what in the hell is in Ohio?? can someone pls tell me ?? is it the mecca of healthcare reform?? how many times has Pres. Obama going to visit that state??

the mistakes made in this administration have been quite comical to say the least.  I certainly enjoyed listening to Nancy P say "we have to pass healthcare so the american people can find out what's in it!"

wow words of wisdom Nancy ....egads i miss Hillary

this bill is like buying a car and paying for it first before yu get to drive it  ..... layaway healthcare

what are all these people without ins to do for the first several years that we are just paying taxes

please explain how taking 500 billion from healthcare gives us a savings of 118 billion after 10years ??

what happend to the 787 billion we gave them last year? jus wonderin

As sarah Palin once said,"How's that hope and change working out for ya." I cannot believe the backroom deals this supposed President(really?) is making so his name can be attached to some ridiculous bill that as a country we cannot afford.

Like you Kelli, I want to know how spending trillions on healthcare is going to save money. What we all seem to forget is WE will be paying for it in taxes. I don't know about any other nurse, but my body is beat up from 26 years of working. Yet, I'm supposed to hand half  of my hard earned pay over to the govt so someone who isn't working can have healthcare? No offense, and I love my daughter, but, she's 22 and thinks 23 hours a week is hard! So, mom, (who's 46) needs to go out and work those 36 hrs so she can have healthcare. Isn't this kinda backwards? I blame myself for my daughter feeling entitled, but I tthink her entire generation is like this. We are up the creek without a paddle.

I know not everyone is like that, but how much more stress is the govt going to put on taxpayers? Oh, and everyone is also forgetting, when 45 mil people are suddenly insured, who's going to take care of them? There's already a nursing and MD shortage. Way to kill us!

I for one have no intention of staying a nurse if my load is increased(oh, and we will see that). Several physcians have siad if this passes they are getting out of healthcare. Besides, shortages, with the increase in pt population, we will see pay cuts. In France MD's make $50,000-$100,000/yr. So, can you imagine what nurses make. There is no way around this. The Dems can use all the smoke and mirrors they want.We are not as stupid as they think and wish we were. So, Cram it down Dems. Ruin our country.

well besides hearing nancy peloski say we need to pass this bill so the american people can find out what's in it !!! my other most favorite dem point of view is the one where they say that by having mandatory insurance it will increase the pool of money and then premiums will drop.

HA

one question

How are premiums going to drop if the same 50% that don't pay federal income tax are the same 30-50 million uninsured????

to assume that these newly insured are actually going to pay anything is insulting.

they will be getting subsidized and that is not the same thing as paying for it yourself. so the pool remains the same as it does now the working class will pay and the rest including the 50% that already pay nothing will continue to do just that ...nothing

i want reform but this is bill is not reform.

ps when will the line item amendments to the senate version be avail on line cuz as of now they aren't!!!!

Open your eyes ladies and gents. It doesnt matter whether these politicians are dem or repub, and it hasnt mattered for awhile. America has been on a down-ward spiral for ages, our govt has their sweaty palms on every business we got from banks and military to education and, and evvvery thing! There are ppl dependent on the govt, and thats how the powers want it to b. They want to be an artificial limb seemingly necessary for the very survival of the american ppl. And now they reach for health care. wen big business, big pharma, and big govt join teams, our world is no longer capitalistic, but rather a 7 letter word that starts with an f................fascism, the dictatorial centralization of power

the seniors are indeed being screwed in this whole thing!! disagree with me???

i will give you 500 BILLION reasons why!!!!!!!!

in the end the dems declared victory

it was a narrow vote margin

too bad the dems who announced they will not be running for re-election in the fall were allowed to vote

schmucks!

so i heard today that the bill will affect TriCare and now it will be somehow absorbed into  medicaid or in CA we call it MediCal ! Is this true?? if so i can see a few heads that will roll! egads!! i thought stealing 500 billion from medicare was bad but this wins hands down!!

It's unsustainable.  The cost is too high.  The post office is in financial distress, and recently asked to go to a 5 day week with no sat/sun delivery.  Social Security is dipping into the reserves to pay for itself, and its set to go belly up if something isn't done.  Now we're going to assist in the cost for '30 million' people to get health insurance.

The only good that's going to come out of this, is maybe this country needs to go belly up financially.   IT needs to learn that success is a combination largely of sweat and work, and not handouts.  When that time comes that this whole country goes bankrupt, those of us that know what is coming will be prepared........It's as simple as a household budget, if you spend more than you make, you not only run out of money, but you lose everything you have, even the shirt on your back.

"Cancer is progressive"  Really?  that's what you are coming back at me with, Really?  Cynicism, regressiveness, denial, hate, despair, anger, vitriol, classism, bigotry, fear, weakness, and many more verbs and adjectives describe parts of our nation now.  However, doom and gloom are not arriving because of this legislation, the country will not bankrupt itself because of this, more change is gonna come.  More positive change is gonna come.  The party of no , the party of hate, the party of people who cheer on those who berate a man with Parkinson's disease for daring to disagree with them and scream at him as he sits on the sidewalk.  Those people will fail.  By the way the man who had Parkinson's who had to sit in at the rally, A demonstrator at a Columbus health-care rally who was chided for looking for a handout "on the wrong end of town" actually is a former nuclear engineer with a doctorate from Cornell University. He is on disability but feels strongly everyone should have access to care and not lose their insurance if you change jobs etc.  He was not looking for a handout.  Yes, only two protestors threw money at him and yelled at him but hundreds of others did NOTHING to stop them.  I ask you, would you as a nurse have allowed that?  Would you have stood up for a person with a debilitating disease and stopped the cretins from yelling at him or would you all be so self-righteous in your blind ideology as you have expressed on this website that you would have done nothing?  I don't know what you would do , I know what I would do.  

If more people get access to care, more people have preventative care, more children are treated through the SCHIP program, are those bad things?  Really?

My America is coming back after years of it being lost now it is found.  End the wars, save the environment, put folks back to work with green technologies and new technology businesses, break the back of big AGRIFARMS and BIG Oil.  By the way watch the Food Revolution on ABC.  Amazing reflection of our society and what we need to change in the way we look at food for our kids and ourselves.

Ranting about one political party as "the party of people who...." makes as much sense as ranting about the other party as "the party of people who in the 1960's spit on us returning veterans, burned down ROTC buildings, urged blacks to riot, etc." There are idiots in both parties and fine people in both parties.

But both parties as political entities are piles of corrupt crap - I belong to neither. But blaming all of society's ills on one or the other and worshipping one as the perfect solution to everything is a rather simplistic way of looking at the world of politics.

ps.......... rn prog its 500 BILLION from medicare!!

What I'm worried about is as a nurse, how will taking care of 30 mil more people work? There's already an MD and nursing shortage. Did these brainiacs consider this facet of healthcare? It's all fine and dandy to give everyone insurance, but who's going to take care of this new influx of pt's?

I've repeated on more than one occasion how nurses  I worked with from Canada,UK ,and Australia worked with me in New Orleans in the '90's. They all said they were given way less pay, way more pt's and broken and old equipment was never replaced in their countries. Hence, here they were in good ol NO working as traveling nurses.

Get ready, your nursing job will become a whole lot harder! I for one may get out of nursing if this happens. I've been a nurse going on 27 years , and frankly, I can't physically take much more. I returned to work last week post-op bunionectomy from Dec. They worked me so hard in ICU, my foot began to look like a sausage at 4pm. My shoe became too tight, and I was in great pain and discomfort. I cannot imagine it getting any worse,but thanks to the dimwit Dems, apparantly it can and it will.

I for one have no intention to just take this. I will vote anyone who voted for this ridiculous entitlement bill (which we can't afford) out.Sorry, but there's a better way to reform.

GITANO says ...

CapatainEricRN states: But both parties as political entities are piles of corrupt crap - I belong to neither. But blaming all of society's ills on one or the other and worshipping one as the perfect solution to everything is a rather simplistic way of looking at the world of politics.

I'll 2nd that Emotion, however, for those who are against the reform instead of complaining come up with a solution to our problem then present this view for consideration to your congresman. Let's be part of the solution not part of the problem.

P.S.  ckruszka, I hope you have a speedy recovery, however, I wish you were working for me, I would have placed you in one of the Triage clinics sitting all day 

Thanks, Gitano. I hinted around to doing something similar (admitting nurse), but somehow, I got pulled to ICU my first day back.It didn't help that my slavedriving husband tried to make me feel guilty 2 days later when my foot hurt and I considered calling in. I went in and for the grace of God, they did not need me, so I asked to be let go to rest. The staffing girl today said she's going to try to keep me on Observation b/c she didn't want my foot to swell, so we'll see.

Really a better way to reform? Why didn't the Republicans do it in the 8 yrs they controlled the country??  Just saying.  Where are their ideas?  They were heard and some of their ideas are in the bill by the way.  Actually your in-patient nursing job should get easier with more people getting preventative care so they do not end up seriously ill taking up medical/surgical and ICU beds.  It is when people allow illnesses to fester without incremental care that they become more of a burden on our hospitals etc.

Not going to keep your kids on your insurance until they are 26 huh? What happens when they graduate high school and get out of college and can't get a job with benefits?  Or they go to grad school and they need more care than a catastrophic college plan pays for them?  What if they have a serious condition that needs to be monitored so it doesn't get worse.  I ccan tell you we paid $900  a quarter for our daughter to keep COBRA insurance of our plan when she graduated and it took awhile to get a job with benefits.  That's a chunk of change for routine appointments and lab work to monitor her kidney function.

How do you know how sick the 32 million new folks to be insured are?  Maybe they won't require that much care? Maybe those of you who want to stop being in-patient nurses will go back and get you NP degree and be primary care providers.

By the way none of you answered if you would have stepped up and defended the Parkinson's patient at the rally. Really?

By the way the bill doesn;t give people insurance it causes a pool to be created from which people will buy insurance at competitive rates and there will be subsiudies for those who still cannot afford it.  Not free.

By the way part of the reason we are 37th in the world is partly because we didn't provide better access to care for our people and more preventative care .  This legislation and the positive outcomes will actually help us to rise in the standings. 

I don't know financially bankrupt rather than morally bankrupt i think that sums it up, HOWEVER this will NOT bankrupt the country.  The CBO did the math , the CBO the Republicans loved during the Bush years, the independent arbiture of finances for the government.

LOL;

I have a pretty good crystal ball.  Remember go and pull my pre-BO posts, I said then we would be knee deep in schit in Afganistan, and probably still be in Iraq.   I said he was a socialist (even Al Sharpton said he is)...

We are going to go or be on the verge of bankruptcy in about 5 years.  The Socialists who are calling themselves Democrats, will blame everything else on the bankruptcy.  They will blame Bush, they will blame the economic collapse and lack of tax dollars, they have the list ready to go.  With no federal dollars, and a fullblown government collapse due to lack of tax dollars, equals no medicare, no medicaid, no social security......Now who is 'morally bankrupt'?  The stupid idiots that all voted for this.  Sorry but you can't have your cake and eat it too. That is moral bankruptcy is trying to give everyone something for nothing.  Do you know what happened to people in the Soviet Union when it's goverment went bankrupt...talk about poverty and lack of healthcare.  They were re-using needles, re-using equipment that was never meant to be re-used, but hey it was free. 

Who started the wars and didn't raise taxes to pay for the wars?  Begins with George..

Who started a war in Iraq for no reason at all and didn't raise taxes to pay for it? FACT not made up anybody else ever start a war and not raise taxes??

Who was a sleep at the wheel for 8 years and made no hard decisions?

Socialism in America.. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Roads, schools, Bridges, any public service your government provides for you after the collection of Taxes.  The CDC, the NIH, etc.  So all of you are done with driving on the roads, crossing bridges, sending your kids to public school.  Medicare for your parents etc. Just so we are clear here and you truly understand we have socialist programs in America and have for  long long time.  Oh yeah and the military since it is not privately funded  or do you think you want a Blackwater to run our Federal Armed Forces?

Technically Sharpton said, if you (Geraldo) say it is socialism then that is what the American people voted for when he campaigned on Healthcare reform.  Geraldo defined it in the exchange.  Or are you all saying the American people are too stupid to know what they were voting for?  You can't have it both ways. 

WOW what a prognosticator that we would still be in Afghanistan and Iraq only a year after the change in leadership.  Afghanistan was neglected by GWB and had to become refocused upon and Iraq is in a phase of drawing down and letting the Iraqis take over.  Unfortunately we cannot just load up hundreds of planes and leave.