I agree with a lot of what you post. But I can’t get to where you are on healthcare.

I don’t believe healthcare is a right. To me it is a responsibility, and you hit on the reason why…medical bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a person crisis, one that we must protect ourselves from. We do this by purchasing insurance. So really by purchasing insurance we are doing our part.

Now that being said, the insurance companies do not play fair and cheat their customer’s every day. This should be changed. What other industry gets away with defrauding their customers as a matter of policy (paper work games, ect). The government can create regulations to address the abusive practices of insurance companies. This is where they should start. They can use the government plan as a club. Play ball or we take over. Believe me with the hundreds of millions of dollars the industry is spending on lobbyist, we have their attention.

Next comes fraud. We have been told there is massive fraud taking place. If it is already classified as fraud then these activities are already illegal. If they already know it is massive, then they don’t need any more tools to detect it. What we need is enforcement and some real hard core penalties.

Medicare does work great for the folks who have it. But it is going broke and with the boomers aging every day the cash drain will only accelerate. This is not the model I would like to see expanded. I don’t see how adding 30 to 40 million more people will help.

I have a different perspective on things as I work for a company and have insurance. I can understand where you are coming from (1200 a month, holy crap). Can I ask how many employees you have and how much do they pay?

What I would like to see is a phased approach. First pass regulations on the insurance companies to address the most pressing issues. Then pass some laws to protect people from medical bankruptcies. They reformed the bankruptcy laws a couple of years ago in favor of businesses, now is the time to take care of the people. Next, come down on fraud like a hammer.

How to handle the uninsured is a difficult issue. No matter what they do, it is going to cost a bundle. Money we, as a nation, do not have. So the question is are you better off paying 1200 a month in insurance or 1200 a month in new taxes?

• Location: unknown location
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests