Well, I've had individual healthcare for seven years and I personally don't want it imposed on me, much less on those who are less well off than I am or who have heath problems.

I brought up McCain because McCain has proposed individual healthcare for those the insurance companies want to cover, which wouldn't be the person who lays out his tale of woe, and government run healthcare for people like him when the insurance companies refused to cover him.

What I find intriging is your view that the US is too large to provide healthcare for everyone. Is that because you think there is a limit on the number of insurance companies?

Or do you think that if insurance companies were required to offer at least one policy that provided a basic minimum of care to everyone who applied with no denial for any reason at all, and the only basis for competition between companies was their level of service and their policy price, all insurance companies would stop offering coverage?

Where are the uninsured going to get the money to pay for the basic plan?
Where is the money going to come from to pay for Universal Health care.
Simple, your taxes and my taxes.
We have people like fedup who don't pay taxes and others who don't pay taxes.

The basic plan would only cover so many points.

McCain has been off the "regular" Tricare for life program for a long time and he's oblivious to it's deficiencies.

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Iraq body count http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

So, you want to stay with the current system where the poor simply show up at emergency rooms with life threatening conditions because they can't afford care, and so doctors and hospitals spent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on them, and then over time the costs which the patients can't pay get paid by the tax payer and the hospitals tacking on costs to the people who pay out of their pockets. The insurance companies make sure that they don't pay unless they get tax benefits from the government so that taxes are shift to others, and the corporations cut deals to get their taxes shifted to you.

The quesiton you should be asking: do I want to pay the medical costs of the poor and middle class without employer healthcare by paying the government taxes to fund extremely expensive emergency care, or do you want to spend less providing preventative and managed care.

Or you could argue for doctors and hospitals having the right to put a lien on the patient if the patient doesn't pay, or can't pay, like mechanics and tow companies do. So, if the patient doesn't pay, the doctor or hospital would put a lien on their body, and if there is still no payment, then the doctor or hospital takes possession of the body, and then sells it off in whole or in part in order to pay the bills. For some of these foreclosures, the patient would be chopped up and sold for parts and more than pay for the costs which would offset the other cases where the salvage costs don't pay the bills.

You know I keep making that proposal to people who call for both property rights and individual responsibility, and they just reject it out of hand with no reason given.

And then they just refuse to come up with their plan. Clearly they have no clue how to solve the problem. They are like the dog that needs to go outside really bad, but they stand at the door looking at the blizzard, then looking up at their master, and then at the blizzard, and then they just whine, and then go run and piss and crap in the corner of the living room.

What the hell do you think will happen if insurance companies are required to provide a low cost policy to anyone who applies for it, no restrictions allowed? Do you honestly believe those costs won't be passed on to others, or made up in some other way?

You talk about managed care, but fail to say who the managers are. If it is anyone other than the doctor and the patient, its CRAP, and I want no part of it, at any cost.

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If you want change stop electing "liberal: democrats and "radical" Republicans. Find and support true Conservatives; those who believe in fiscal responsibilities, individual accountability, and a smaller government, with less control of your daily life.

To clean up the system, it first needs to start with the insurance companies to clearly state what they will and won't cover. Then the hospital/doctors who severely overchage because the insurance won't pay then the insurance rebills the hosptial to get move covered. When in fact, either/or end up writing off the expense, who pays the expense? The taxpayers. I don't think the taxpayers should have to pay for those who can't afford health care. Plain and simple.

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honor the fallen; http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor.html
Iraq body count http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

That man's tale of woe was sad and tragic at first. Then he decided that his illness was somehow the responsibility of millions of strangers who struggle to support their own families...that's where I wanted to vomit.

Gov't funded disability makes me sick. It is truly tragic, and as far as I can tell the man did nothing to desrve what happened to him. Damned shame. But it shouldn't be anyone else's "fault" when life beats the snot out of you. The money he was hoping to get was taken, under threat of imprisonment, from people who never knew him, will never know him, and who have much more important responsibilities. I would be ashamed to be part of any program that robs from the majority to fund the minority...that's completely upside down. Government is supposed to do the most good for the greatest number of people, not burden the entire nation with the downfalls of a few.

We are guaranteed the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We are NOT Guaranteed the right to Life Extended as long as Financially Possible, Liberty with No Risks, and the Pursuit of Happiness without Wheelchairs or Crutches.

Life can be a bitch, and imagining that Legislation can make Life be nice for everyone is ridiculous.

Last, but not least, that man's suffering wouldn't end if he did get disability. That man's family wouldn't suddenly thrive financially with their government pittance check. With the wife working, they wouldn't get much. So, he'd willingly be the recipient of money forcibly taken from millions just to moderately ease their own suffering? That's a damned shame. If it was really about money making his family happy again, he'd get a life insurance policy and arrange a nasty accident. The fact that they're still with him means they LOVE him, and that's what they need from him, not money. I'm sure it'd be far more convenient if they got the disability check every month, but the idea that STEALING money from my family is ok if it tweak his own life a little bit makes me sick.

Or look at it from the opposite view: after all that man's been through, he's still a part of our economy, buying food, gas, utilities, etc., so he's paying into the tax pool as well (or his wife/family is), so look at what our Government DOES with our money and ask yourself which programs are good enough to justify taking money from that man, and others like him. Does it make anyone feel good knowing that some of the money our Government gives awya to foreign nations was taken from this man? Does it help you sleep at night knowing that some of the money spent on corporate bailouts was taken from a man like this?

EVERY dime the government spends should be held in that light: is this program WORTH taking your grandmother's money? Is there enough benefit to the MAJORITY that it's worth taking taxes from the crippled?

It sucks looking at it from that end, and it sucks looking at it from the other end, yet people still clamor for more government programs to pay for more minorities to be paid from the taxpayers' pockets to finance Government "cures" to life's built-in hardships. ANd when the cure fails, people think MORE money must be the fix!

Sorry. This man had my sympathies, right up until he decided that someone else has to PAY, because life short-changed him. No matter how bad he got screwed, no matter how much he was in debt...it's still welfare mentality that makes a man think someone else needs to pony up for what NOBODY did to him. Someone else needs to work a little bit harder, spend a little bit less, sacrifice a little more, to finance a stranger's luck of the draw.

I have been the sole provider for my family for a loooong time. It can be done, whether or not it's hard. And it will never be anyone else's responsibility to finance me through the rough spots. When I started my family, I knew the risks, and willingly accepted them. Would I turn down charity in times of desperation? Not likely. But welfare from the barrel of a gun is NOT charity, and I will never accept money taken against someone else's will just to finance my own, insignificant, private problems when there are so many NATIONAL problems that the Government really IS supposed to fix, but they instead trifle with domestic problems that are not their concern, and they're not capable of fixing.

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Global Warming is my favorite color.