We will never get single-payer with either one of these two political parties in office. Health care costs are killing our businesses and making them less competitive on the international market.

Folks like Geekhillbilly should consider going overseas for treatment. Panama for instance has excellent hospitals and doctors (most U.S. trained) who do medical/dental procedures at half the cost than here. Just a suggestion for those with no health coverage or would like to save some money.

I have worked in medical services for over 35 years and was a consultat for the state of CA for 10 years. 50 years ago the insurance industry set up a strategy to maximize profits and cut losses. The policies that evolved were designed to take advantage of the lowest pooled risk inherent in the healthiest populations in the US and then cut off services for those who got sick. Anyone who was sick represented too much of a risk and were prohibited from having access to medical insurance. The insurance execs and bankers are the same people who created the financial crisis we are in today. They have failed us as medical consumers and condemned our grandchildren to a life with little hope of fulfilling their American dream. The bankers and insurance execs have caused more damage to the US economy than any middle eastern terrorist could have ever hoped for. These people should be prosecuted for fraud, neglegence, and accessory to murder, and, when it comes to creating the financial meltdown we are in right now, they should be charged with treason.

Geekhillbilly

The healthcare system is showing signs of breaking down due to corporate greed.As I see it,healthcare will go single-payer within 5 years,as the insurance companies pricing themselves out of business.

I have already suffered 2 amputations due to lack of health insurance.Any other system,be it British or Canadian patterned,is preferable to the greed based system we have now.

And why didn't you have coverage? Which was it? It cost too much? Did you wait to long?

Why exactly were you unable to have medical coverage nor not save for your health issues?

demi - I will give you an example. I was 52y/o. I was fit and healthy and paid for medical insurance for over 30 years. I had BC/BS's top policy. I got sick. Two years of diagnostic work ups cost almost $200K. Year 2 insurance company began denying payment for some of the MRIs and lab. Treatment for the next 4 years cost $250,000 to 500,000 a year. BC/BS has a $2million cap. When I realized that they were going to continue to jerk me around (filling out endless forms for payment and appeals) and was faced with the $2million cap I had to quit my job and go onto SSDI. The private insurance system failed to provide me with the services I needed to live and forced me to leave a very good job.

I was notified yesterday that my healthcare premiums were increasing 44%. So much for ObamaCare lowering healthcare costs. ObamaCare will destroy our healthcare system and force many people into government sponsored healthcare plans (just what the dems intended.) The dems want to control every aspect of our economy. ObamaCare must be repealed! Take the trash out in November and impeach Obama in 2011.

Our insurance premium went up 57% before health care reform. So you can't completely blame your increase on the health care reform.

Yes, you can completely blame ObamaCare for the increase. All of these new coverage changes must be paid for. Did you really think that you could cover pre-existing conditions for children and unlimited coverage amount for nothing? The insurance companies are doing what they have to do to stay in business. We cannot afford ObamaCare.

Bend over, here comes your hope and change.

Sadly, the cost of your medical visit after the arse reaming has increased by 20 percent.

The increases are due to the insurance execs greed and vindictiveness. They have just used the new law to punish us for having the balls to pass any kind of regulations without their approval. Send the greedy insurance execs to jail!

...It was indeed foolish to mandate Americans purchase private insurance while at the same time imposing restrictions and mandates on private insurers. The net outcome will be the same kind of retaliation against consumers as the banks and credit card issuers did after finance and credit card reform was enacted........Low cost health insurance is not possible without a competing public option, or while insurance companies are exempt from anti-trust laws.......This so-called sell-out to insurance companies type of reform will hurt more than it will help.........Although I do not believe a republican Congress would make health care any more affordable, this Albatross is on the backs of Congressional democrat leaders

Michael Bishop - Based on your description, it sounds like your treatment for 4 years cost around $2 million.

You don't think that's a problem? Just the insurance system?

Wow! Love your analytical thinking.

Let's see. If your insurance premiums were $100,000 per year for 20 years, they'd cover that cost easily.

Ellis

A good argument for single payer health care. The insurance companies cannot be trusted to act in a moral proper manner. Corporate greed is all they know!!

If our president had not tried to work with the republicans, who were in no way going to act in good faith, we would have had decent health care reform, now we have something that's only a small improvement and allows loopholes for the corporatists to take advantage of the system.

And then the republican lemmings blame the health care plan for the increases. That's laughable at best, but the appropriate response is tears.

Michael Bishop-1520606 - I believe you are lying. Do a search on how many people with BCBS have exhausted their lifetime maximum limit. When people were getting close to it back in 1993, they increased it to $5 million. By the way, that is what is paid by the carrier, not what is billed. First you tell us you worked in the industry for 35 years and then you tell us you can't get treated? You go on to complain about certain tests and procedures being questioned....well, if it is not medically necessary to have repeat MRI's and testing and you elect to do it yourself, why should insurance pay? You think Canada's system of socialized medicine is going to be better here? You need twice the approvals and proof to validate a treatment there as you do with an insurance carrier here.

So they found some lady in New Hampshire that is benefitting from the HCRA? Didn't she know she could have got coverage through New Hampshire Health Plan years ago that issues to those that can't get coverage through standard means? Why didn't she? Same with that woman in Ohio that Obama made a big deal of.

Geek, you want to call this all "insurance greed" huh? You want to pay $100/month and get $1000 a month in benefit....who is being greedy? You could have paid into the system, gotten insurance before you were sick, or purchased it through a CHIP plan, but chose to risk it and keep that premium. Who is being greedy? Now you want to blame insurance companies and the health industry because of your lack of personal responsibility.

This screwed up administration inflates a bunch of numbers telling us what a crisis this is, and then, when it's available, it isn't getting used by those who it was supposed to be helping. California has 20,000 that require care and less than 450 have shown interest? Glad we paid $5 billion for those 450...they must be Obama's aunts or something.

What's laughable Ferro is that people blame insurance companies for the high cost of healthcare. Tell me Ferro.... how come you don't complain about the profit doctors and hospitals make? Why don't you complain about the profit pharmacutical companies make? No... it's the evil insurance executives that you blame.... just as your master told you to.

Michael Bishop-1520606

The increases are due to the insurance execs greed and vindictiveness. They have just used the new law to punish us for having the balls to pass any kind of regulations without their approval. Send the greedy insurance execs to jail!

You really don't understand the new law do you? Any increase you see now is due entirely to the Reform Act. Part of the act demands that insurance carriers pay 80% of collected premiums toward medical claims. The mandate is 85% for individual health plans. How many other industries do you know that can work effectively on 20%? Sure as hell not the US government. Can you imagine of 80% of collected taxes had to be paid back to the taxpayer in some sort of service/benefit and all the government jobs could only account for 20%?

LOL...public option...government insurance, single payer. The only people that want that kind of welfare already are living on taxpayers and could care less if I have to give 60% of my check to the government.

gday

Give me time

All of the above!!!

Better?

Actually Blue Cross/ Blue Shield in most states are non-profit. Their are many others. For example in Massachusetts the three largest health insurers (including Blue Cross/Blue Shield) lost $100 - $150 million each in 2009.

The 2 million cap has little to do with corporate greed. It has everything to do with them insuring against bankruptcy. You were lucky to have a $2 million cap - some policies are only $1 Million caps. If you were to purchase an individual plan you probably get a $3 Million cap. That cap gives them a way to figure out how much premium to charge.

Because of the HCL elimination of life-time maximums - insurance companies are going to set different unseen caps to give you a price. If they set that high enough, they bring in enough money to cover costs. if they set the maximum too low, they go bankrupt. Most probably switched people form the lower caps to the higher cap premiums and increased premiums accordingly.

My health insurance goes up up 12.6% November 1. My individual plan had the higher life-time maximum - and that is all my health insurance would sell me. I'm hearing others going up between 19 & 33%. a 44% increase would tell me you not only had a lower life-time maximum AND your group must have much higher than average medical expenses.

You might reconsider blaming the Health Insurance for the lifetime maximum. Employers pick that for you based on "saving" money or "controlling" costs.

Ray - You seem to be building the rationale to seek election to the death pannel.

Look, $2,000,000 is alot of money. That is not an unreasonable cap.

Remember, the rest of us will have to "Help" pay for the medical care that you (and not us) are getting. Imagine if you had to pay for what you are getting with your own money.

The reason why people are not joining the risk pools is that they are getting treatment, just like before the Healthscare Law, without having insurance.

Why would they want to pay insurance premiums when they know they will never repay the hospital anyway?

And the really savy people will just get insurance once they need coverage for a major problem. Since they can't deny coverage, you can just wait to get insurance until you have something that needs to be covered. Then you can drop the insurance once the condition is treated. Of course, as a national policy it will never work, but what did you expect?

Welcome to the Democrat controlled US Government. Where everyone is taken care of by mommy Gov't, and someone else pays for it.

Or as I call it - "The Land of Make Believe"

I agree that there will probably be an increase in premiums by the insurance companies, but it will be because the insurance companies perceive a threat to the charmed position they have been enjoying for now.

"Obama and Reid rushed the bill.. without any real thought".. really?? It's funny that Repubs talk about how bloated the bill is at over 2000 or whatever pages, and then you say there's no thought that went into it. You can't have it both ways, my friend, it makes you look dumb. I'm not going to argue that this bill is the best thing since sliced bread-it's not. But I challenge you to learn about the benefits of this bill before you dismiss it outright just because it was passed by a Democratic president and congress.

If you want some examples- extending parental coverage of children to age 26, elimination of rescission practices, providing greater choices to states where there are very limited private insurance options, etc... Explain to me how these are "nothing to improve the health care system"?

This system is designed to push our health care system into a single payer system. There is absolutely nothing in the Health Reform Act to deal with increasing costs. This bill is designed to limit health insurance provider options and drive them out of business while doing nothing to limit costs. Where is the torte reform which limits frivilous lawsuits sapping money from the system. In every state where serious torte reform has been enacted, within 3 years health insurance rates have dropped between 20-30%. But this would really hit trial lawyers in the pocket book who are one of the biggest Democratic campaign donors. If you really want true competition, open it up to interstate health insurance competition. Industry consultants say this could bring down rates as much as 20-25%. But none of these cost controls have been entertained or moved on. Why do we say? Because if they work the way industry professionals think, even on the minimum side, there will be no need for a public option to be considered with far less government control. That is what the Democrats have been working on for 80 years. They can't have that.

Let's get some facts straight about rescissions: first, it has been against the law for almost two decades for an insurance company to cancel someone's policy just because they got sick. Secondly, rescission refers to the act of cancelling a policy due to a violation of the terms of the contract (policy): namely, putting false information on the insurance application. For example, assume a person filled out an application for insurance and stated that they have never been treated for, nor are aware, that they have diabetes. Then one week after the policy becomes effective they submit a claim for insulin. Such an action is a red flag to an insurance company, who is well within their rights to investigate the claim. If they person is found to have lied on the application, the policy can be rescinded. This is a prudent business practice on the part of the insurance company; without it, everyone's premiums will go up. By 2014, it won't matter anyway since everyone must be covered regardless of their medical condition. But I just wanted to set the record straight.

mor -- That is a crock. Premiums are set by the insurance companies. The execs need to show an increase in their annual net so that they can justify the 20-30% raise they want. The crooks in Bell, CA learned from the insurance execs. Since the insurance companies have a regional monopoly, there has been no cap to the frequency or the amount of the rate increases. On the other side, the medical care administrators have to show an increase in their annual net so they can also justify the ridiculously large augmentations to their salaries. The only variable that the medical care system has no control over (and no one is talking about) are the costs that are associated with providing free medical care to the illegal immigrants. The illegals walk into emergency rooms in every part of the country, use fake ID and never have to pay a dime. Once they are out the door they melt back into the masses until they need medical care the next time. If they get sick or are injured, all they have to do is go to a new hospital. No one is tracking them from one facility to another and they have no way of collecting from them.

the biggest crock was the refusal of the Government and Administration to address why medical treatment costs so much.

The hilarious part is that there is a direct correlation between the creation of medicaid/medicare and Insurance costs as the government itself caused medical to rise.

Want to see another funny government thing...go look at American Public Schools pre-Department of Education and now.

mor23113 against the law to cancel someones coverage because they are sick. What land are you in. I worked for a helathcare company for years and we canceled peoples policy all the time. Our CEO once told us that although we are in the health care business this was not about peoples health it was about profits. And investors only invest in companies that pay a 70% of its claims. I personally was in charge of finding loop holes in order to not pay for claims. That is what insurance companies do.

Got a question for all you socialists.....so who is this magical "single payer" that is going to fix all your problems? Can you tell me how this "public option" is supposed to do a better job?

Good observation Ray - I came to that conclusion by reading the HCB. Unfortunately people like to believe the Democrats and the News media - to the detriment of all.

Rgil - it's not a threat - It's Reality. Principal - in something like 23 states announced that it is leaving the Health Insurance business - they will off load their insurance contracts to someone else. Principal was my dental insurer but considered by my dentist as one of the better Dental insurers.

My wife came home today to tell me that her boss would be losing one of his biggest clients. Turns out they are in the Health Insurance industry. The owner used to make regular on time payments which in the last year started not coming. The owner has been borrowing to keep the company floating and the owner is now trying to sell the business.

I'm putting this out there because I've been hearing for two weeks that the smaller insurers were struggling to find ways to meet the HCL. Many are seriously considering dropping out of the Health care business. Small Health insurers make up about 400 of the 500+ remaining Health Insurance companies.

Last week a total of 24 health insurers - 3 really large ones including my Health Insurer announce they would no longer offer children only Policies - the HCL is guaranteeing a loss if they continue.

Folks it's time to put the donkeys out to pasture!

Thanks.I'm doing all right,having had surgery just over a week ago,waiting for the stump to heal.I live alone with 2 tiny house dogs for company.(Both the chihuahua and the norwich terrier might reach 3 pounds soaking wet.)

I've rigged a temporary way to move around my home without a wheelchair.Hurts a lot,but it works.

BTW,Sugar(the terrier) just hopped onto my lap while I've been typing this.Bless her little furry heart.

I have 3 appointments in the next week and a friend will take me,as I cannot drive at this time.

I'll survive hopefully overcome this like I've done too many times in the past.

Geek

I feel for you. You're a brave man.

Our government's real responsibility should be to people like you who need the help and cannot get it anywhere else. It's our national shame that the truly needy cannot get what they need, and the rich dudes get big tax breaks.

I agree, although I DO think that people who have the money to pay for insurance should get it, even if they do have a prior condition. their is alot of good in this bill. Too bad it got overshaowed b politicking, pork spending, bribes, and down right illegal ideas. I mean, forcing gov't healthcare on people? Come on. WTF Senate. W.T.F.

It's your right to think that I should get health insurance if I have the money. It is my RIGHT to do with my money what I want. The federal government has no authority to mandate that I buy something from a private corporation. I have yet to see the so called good in this bill at all. Anything that might be good is completely thrown out because of the unconstitutional mandate.

Ah, You misunderstood me. What I meant was, If you have a previous condition, you should not be discriminated against JUST because of the condition. I agree the mandate is Unconstitutional, but until it gets realed, or ruled unconstitutional bt the Supreme court, we have to deal with it.

You are already being "taxed" when you pay for medical insurance - the money just goes to the insurance execs and their minions. Premiums are set by the insurance companies. The execs need to show an increase in their annual net so that they can justify the 20-30% raise they want. The crooks in Bell, CA learned from the insurance execs. Since the insurance companies have a regional monopoly, there has been no cap to the frequency or the amount of the rate increases. On the other side, the medical care administrators have to show an increase in their annual net so they can also justify the ridiculously large augmentations to their salaries. You will pay one way or another.

Sorry, I misunderstood you I see to many on these boards that would like to oppose their ideology onto everyone else using the federal governments strong arm and thought that was what you were saying. I can see where insurance companies would ban preexisting conditions because insurance is supposed to work based on potential problems not problems that already exist. It is a shared gamble that policy holders pay into and can get coverage IF something should happen. If you have a condition that guarantees problems then that is stacking the deck in your favor and insurance companies may never get from you what they pay out to you.

michael - executive bonuses are 1% to 1.5% of profits. Profits soared to and average of 6% of premiums last year. Health Insurance profits are normally between 1% & 2% of premiums each year. IF it were on the premiums that would equal $1.50 out of every $100 you pay in premium. On $6000 of premiums bonuses would be $90. Wow that really breaks the piggy bank - doesn't it?

The profit increases you are seeing are the overall profits of a for profit company and includes all Insurance that they sell.

You somehow missed the fact that most of the profit is gained through investment schemes.

As I said to Ray earlier, This bill started out as a good idea, but got turned into a monster by the Senat & the House Dems, just so they could get it passed. I swear, this is probably the ONLY thing I agree 100% on with the Repubs. This bill needs to be repealed, minus the actual GOOD ideas in it, and replaced with something better. HOw about opening up interstate healthcare competition? HEll, you could actually regulate it MORE if you did that(you know how Dems love their Regulations), considering only the Federal Gov't can control interstate commerece. Repubs would love it to, since it promotes capitalism. Everyone is happy. Too bad they only focus on the negative aspects about it.

Face

You should face the facts. It was the republicans who ruined the bill, not the dems. If the republicans had not decided as a party policy to resist anythng Obama did just becasue he was Obama, we would have the health care we need. You have played right into their hands. They obstructed it and got it so that it was not nearly as good as it should have been, then blamed the democrats for it not being what is should be. Hypocrisy in it's highest (lowest) form!!

Ferro.... when this bill was passed the Dems didn't need any Rep votes to pass anything... so don't blame the Reps for the Dems incompetence.

I'm not blaming them for the incompetence, as that's what it was. They assumed the republicans were honorable people, and we know the answer to that one. Their incompetnece was in expecting that the concessions they made to get some semblence of bipartisanship would not be for naught.

Repeal it and let the States run it. Massachusetts has Gov't run healthscare plan. It's not working there (and soon we will see the same nationwide), but why must the Federal Gov't be behind it?

Oh, maybe because the states without Gov't Healthscare will out perform those with it?

Oh, maybe because it would bankrupt the states and they can't print money to cover this disastrous idea?

Cue,

So the monster bill that Republicans had no imput in and was passed without any Republican votes is now their fault? WTF!!! Turn the channel and put down the sheep juice!

watt

You don't remember. The democrats made many concessions to get republican votes, as they said they would cooperate, then the republicans voted against it anyway in a cynical dishonest ploy so that the gullible could say what you just said. You're being played like a harp

We can get rid of those forcing this failed idea on us in November. We've run this country down following the Democrat playbook for 80 years.

It's time for new ideas, and you are not going to ever get anything but bigger Gov't from the Democrats.

The Republicans are not without blemish, but they are all we have to slow down the growth of Government.

medicare is the best " to bad the whole country cannot be on it!!!

If they went to medicare for the country the companies and business could compete much better!!!

The savings would help pay down the national debt a lot faster!!!

If the Repubs do win they better be prepared to solve a lot of the problems facing the country, and if they do not produce they will find themselves looking for work when the Dems take over everything again in 2012!!!

And if they do repeal health care they will have to replace it with something better or they will be looking for work !!!

Are you kidding? Did you know the McDonalds policy charged $50 plus a month and had a cap of $2000? What a scam! JI don't know the particulars on the other companys but I have a suspicion they are not much different.

Umm, are you kidding? After ALL I wrote... that is the best reply you can give me? Are you serious???

I also did not see in the Constitution that an individual is guaranteed health care either. So your point is?

Their point is they may DIE! You are so cold.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In case you missed it.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Sounds like health care to me!

PROMOTING IS NOT PROVIDING. There is a very big difference,

pro·mote (from dictionary.com)

/prəˈmoʊt/ [pruh-moht] –verb (used with object), -mot·ed, -mot·ing.

1. to help or encourage to exist or flourish; further: to promote world peace.

2. to advance in rank, dignity, position, etc. ( opposed to demote).

3. Education . to put ahead to the next higher stage or grade of a course or series of classes.

4. to aid in organizing (business undertakings).

5. to encourage the sales, acceptance, etc., of (a product), esp. through advertising or other publicity.

6. Informal . to obtain (something) by cunning or trickery; wangle.

pro·vide (also from dictionary.com)

  [pruh-vahyd] verb, -vid·ed, -vid·ing.

–verb (used with object)

1. to make available; furnish: to provide employees with various benefits.

2. to supply or equip: to provide the army with new fighter planes.

3. to afford or yield.

4. Law . to arrange for or stipulate beforehand, as by a provision or proviso.

5. Archaic . to prepare or procure beforehand.

–verb (used without object)

6. to take measures with due foresight (usually fol. by for or against ).

7. to make arrangements for supplying means of support, money, etc. (usually fol. by for ): He provided for his children in his will.

8. to supply means of support (often fol. by for ): to provide for oneself.

Perhaps you should improve your reading comprehension, GlooBoy, truth, and Ferrosynthesis II.

By the way, please explain to me why I should pay for yours or anyone elses health insurance? I pay my own and that of my family.

Such stark stereotyping does nothing to help the discussion. People, for the most part, can't be catoragized in such black and white terms. Everybody is a shade of grey.

I, for example, consider myself to be moderate in my politics. I've voted for Perot, Bush the first, and Obama (mostly because W was such a disaster). I think that the medical delivery system in our country is the best in the world for quality and outcome, but is the worst in the world for accessability and affordability. We are the richest country in the world, but when a 52 yr old person that is laid off and loses insurance gets cancer, it's a death sentence. That, my friend, is not right and is an affront to American values and principals. The last time I checked, Darwinian socialism(survival of the fitist) isn't subscribed to by the majority of Americans.

Your last point is flawed in that people don't just decide they need health care, the need for it is imposed upon them by disease or injury. Many jobs don't have health care as a benefit, and most people just can't afford the premiums on their own.

The libs don't want to ban guns. They want the gun people out hunting because they usually end up shooting each other. Or shooting one of their kids when he comes home in the middle of the night. Or shooting a neighbor when he comes home early from work and finds the neighbor on top of his wife. It's about the only form of natural selection we have left.

Cityguy1. I am just a country lawyer and while you try to sound reasonable and articulate, you have no idea how much the lack of insurance coverage costs this country. This is not about people wanting to be on the take, which is obviously your view, it is about medical bills from destroying families when no one dies. Do you have any idea of how many good families have to file bankruptcy because of the lack of medical insurance? If the hospitals did not have to write off the Billions of dollars per year, the cost of medical treatment would go down. Apparently you have the same philosophy held by many right wingers: "The onlyreason people file for bankruptcy is because they are poor money managers" How ignorant.

Noladude. I hear lotsa hate for those who want to help others.

JohnWI=======You missed something when the health insurance bill passed it was the Democrats voting the legislation through. The Republicans could not stop them if they wanted. This health insurance plan was brought to you by Obama and the Democrats in Congress. Hands off on the Republicans with this one. If you think back you might remember the open bribery on the floors of the Congress.

The price of health insurance at $600.00 per month for one sick person is a lot of money. Plus you need not forget that the rest of that family needs insurance too. So what are they to do get their payroll check and just give it the Democrats to spend for them. Simply amazing that Obama and Congress sold many in this country into something that was not.

Smokie -

That's just it, the liberals want a scapegoat to blame for their own failures. Well, it's too bad, this one belongs to the Democrats. They did not need a single Republican vote to get it passed. What is really sad about the entire affair is that they had to bribe and extort their own party to vote for the piece of trash.

You're such a nice man! Will you send me a check so I can get my new teeth?

WalterPaul=======Something better? Yeah, right. Not from the bunch we have running the country now. Better get a grip on it. After the first of the year you will see fees and cost getting a lot higher. Services will most probably start going down to cover the cost.

Smoke...Where have you been. HC Cost, coverage, the whole nine yards have been rising for years. Never stopped rising since started. You hit the nail on the head. If you have a idea other than the blame game of the current administration then lets here it. My 2 cents, HC companies should be non-profit or put out of business. I won't get into the stuff we all know like dropped coverage, shareholders and so on.

If you get them out of the profit margin they will be out of business. That's not good at all. Do you actually think the people in Washington can run a National Health Care System? We have one that is close to that now, Medicare-Medicaid and those two are costing us a fortune and cost there are rising and the services getting worse. If you listen to what they are saying in Washington that just about all of the Social Programs we have in place can not be paid for now and they just added this 2 trillion dollar prize on the top of it. That's real damn smart of the Washington crowd that just happened to put this legislation together in less than a year. Right a lot of thought went into this legislation.

So as a matter of fact the Medicare-Medicaid systems are so big that the government hires private enterprise companies to run their programs for them. That being the case these companies also need to make a profit. Everybody works for wages and wages will always be an overhead cost. The cost will always to tied to a profit margin anyway you look at it.

I sure in the hell wish I knew that answer to this problem but I do believe that if the people in Washington got together and did things right they would come up with a better solution. Obama banking on just Democrats to pass this monster was not in the best interest of the is country or to any of us. This was sloppy and criminal. Those that backed this legislation should be a shamed to put their names on it and voted out of office for not doing a better job. We pay these dummies a lot of money and except the best from them. Simply stupid for Obama and the Democrats to force this plan on all of us.

Which is more important - health CARE or health INSURANCE?

This debacle does virtually nothing to address the real issues with health care such ass a real shortage of health care professionals.

Perhaps if the liberals had gotten their priorities straight....

Great observation!!!!!

Load of B.S.

People DIE who don't need to. There's your profit.

Insurance companies save lives everyday. For every bad story you hear about insurance companies there are thousands of good stories.

Notice the cost estimates have doubled since it was enacted yet I've only heard this on the financial channels. Did anyone really think it would be that cheap? Proof once again that you can't get something for nothing, and there's a sucker born every minute.

No wonder calls for it's repeal have increased since it was passed.