csrein says ...

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. 

Care, I am also a nurse on SSD. However, I  think you're incorrect about Senator McCain's thought that individuals can  pay for their own insurance. He has a plan for individuals with pre-esisting conditions and anoher plan to subsidize the income of LOW-INCOME Americans; so that they can purchase insurance:

www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

Annie

 When the government gets involved in anything and tries to regulate it it gets bloated and wasteful.  The best example we have of government involvement in health care is the health care for the armed forces and veterans.  Any one familiar with that system knows it does not compare with the private world.  Obviously there is no perfect system but asking the government to be responsible for your health care is a big mistake.  Several years ago in France over 10,000 people died from heat stroke in nursing homes there while Jacques Chirac was in Canada cooling his heels.  That is socialized medicine.  Make no mistake about it health care will become increasingly rationed as the government increasingly becomes the provider of health care.  The government can only provide health care by taking money from someone to provide the services for another.  Any one who has been paid by Medicare, Medicaid, or any other governmental pay system knows you can barely even meet expenses based on their reimbursement.  Look at how many people stay in medicine for a career in the armed forces.  That's the best it gets.  Comparing our care here to Scandinavian countries is a little disingenuous since they have had more of a homogenous culture with a much smaller population and many fewer malpractice cases (you don't sue the government, try to sue the military or VA for your care for example).  They do not have 30 million illegal aliens.  Unfortunately, regardless of who wins the election there is going to be increasingly rationed care.  Although abortion on demand throughout pregnancy will be paid for (much cheaper than paying for a person throughout their entire life),  assisted suicide will become increasingly popular and paid for (again much cheaper than paying to keep someone alive), and to the degree mental and psychiatric care is covered and paid for by the government on par with physical wellness and illness then we will see more people going on disability for those diagnosis.  These things are happening in socialized European health care.

Having two brothers who have lived abroad essentially all their adult lives (Japan and France) and having traveled extensively all my life (spending large amounts of time in France, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and having lived in Tunisia) I am of the opinion that we presently still have the best health care system in the world.  I am a military brat and my wife was an air force flight nurse.

No socialized medicine. Look at the countries with it. Bad News. Socialized government...spread the wealth around..sounds communistic, like China, and Russia are. Then ya got the Late birth Abortion issue with Obama too!  Help us God if this guy gets in office! NOBama, NOBama!

McCain has it right. No socialized medicine. Do the research. Bad news. Prevention is the best medicine, a long with everything else. He has a proven track record on working ACROSS Party Lines.. one of the MOST LIberal Republicans,...and has voted Democratic on Many issues.  He and Palin have the better plan for America!  He is best for America.Watch and See!

yes exactly, Obama seems to think that socializing medicine is going to make things better. What is he crazy obviously he has not checked out the coontries that are run with socialized medicine. He is alot of talk without much substance. My vote will go to McCain.

There is no perfect healthcare system in the world. Everyone should be able to have access to basic medical care. Here, people wait at the doctor's office, too. Sometimes, it takes weeks to make an appointment and in the meantime you get to feel better. Or you just go to the emergency room and end up with a huge bill because...it wasn't emergency after all. But you are sick. Then make arrangements to pay you bill in the years ahead...and you had a health insurance, right? When you retire and live on a pension and  a small amount of savings you face a illness than can be a disaster. How are you going to pay then? Sell your house? Rely on Medicare? What about the medications cost? Well, not everything is about the money...Humanity is more important. Not everyone who doesn't have insurance is lazy and doesn't want to work.  I think there should be a regulations administered by the Government. The country can't run by itself. That's why there are Laws, regulations, etc.

tonimarie says ...

Rep says ...

Again: Let's actually stick to the facts and the policies, and not the talking points

McCain's plan is to continue to not know how many houses he owns, (IS THIS STICKING TO FACTS ABOUT  HEALTH CARE? . His wife owns the home, therefore the pause)

and to switch wives when one becomes not as rich or good looking (he left his first wife after she became disfigured in a car accident, and married Cindy one month later). http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12685.html   also IS THIS A HEALHTCARE FACT

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9b02efdf1439f934a15751c0a9669c8b63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

I would assume those behind the politics of McCain/Palin generally identify with their "Faith-based" (NOT NECESSARILY)

Denying people health care, hope and opportunity is the McCain / Palin platform. INCORRECT  FACT

www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

OBs major problem is how much his plan is gonna cost. Maybe we will pay less benefit premiums, but I guarantee that we will make it up plus much more in taxes. But hey, welfare will flourish.

csrein says ...

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. 

My heart goes out to you . And i will keep you in my prayers and thoughts. And i understand where your are coming from. I work TWO jobs one in an internal Medicine office and in an Assistant living facility and i can not afford heath insurance for myself and on top of that i have two children at home. If i did get insurance from my full time job i would not be able to pay my bills or feed my children.. its very sad when you have to choose between health or bills

Obama wants to charge us for healthcare..keeps indicating a 'nominal fee'

he does not believe in small business & thats what our country was built on

McCain is definetely in tune to that..plus we are interested in voting for

a man we know nothing about, Obama...the more i read about him the more

concerned i get...he talks the talk but doesnt walk the walk !!

McCain is the man & i pray he gets in !

Voting for BO and his healthcare plan, as a person in the field of healthcare, is like going to your director and telling them that "I want you to cut my salery in half, and by the way the people you are hiring now are way to qualified, so lets staff more unqualified personel". Look at other countries that do it his way and you will see the same results.

Yes, and then Obama will buy us all a coke and a smile.

Here are some more unbiased and non-partisan scholarly sources that evaluate the two healthcare plans.

http://www.urban.org/?loc=interstitialskip

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/health_proposal_summaries.pdf

http://www.lewin.com/dyn/healthpolicies

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=707948

http://www.galen.org/component,8/action,show_content/id,13/blog_id,1096/category_id,2/type,33/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-10-21-health-plans_N.htm  (comparison created based on the sources above)

All of the analyses point out strengths and weaknesses in both plans. 

btully says ...

ok here is another scholarly source:

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/lyndsi-thomas/2008/06/17/ap-uses-joint-brookings-urban-institute-study-advance-obamas-tax-poli

Need to check your sources a little more closely for non-partisanship

Newsbusters is a Conservative organization......I would expect them to feel the way they do.  

btully says ...

OK, the problem here is that when you mention healthcare people have a preconceived notion of what they expect for their dollar; ie. timely service, a knowledgable Dr and staff, the best drugs on the market...  The issue is not, lets make every person covered by a healthcare plan and, by the way, its FREE or dirt cheap (lets face it, everyone would be for it).  The issue is; do we really want government in control of our medical benefits?  Personally I DO NOT. All I want my government to do for me is protect me from foreign envaders ( hmmm, for some reason that sounds familiar). As soon as we let government into our DR's offices and ER's you will see all of what you expect from healthcare today begin to circle the drain. I defy anyone to name for me any government program that works great.

At what point did we as a society get so dependant on government for our own basic needs. We used to take care of our own as a society through churches and community programs, making sure another human being did not suffer in their time of need. Unfortionately that 'help your neighbor' mentality went almost completely away with the growth and developement of government social programs. I personally would rather give my donations directly to a community based organization or individual family than have it taken by force and trust my socially incompetant government to redistribute it how they see fit.

Also people keep forgetting that one of the main reasons healthcare is so expensive today is because of government regulations on how much medicare and medicaid will pay to healthcare providers, so we all have to make up the difference. Ive personally seen hospitals shut their doors for that exact reason. So now just imagine a  government sponsered healthcare system ten times as big doing the same thing, that thought scares the crap out of me.

No, Obama's plan is not for socialized medicine. But, to move on, I'll say that I don't want my government to do thingss other than what I can do for myself. It should work for my country's security, safety and our military and meeting our financial obligations. I'm sure there are other things, but: what ever happened to personal responsibility? My responsibility to look out for my neighbor, work at free clinics, give to charity, community organizations, so that COMMUNITIES can solve problems themselves.

Barack Obama text messaged people in the primaries to vote for him and is planning to do that this Tuesday. Some states (most) have laws against not having signage inside an election facility and a certain number of feet from the building. Isn't getting a text message inside the voting booth quite similar to having a SIGN inside the booth?

No, my government was founded NOT to be my 'big brother;' rather it was founded to remain out of the lives of the people as much as possible. At least that's the Federalist view. I think that's the basic issue. If you want government ro run every aspect of your life, that means you feel that you thing that 'someone' else is better equipped to know what's best for you- THAN YOU.

Here is an eye opening site:

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2008/10/liberal-supermajority-get-ready-for.html

Basically Obama will create a Medicare system that will include most everyone. Impacts include increased taxes for thoses of us who actually pay them, lower pay for healthcare workers, less people wanting to go into the healthcare profession, therefore less qualified providers. I dont understand how anyone could dispute this.