Obama v. McCain: Who has the best healthcare plan for America? Is healthcare a make-or-break issue for you?

I agree with jawirt, I am looking for someone that is going to help with the price of health care as well as other issues.  It seems as though obama has a pretty good agenda on decreasing the premium cost.  I currently work full time but the premium for my employers insurance  to cover me and the kids is outrageous.  Not to mention the out of pocket for emergency room visits, dr visits and medicine.  I'm looking for someone that can help me in the long run.

I want all nurses to understand my current situation.  I started on Social Security disability in January of this year.  I had many complications after a hysterectomy, was in a nursing home, had no job, no income, no place to live.  To top it all off, when I finally was well enough to leave the nursing home, I was not eligible for medical assistance because I had sold my house less than 3 years ago.  I currently have NO HEALTH INSURANCE AND NO WAY TO PAY FOR MEDICATION.  I will not be eligible for Medicare until I am disabled for 3 years.  I worked as a nurse for 32 years, so I supposedly make too much money on SSD to get Medical Assistance.  I cannot pay for medicine that costs hundreds of dollars a month.  I cannot pay for medical care.  I owe one hospital several hundred thousand dollars.  I AM A NURSE WITH A MASTER's DEGREE IN NURSING ADMINISTRATION.  This could happen to you, too.  Which presidential candidate would help me?  Certainly not McCain, if he thinks that individuals can pay for their own insurance.  I don't believe that Obama would ,either, because his plan appears to be much of the same current governmental bureaucratic mess. 

I am currently on Badger Care in Wisconsin as I need it to protect my daughter and myself.  The real answer is that health insurance is similar to energy.  There must be a range of services that must be available to all Americans.  The idea of socialized access to healthcare is terrifying as we will all be standing in line for service like they do in England and Canada.  There are hard working good people that do not have healthcare coverage and should.   The idea to give service or to create a competive marketplace to drive costs down needs to be balanced to not bankrupt the best care system in the world.

Sorry, But I don't see socilized medicine being successful . Therefore, I will vote for McCain. I worked with nurses who used to come from England and Canada who left because they had no equipment and the pay was awful.

Obama is "cotton candy" healthcare reform. All talking with no substance.  What will ANY President do? People should start talking to the big health insurance companies. They are the ones controlling all the premiums and no health coverages. They decide who and how much. I needed to go to the ER a few weeks ago and now my health insurance wont pay a dime...they told me it was a "non emergency". I work in the Emergency Dept at another hospital.   Who are they to tell me it wasnt an emergency. Healthcare just fires me up

MamaDawn says ...

Healthcare is important, but to me the most important thing is that we founded this country and its constitution on 'In GOD we trust"

Something Obama knows nothing about.  He also refuses to put his hand on his heart when the National Anthem is sung......

SCAREY Man

No matter who your candidate is -Please verify your information via www.snopes.com or any other urban legend site- we need real information about our candidates- not negative, mud slinging, fear ads...

"if we are motivated by our fears and hurts our country will never come out of the vicious circle of violence"  - anonymous

ckruszka says ...

Sorry, But I don't see socilized medicine being successful . Therefore, I will vote for McCain. I worked with nurses who used to come from England and Canada who left because they had no equipment and the pay was awful.

I am not saying that socialized medicine will work in this country, but, I know several nurses that come from countries that have socialized medicine that manage to go home every year for their check up because according to them it so much less expensive and since they are going to see their families, they might as well see the doctors while they are there. 

I once believed in the lofty goal of "universal health care". Who wouldn't support that goal? Doesn't everyone have a "right" to health care?

It was easy to agree with a meaningless campaign promise such as "Affordable Health Care for All". It takes effort to research the topic and understand economic reasoning and history.

Once I questioned the sound bites, I realized that government intervention in the market (e.g., Medicare, FDA regulations, physician licensing, insurance regulations) is the reason for artificially high health care prices.

So-called Universal Healthcare amplifies all problems:

1) Reduces patient incentives to find the best possible prices for the best possible services/products available.

Patients in the U.S. who receive "free" (taxpayer-funded) health care have no incentive to conserve their health care dollars. Care is "free" so they visit the doctor's office several times a month or request "free" prescriptions for over-the-counter medication such as Tylenol.

2) Reduces physician incentives to provide competitive care and reduces drug companies' incentives to provide new drugs and treatments.

With no incentive to provide quality care, physicians and nurses leave the government-monopolized area for better opportunities in a freer country. Shortages result. Drug companies are hindered by price controls and regulations and soon cease research and development of new medication. In the U.S., start-up drug companies cannot afford to run the FDA gauntlet, so the market is dominated by a few established corporations.

3) Steals from your wallet to pay for my health care.

Yes, you do have a right to health care, just as you have a right to food, shelter and property. However, you have no "right" to force others to provide these things for you - All "free" medical care is subsidized through taxes stolen from other people.

4) The quality of "free" health care will deteriorate and the average citizen will get sicker.

As the poor and middle-class wait in agony for simple procedures, those with resources can travel to other countries for treatment.

5) Destroys your privacy.

Suddenly your problems are mine and mine are yours. If you eat unhealthy foods or drive a motorcycle without a helmet, I have a direct interest in your business - you are going to see a provider on my tax dollars. Your neighbors might support government bans on smoking, "unsafe" sex or other "risky" behaviors to reduce costs. Politicians will use the federal bureaucracy to force you and your family to comply with programs such as the "New Freedom Commission on Mental Health".

6) Destroys your liberty.

When you blindly support a system that bestows power on politicians and bureaucrats, they will receive their orders from those with the most money - and this will not be you, your friends or your family. The power of government will be used against you as you are forced to use medicines or accept treatments from well-connected health care companies.

A quick search shows that pharmaceutical companies donated $152,437,727 to political campaigns since 1990. Who do you think has the ear of those elected politicians?

Conversely, if government power is eliminated (e.g., abolish the FDA - whose restrictions benefit the most powerful companies by eliminating most competition), those same companies would have to use their funds and resources to sell their drugs to the most people in the least expensive, most reliable and safest way. They would need to outperform their competitors to get your money - otherwise they lose business.

Thanks for the link. I will take a look at it.

cmarien says ...

"One thing that people do not understand is that we all do have health insurance. Majority of Americans carry health insurance, over 80%. Now the remainder 20 million Americans, majority of which are eligible for different types of state run health insurance, especially for children. The rest are actually Illegal Immigrants. So what you see here isn't a failure on anyone’s part, but just a lack of knowledge on the individual to find the right places to go and the right social programs that are out there. I believe in McCain's plan because the government has no right to tell me where I have to go or what procedures I am allowed to have done. I see Obama's plan and cringe. When a politician says, “It will cost less than what you are paying now." That is a lie. He does not know what I am paying or what you are paying. He is just lying to get a vote. McCain's plan seems to have more common sense involved. He's got my vote."

This, my friend, is the biggest bunch of BS I think I have read in this thread.  I was a single mom for 12 years. I worked 60 sometimes 70 hours a week as a hairstylist just to make ends meet.  I did not have health insurance for ALL of those years. I couldn't afford it for myself and I "made too much money" to qualify for any of those fabulous programs you are describing above.  My children had it through their father (thank God!) he was a policeman and worked for the county.   Believe me there wasn't a form I didn't fill out to try and get some sort of assistance.  One lady actually told me if I just worked less I could qualify...WORK LESS?!? seriously??  I was using a grocery budget of $150 a month to feed 4 people on...meanwhile there was a lady in front of me in the line at the grocery store buying t-bone steak with food stamps...I'm sure her and all 6 of her kids had medicade...she definately didn't look as if she had missed any meals..  12 years people...!!!

I did get sick one time in 2000...small bowel obstruction..I had to go to the ER I actually thought I had appendicitis.  Lucky for me the barium enema they gave me for the CT scan "fixed" everything.. They wanted to admit me...I refused...I left AMA, went to accounting (because I'm not one of those people who doesn't pay) and fianally payed off that bill about 1 year ago... 

This is one reason I'm voting for Obama...You all may not like his idea for health insurance coverage...but something is better than nothing...

cmarien says ...

One thing that people do not understand is that we all do have health insurance. Majority of Americans carry health insurance, over 80%. Now the remainder 20 million Americans, majority of which are eligible for different types of state run health insurance, especially for children. The rest are actually Illegal Immigrants. So what you see here isn't a failure on anyone’s part, but just a lack of knowledge on the individual to find the right places to go and the right social programs that are out there. I believe in McCain's plan because the government has no right to tell me where I have to go or what procedures I am allowed to have done. I see Obama's plan and cringe. When a politician says, “It will cost less than what you are paying now." That is a lie. He does not know what I am paying or what you are paying. He is just lying to get a vote. McCain's plan seems to have more common sense involved. He's got my vote.

Where are you getting the facts you are stating? According to the Federal Government's own statistics you are incorrect in your statements  http://www.census.gov/hhs/www/hlthins/usernote/table2usernote.xls 

Facts, not Fear!

In England, Canada and other countries in the European Union with universal health insurance in case of emergency there is no waiting. If you have appendicitis you have an appendectomy...NO waiting. Don't we still wait for a week or two to visit the family practitioner? Back in the 80-ies Sweden had the best health care system in the world. People pay more taxes but then when you get sick you don't worry how you are going to afford hospital stay, surgery...etc. I believe that anyone should have access to basic medical services. How the health system will be reformed?...I don't know. But for certain, there is way too much administrative staff working within the insurance companies. Funds need to be diverted towards insurance coverage not paying one person to answer the phone and the other person to transfer the call.

Health care is expensive but shouldn't be only for the very rich. Everyone should have access to basic medical care. I believe that some States in the northeast already have similar insurance plans for low-income people, like Vermont. I wish I would be optimistic about the health care here, in the country. But if there is no major change in the near future I am afraid that the whole system will not be able to meet the challenges of tomorrow and will colapse. In Germany, there is a universal health care system but there are private insurance companies, too. And...Norway, France, Sweden are the top countries with the best living conditions and accessible health care.

Proud Navy Wife...How dare you say that you may not vote.  That is not the way to institute change.  If you choose not to vote you forfeit your right to complain about the way things are being run.  It is unbelievable that any American would miss out on their God-given right to vote!!!

I must agree with NiteNurseDeb.  A socialized healthcare will be wasteful, ration will cause especially long waits for the chronically sick ones.