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Victor Plenty
Victor Plenty
Mon, Aug 10, 2009 6:39pm

Another informative link that’s been making the rounds is the interview Bill Moyers did with former health insurance industry insider Wendell Potter.

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chuck
chuck
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 12:50am

I watched the Bill Moyers interview and it was interesting, although it seemed a bit like an info-mercial, “Tell me Bob how does this juicer make me more healthy.” “Well Ted, I’m glad you asked….”. This is just as “on talking points” as the other side rhetoric. Half truths and details left out on both sides. You really need to apply the political blinders and just give the bill a good sniff test. And that I am sorry to say means reading it for yourself.

I read the 1100+ page bill. It’s not hard to do, or as daunting as you might think. The font is big and the single column is narrow. If you are a quick reader the pages flip by fast.

I am not a big fan of the current system. One big huge flaw is having affordable insurance only through employer sponsored insurance. This makes about as much sense as my employer paying my car insurance, or my club dues. It’s just wrong.

I agree with the Moyers video where it was stated that in the current system a corporate bureaucrat sits between you and your doctor, true and wrong also. Also who has worked for company that suddenly flips insurance providers. You just go along for the ride.

However, the new plan seems a little heavy handed in places, for instance getting the IRS involved in collecting taxes to cover medical. You have no choice, you must have insurance. Not allowing any new private contracts to be written after the day this bill goes into effect(page 16).

I don’t know, it just seems to be more of the same, but now it’s forced or coerced with the power of goverenment behind it. I also don’t think that it is fund-able in the long term.

There needs to be something radically different but I don’t think this is it. Rather than shove this turd through as fast as we can we should all step back and think about it.

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Mathias
Mathias
Tue, Aug 11, 2009 10:10am

I really liked that interview, Victor.
Thanks a bunch.

As a Canadian, i’m pretty shocked at how the richest country in the world runs something as critical to modern day soceity as Healthcare.

Fact: A private-insurance healthcare system exists nowhere else on earth but in the United States. As long as they remain the gatekeepers of healthcare in your country, you will never achieve universal healthcare. The federal government is the only way to do this. And if you’re scared of this, examine Medicare and you’ll see that it’s much more effective and the ones under that program are much happier than private-insurance customers.

Private insurance bigwigs are not out to give you the best care.
They’re out to fatten the pockets of their Wall Street investors. The more care they deny you, the richer they get. The sicker you get, the more zero they can add in their private bank accounts.

HOW SICK OF A SYSTEM IS THAT?

This bill you guys are now considering, there’s an easy way to measure its effectiveness in treating the uninsured or the under-insured. The happier the current healthcare industry is with it, the worse it’ll be for you and yours. The more they whine and complain about shrinking profits and mass layoffs, the better for you and yours.

That’s the one thing you should watch for.

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