Okay, anyone disappointed in Obama so far?

[Anonymous]

We subsidize a lot of things that we should not be subsidizing. As for healthcare-it is available and I actually paid on my own at several points in my life. It is a bill you have to pay much like your mortgage--too many people do not want to pay for healthcare but they have two cars, a big screen tv etc.. What is the problem is asking one group of people to disproportionately pay the burden for others based on their income. Most "wealthy" (over 250K) people agree that taxes are a fact of life but the growing trend to continue to up the taxes is a problem. When you put half your paycheck to taxes when you factor in state..it's a problem. I also think that healthcare, when socialized, creates a problem with quality. No one is talking about this but the actress Natasha Richardson may well have lived had she had her accident in the US-why? If you get past the fact that she waited to get to a hospital.--when she did go, the hospital that she went to wasn't equipped to handle head trauma. Canada has socialized medicine so many of their hospitals do not have the equipment or expertiset that US hospitals do. In fact many Canadians come to the US for all kinds of medical treatment. You didn't see this reported in the news because the liberal media hides this kind of problem. An by the way, if you are poor in the US and you fall at a ski resort and need treatment--you will get it regardless of your income.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the future..socialized medicine

(CBS/AP) A mahogany casket bearing the body of Natasha Richardson left the New York townhouse where stars of stage and screen from both sides of the Atlantic had gathered to pay their respects.

Richardson, 45, died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York following a skiing accident in Canada.

Her husband, the actor Liam Neeson, greeted a steady stream of celebrity mourners into the evening Friday at the American Irish Historical Society on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, questions are arising over whether a medical helicopter might have been able to save the injured actress.

The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system, common in the United States and other parts of Canada, to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers.

Montreal's top head trauma doctor said Friday that may have played a role in the death of Richardson.

"It's impossible for me to comment specifically about her case, but what I could say is ... driving to Mont Tremblant from the city (Montreal) is a 2½-hour trip, and the closest trauma center is in the city. Our system isn't set up for traumas and doesn't match what's available in other Canadian cities, let alone in the States," said Tarek Razek, director of trauma services for the McGill University Health Centre, which represents six of Montreal's hospitals.

While Richardson's initial refusal of medical treatment cost her two hours, she also had to be driven to two hospitals. She didn't arrive at a specialized hospital in Montreal until about four hours after the second 911 call from her hotel room at the Mont Tremblant resort, according to a timeline published by Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper.

Not being airlifted directly to a trauma center could have cost Richardson crucial moments, Razek said.

"A helicopter is obviously the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B," he said.

After Richardson fell and hit her head on a beginner ski slope at the Mont Tremblant resort in Quebec, the first ambulance crew left upon spotting a sled taking the still-conscious actress away to the resort's on-site clinic.

A second 911 call was made two hours later from Richardson's luxury hotel room as the actress deteriorated. Medics tended to her for a half-hour before taking her to a hospital about a 40-minute drive away.

Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe does not specialize in head traumas, so her speedy transfer to Sacre Coeur Hospital in Montreal was critical, said Razek.

"It's one of the classic presentations of head injuries, 'talking and dying,' where they may lose consciousness for a minute, but then feel fine," said Razek.

On Friday evening, Richardson's husband, Liam Neeson, looked distraught but grateful for the outpouring of sympathy as he greeted grieving family members and friends who attended a private viewing for his wife.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, sure. And in the US there are also plenty of places which do not have helicopter coverage for emergency medical care.

Meanwhile people in the US die every day because they do not have access to health care.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-10-gallup-medical-bills_N.htm


Denise Prosser, 39, has battled cancer since she

was a toddler.

Yet Prosser can't afford her next cancer treatment — a radioactive therapy that she's supposed to receive once a year — because she and her husband lost their jobs in December. Without insurance, she has postponed the radiation indefinitely and is taking only half of her asthma medications — sacrifices that often leave her gasping for air and could allow her cancer to come surging back.

http://planevada.org/content/view/167/461

More than five people die prematurely in Nevada each week because they lack health insurance, according to a report Thursday by a health advocacy group. Families USA concluded that at least 290 people in Nevada between the ages of 25 and 64 died in 2006 because of a lack of coverage. Uninsured adults are three times more likely to delay seeking medical care. They are diagnosed with disease at a more advanced stage, which is difficult and costly to treat, the group said.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the future..socialized medicine

Nobody is proposing socialized medicine for the US. I wish they were, but they aren't.

BTW, many medevac helicopters in the US (eg. Maryland) are funded by the state. So, please make sure that you refuse trips on any of them in order not to tarnish yourself with socialism.

[Anonymous]

the majority of people want universal health care, there is nothing wrong with that, but most are unwilling to pay for it with higher tax...Instead they image that the rich will pay for it

Be aware, the cost of universal health care is much higher than the white house estimated

[Anonymous]

1457-I have lost jobs and then I had gone on cobra or I have gotten insurance on my own--for majority of people without coverage it is a choice. As for helicopters--much like ambulances they are something that should be funded by states as they are not an insurance tool so I don't see what the point of bringing that up is? Again, no one is against taxes just penalizing a group of people to foot the bill. Universal coverage is not only a bad business model it won't help overall quality of life for majority of Americans who already have great coverage..it will just bring down the quality to serve people who choose not to be insured.

[Anonymous]

In the U.K. there are a number of cancer drugs that are not made available to the population because NICE (The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has determined that the cost is too high. Those same drugs have prolonged lives here in the U.S. for years. I have direct experience with this issue. How would you like our government to decide when your expiration date should be? Don't worry, they are so competent at everything else, I'm sure they'll get your health care right. Well, we are on our way to having the government do just that. In the stimulus bill, a provision was stuck in to establish a board for comparative studies of drugs. This is the first step for the government to start determining what drugs will be available based on cost even though the bills says that cost will not be a factor. The thing about cancer is, not all drugs work for all people but since many people who have cancer are old, who cares, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the U.K. there are a number of cancer drugs that are not made available to the population because NICE (The UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) has determined that the cost is too high. Those same drugs have prolonged lives here in the U.S. for years. I have direct experience with this issue. How would you like our government to decide when your expiration date should be? Don't worry, they are so competent at everything else, I'm sure they'll get your health care right. Well, we are on our way to having the government do just that. In the stimulus bill, a provision was stuck in to establish a board for comparative studies of drugs. This is the first step for the government to start determining what drugs will be available based on cost even though the bills says that cost will not be a factor. The thing about cancer is, not all drugs work for all people but since many people who have cancer are old, who cares, right?

The thing about our current health care system is, a LARGE number of people have no access to health care at all. Including those expensive cancer drugs you are so concerned about. SO how is our system any better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1457-I have lost jobs and then I had gone on cobra or I have gotten insurance on my own--for majority of people without coverage it is a choice. As for helicopters--much like ambulances they are something that should be funded by states as they are not an insurance tool so I don't see what the point of bringing that up is? Again, no one is against taxes just penalizing a group of people to foot the bill. Universal coverage is not only a bad business model it won't help overall quality of life for majority of Americans who already have great coverage..it will just bring down the quality to serve people who choose not to be insured.

Yup... so as long as you yourself have great coverage, that's all you care about. Got it.

[Anonymous]

These are Americans RIGHT NOW standing in line for health care. Why isn't the private health insurance covering these people? You think if they had access to health care, theyd' be standing in lone for hours, in pain?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/150846

Doctors Within Borders
What the massive turnout for a free medical and dental clinic in southwest Virginia reveals about the widening gap between health-care haves and have-nots in the United States.

(snip)

It's a hot Thursday evening, and the clinic, which is held at the county fairgrounds, won't open till the next morning. But Fowler, her 28-year-old daughter and her daughter's husband, both of whom say they also urgently need painful teeth pulled, are camping to be sure they get a good spot in line.

They aren't the only ones. By 8 p.m. on Thursday, the parking lot is jammed with people hoping to be among the lucky patients who make it in to see the volunteer medical staff. At least 200 are turned away. Those who have gotten there early enough have their numbered blue admission tickets in hand. They don't even flinch when they're told that they're in for yet another six-hour wait.

"We see people waiting in those long lines, and I simply don't know how they tolerate the pain they must be in because of infection and bleeding in their mouth," says Terry Dickinson, executive director of the Virginia Dental Association. And, says Dickinson, patients still are amazed that they don't have to pay for their care here: "I told a young lady here that we could remove her teeth, she was in her 20s, and she just started crying. 'You mean, I don't have to pay for that?' she asked."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to the future..socialized medicine
The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system, common in the United States and other parts of Canada, to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers.

So the other parts of Canada where this is common don't have socialized medicine?????? Hole in your logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1457-I have lost jobs and then I had gone on cobra or I have gotten insurance on my own--for majority of people without coverage it is a choice. As for helicopters--much like ambulances they are something that should be funded by states as they are not an insurance tool so I don't see what the point of bringing that up is? Again, no one is against taxes just penalizing a group of people to foot the bill. Universal coverage is not only a bad business model it won't help overall quality of life for majority of Americans who already have great coverage..it will just bring down the quality to serve people who choose not to be insured.

Yup... so as long as you yourself have great coverage, that's all you care about. Got it.

People who are broke are covered by Medicaid. I'm not saying that something doesn't need to be done but I don't want to be forced into a universal health care system.

[Anonymous]

1125--the point is that socialized medicine means that medicine is subpar--the fact that there aren't helicopters avaiilable over the entire country is amazing and just scratches the top--bigger question is why wasn't she able to be treated at the closest hopsital???. I am someone whose life was saved by a medical transport helicopter and a trauma surgeon and nuerosurgeon --I was apparently in Balt. Shock trauma within 20 minutes of my accident.--FYI they opted to use a helicopter even though the drive was less then thirty minutes away.

[Anonymous]

You people are so ignorant. Socialized medicine? Obama has never advocated a national medical service. He's interested in providing access to health care via affordable and subsidized health insurance for all Americans.

Shame on all of you for your callous disregard for the suffering of those who are so unfortunate as to have to work at low-paying jobs that provide no health care.

Thank God Obama's in, and he has a Democratic majority. Health care for all is coming, and if your AGI is over $250K, well, you're going to pay a little more in taxes. Maybe that tax bill will shorten your trip to Bermuda by one day, but sacrifice is inevitable.

[Anonymous]

Come on folks, just because someone doesn't agree with Obama's health plan, that does not make them callous or disregarding the suffering of their fellow human being - unless of course that you feel the Obama plan is the absolutely only way to help them.

Please - can't we have a conversation without resorting to these absolutes?