None of this is really new. The American people are the most insurance-minded people in the world. They will not be frightened off from health insurance because some people have misnamed it "socialized medicine".

I repeat--what I am recommending is not socialized medicine.

Socialized medicine means that all doctors work as employees of government. The American people want no such system. No such system is here proposed.

Under the plan I suggest, our people would continue to get medical and hospital services just as they do now--on the basis of their own voluntary decisions and choices. Our doctors and hospitals would continue to deal with disease with the same professional freedom as now. There would, however, be this all-important difference: whether or not patients get the services they need would not depend on how much they can afford to pay at the time.

I am in favor of the broadest possible coverage for this insurance system. I believe that all persons who work for a living and their dependents should be covered under such insurance plan. This would include wage and salary earners, those in business for themselves, professional persons, farmers, agricultural labor, domestic employees, government employees and employees of non-profit institutions and their families.

In addition, needy persons and other groups should be covered through appropriate premiums paid for them by public agencies. Increased Federal funds should also be made available by the Congress under the public assistance programs to reimburse the States for part of such premiums, as well as for direct expenditures made by the States in paying for medical services provided by doctors, hospitals and other agencies to needy persons.


We are a rich nation and can afford many things. But ill health that can be prevented or cured is one thing we cannot afford.
What I have discussed heretofore has been a program for improving and spreading the health services and facilities of the Nation, and providing an efficient and less burdensome system of paying for them. But no matter what we do, sickness will of course come to many. Sickness brings with it loss of wages.

Therefore, as a fifth element of a comprehensive health program, the workers of the Nation and their families should be protected against loss of earnings because of illness. A comprehensive health program must include the payment of benefits to replace at least part of the earnings that are lost during the period of sickness and long-term disability. This protection can be readily and conveniently provided through expansion of our present social insurance system, with appropriate adjustment of premiums.

REALLY!? They are not interested in our health, let alone our health CARE. They don't even care how much it will cost. It's not THEIR money they are spending. They have no common sense nor do they want to listen to anyone who HAS common sense. Wouldn't it make more sense to fix Medicare and Medicaid first? If they just fixed the abuse alone in both those GOVERNMENT-RUN-HEALTH-CARE entities they would have the money for the other TRUE reforms that are needed. What they SAY is not to be trusted because it's NOT about HEALTH CARE.

Eliminating FSAs is also a tax on those who make less than $250K a year. Many of my friends who make significantly less than $200K utilize the FSA to reduce their taxable income and to pay for expected medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. With the Senate plan, my co-workers will now be paying taxes before taking care of their own medical expenses.

As I told some folks in Charlottesville, VA gathering signatures to support "health care reform," "Why don't the Democrats quit lying and just try to pass single payer health care. I'd respect them more than doing it piecemeal and then acting surprised when the entire health care industry is destroyed and we're forced into a single payer system.

If you take the actual text of the House's bill and convert it to what you would normally write on a sheet of paper, it actually takes up only about 322 pages. These bills are printed using triple spacing, extra large font and use only about 1/4 of the actual space on a piece of paper. So, based on this, I would think that it should not be hard to read the entire thing in a few hours. I did it.

Someone might confirm that they left out paying the doctors in the Senate bill.

I hope the good people of Nevada will do us all a huge favor next year ans send Harry Reid packing. This goon is like a cancer on the whole country.

That our elected representatives are even considering this stupendously flawed legislation is unbelievable.

That our elected representatives present this bill without realizing how ridiculous it is is farcical.

That a large percentage of our population sees this as a legitimate course of action is sad. Truly sad.

Yet another bloated boondoggle by our elected officials. Funny, when the majority of Anericans don't want this thing, they push ahead.

Time for major housecleaning I say!