In my opinion, we don't need a completely new system. Nor do we need government control over everyone's healthcare. We do need healthcare reform, though. However, I think the uprising is over much more than healthcare reform for a lot of people. It has to do with government control, erosion of freedoms, etc etc. BTW.. concern over erosion of freedoms is not necessarily religiously motivated, as someone else said earlier. People like living here because we have choices. I'm pretty sure I don't want the government making any kind of healthcare decisions for me - and I don't consider myself "religious". I have also been on both ends of the spectrum.. I've had good health insurance and I also lived a long time without any at all... and it was a scary thing. But with all the government bail-outs (that are supposed to be helping the economy) & the budget deficit in the trillions now.. people are getting p!ssed. Healthcare reform is just one part of the pissyness and sort of the last straw for some because of the cost and who will be footing the bill :)

A lot of small business owners (who are the real fabric of our financial society) are screaming for torte reform. Someone mentioned in this thread about insurance company reform - and that is what torte reform is. Right now there is no real competition between states for insurance policies & options. If you are a small business owner - you can only choose from a very small handful (most times you can count them on one hand!) of insurance companies that offer plans in your state when you offer plans to your employees. There are about 1300 insurance companies in the US. If the free market were allowed to do its thing.. competition would take care of insurance costs for nearly everyone - it would be significantly more affordable than it is now. But that in itself is a huge political gamble for politicians - insurance co lobbyists, etc are able to put *a lot* of pressure on our lawmakers. That's mainly why you don't see torte reform in Obama's plan. And if you can actually read Obama's plan and understand it.. you are better than a lot of folks with doctorates who are having trouble figuring out what it actually says - that's part of the problem as well. No one really knows how it will affect them because the plan is littered with legalese & foggy language.

We are told that we can keep our private plans if we want. The trouble with that, is many, many people get their insurance through their place of employment. When the business owners feel the sting of rising costs (and they will be required to provide health insurance) you can bet that cost will be passed on to the consumers or it will result in layoffs, or both. In our current economy, neither is desirable.

There is so much.. much much happening here. It's not a simple matter at all. I could write a book here about my opinions on it, but I'm not going to go on. Personally, I'd prefer they just fix what is broken - starting with torte reform (which will greatly help business owners so that they can provide decent insurance for their employees).. and then go from there.

Just my 2 cents and I know there are other sides :)

I don't work in HR, but I work for the restaurant/hospitality industry. Instead of 600 employees, we have 300. Instead of 50 insured, we have 25.

But everything else is identical. Our premiums went up 69% (and boy was the TIMING on that a coincidence!). We had to switch to a high deductable (company pays part of deductable) plan.

There is so much wrong with our system and people are needlessly dying because of it. Something has to be done and no matter what it is, to be effective, it will make people uncomfortable and afraid.

Have you read what's in the plan that would remedy some of this? For example, smaller business (probable the only people who have a reasonable fear about this) will be allowed to buy into plans with other companies, thus alleviating the costs for everyone.

I thought that was interesting.

Yes I have - it's an "insurance exchange" run by the government. It really is interesting. On the surface it looks like a good thing. But you see things are very complicated with this bill. It is the opinion of many (myself included), that allowing the public option in the bill would eventually leave us with no other choice than the government's plan.. it would erode private insurance completely. There are a myriad of complications resulting from the current combination of things in this bill. Let me just give a link that basically sums up what I think about things from the National Federation of Independent Business:

http://www.nfib.com/tabid/60/tabid/7...msid=49241&v=1

In particular, regarding the public option, this:

http://www.nfib.com/tabid/739/Defaul...msid=49513&v=1

Most people, and rightly so, think of a bill like this in regard to their current personal situation. So do I. But the longer term adverse consequences of this sort of bill could far outweigh any benefit one might see in the very near future.

It's complicated, for sure. The current concoction in this bill is what makes me want them to start just with torte reform first and then re-evaluate.

Edited to add: This is also why a lot of people are wanting to just be left alone - the people that are upset are not just ones that have great insurance - and it also crosses party lines.

Paranoidly shooting it down? That wasn't my intention and I'm sorry if my post came off that way.

This is a good point. And the sad thing is....the self-pay patient who has no insurance is frequently held responsible for the full $2000 bill. Yikes. Ironically, I could afford to pay the $2000 but I don't need to because I have good health coverage. But someone with a lower-paying jog who doesn't have covereage probably also doesn't have $2000 in the bank. So as another poster mentioned, that person will put off going to the doctor or the ER until they are really, really sick.....which means a higher bill!

And hospitals are truly paying the price for this...hence most recent layoffs of nurses and support staff all over the country.Pretty sad.