IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Same as life insurance and car insurance, I suppose.

If you had a National Health Service as most European countries do you might not be so competitive in other areas.

I do not believe the American system is ready to scrap the free enterprise system and rebuild it immediately into a socialized system.

Insurance companies compete for the business as any business does. Pharmaceutical companies compete for research and develop of the next great "pill". Hospitals, Nursing Homes the same.

90% of workers are quite satisfied with the present system but 100% agree costs are escalating and that needs to be addressed.

What I would like to see happen is for the present system to be fixed, not re-built, like the SCARE MONGERING LIBERALS want to do.

What folks like CC and others want is to scrap a very effective system of health care to accommodate the 10%. That is illogical, but they will never admit that.

The present plans I have read or heard about will reduce the level of coverage for the 90% and will increase cost to accommodate the 10%.

I do not want to start comparing our system to the European system since I do not know much about it, nor is it relevant to the American discussion.

PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill " HC will be provided 2 ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

Re: spendius (Post 3719325)
Quote:

If you had a National Health Service as most European countries do you might not be so competitive in other areas.

I do not believe the American system is ready to scrap the free enterprise system and rebuild it immediately into a socialized system.

Re: cicerone imposter (Post 3719365)
I made no reference to that you lunatic.

Youare becoming a pest and need to be slapped away.

He's just a bit naive and misguided.

Well, then re-state you "points" that I am not addressing.

Familiar Players in Health Bill Lobbying
Firms Are Enlisting Ex-Lawmakers, Aides
Former House majority leader Richard K. Armey, left, is one of several ex-congressmen working on behalf of health-care companies as a Senate committee considers legislation. Armey represents a New Jersey pharmaceutical firm.
. (By Danny Johnston -- Associated Press)

By Dan Eggen and Kimberly Kindy
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 6, 2009

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.


The tactic is so widespread that three of every four major health-care firms have at least one former insider on their lobbying payrolls, according to The Washington Post's analysis.

Nearly half of the insiders previously worked for the key committees and lawmakers, including Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), debating whether to adopt a public insurance option opposed by major industry groups. At least 10 others have been members of Congress, such as former House majority leaders Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) and Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), both of whom represent a New Jersey pharmaceutical firm.

The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records. And even in a city where lobbying is a part of life, the scale of the effort has drawn attention. For example, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter of 2009, followed by Pfizer, with more than $6 million.

The push has reunited many who worked together in government on health-care reform, but are now employed as advocates for pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

A June 10 meeting between aides to Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and health-care lobbyists included two former Baucus chiefs of staff: David Castagnetti, whose clients include PhRMA and America's Health Insurance Plans, and Jeffrey A. Forbes, who represents PhRMA, Amgen, Genentech, Merck and others. Castagnetti did not return a telephone call; Forbes declined to comment.

Also inside the closed committee hearing room that day was Richard Tarplin, a veteran of both the Department of Health and Human Services and the Senate, where he worked for Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), one of the leaders in fashioning reform legislation this year. Tarplin now represents the American Medical Association as head of his own lobbying firm, Tarplin Strategies.

"For people like me who are on the outside and used to be on the inside, this is great, because there is a level of trust in these relationships, and I know the policy rationale that is required," Tarplin said in explaining the benefits of having government experience.

But public interest groups and reform advocates complain that the concentration of former government aides on K Street has distorted the health-care debate, and that it further illustrates the problem posed by the "revolving door" between government and private firms.