medical costs.

Even USA corporations that make healthcare insurance available to their employees are beginning to discreetly lobby for universal healthcare because the costs are becoming so exorbitant.

If you have US healthcare coverage it comes with a limited total lifetime dollar amount of coverage. While most people are lucky to not reach that limit it's surprisingly not uncommon for people to hit due to serious illness at which people have to face losing their savings, homes and having to make the choice between paying for food or paying for their loved ones medical costs.

I work in a job I enjoy that offers health insurance, make enough money to keep a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food in my stomach and contribute a nice sum to my 401k. However, I worry about when I'm no longer able to work. If I'm lucky that won't be until I hit retirement age and qualify for social security and medicare (assuming they're even still around). What happens if something happens to me before I hit retirement age? What happens after I hit retirement age?

While medicare is better than nothing, it's nothing compared to the level of coverage available through the private insurance available through employers (if they even offer it).

My father was career military, so he and my mother were able to purchase regular medical insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program at a monthly rate just a little higher than what most corporate employers deduct from their employees paychecks for their employees' healthcare coverage. Even so, with Medicare, Tricare and their health insurance through FEHBP, it was still amazing to see what they had to pay; which I know is much less compared to people who weren't lucky enough to obtain a government job that offers benefits to employees after retirement (something extremely rare in today's commercial environment). And not something that will available to me since I don't have a government position and the company I work for doesn't offer the purchase of group healthcare coverage after retirement (again, something extremely rare in today's commercial environment).

However, even those benefits will eventually go away for people in government service because, again, the costs of the medical coverage are becoming so exorbitant that they are exceeding governments' revenue.

The simple fact of the matter is that society is made up of a multitude of people; CEO's to the floor sweeper. Not everyone can make a 6+ figure a year income; and people who make a mid-five figure a year income are lucky. The floor sweeper is just as integral to a company as the CEO. Don't believe me, have the company cancel their janitorial services for a month (or even a week).

Even the slackers and "ner' do wells" (the people who just can't seem to get their act together and be a contributing member of society) every family has at least one, deserve health care. They are, afterall, someone's parent, sibling or child. While they may not have been a contributing member to society it doesn't make them any less precious to their family when they are gone.

What's most concerning to me is that while our government will spend millions to bail out corporations from their own stupidity and greed (Smith Barney is the current example, prior to that the Enron and savings and loans incidents come to mind) they won't help regular, hard working people (who actually elected them).

Buy the way, I'm a fiscally responsible person. My home and car are paid for (no mortgage or car loan due) and I should be debt free by the end of this year (something rare in this day and age of the home mortgage debacle).

However, in my opinion anyone who is against universal healthcare is completely selfish and arrogant. In other words, they are totally ignorant of the fact that they are part of the team of a team called humanity.

I don't beleive that the government should be running healthcare, we have already seen what they did to Social Security.  But every individual should have a right to healthcare, that doesn't mean they should get it for free.

   Every employer should be required to offer health insurance to each employee and each employee should be required to purchase insurance, unless they are covered under another plan, unless it is a plan for unemployed citizens.  Unemployed citizens, recieving aid and seeking medical assistance, should be required to provide a public service in trade of medical coverage.  Individual's that can afford private insurance should still be able to purchase that coverage.

   Cobra and Hippa need to be reformed.  Cobra, is expensive and makes job transistions sometimes to expensive, in order to continue insurance coverage.  Hippa is just a waste of paperwork,  I still have to fill out the same forms for every doctor I see, even though I was refered by another doctor.  Give every legal citizen a Social Security Card with smart chip in it that can contain all of our medical information accessed via bio-metrics.  You see a doctor, they update the chip after being authenticated, then the next doctor that you might see can access all of your charts, without you having to fill out a single form.  It might be scary considering an Social Security number being identfied as a National ID, but that number is already used as an National I.D., Why not make it more secure?

   Another Issue is Corporate Greed,  Congress needs to limit how much organizations can earn on providing healthcare services.  I do not see why a healthcare provider or insurance company should be able to get Rich, by denying to pay claims which should be paid.  I also don't understand how a $20,000 bill only costs the insurance company $7,000.

   The system is screwed, and probably won't get fixed, I am lucky I have insurance.