POSTED BY: Chad Paul (July 11, 2007 12:26 PM)
The "free market" or effective competition is the key to fixing America's burgeoning healthcare crisis. Unless Americans actually pay for the services they receive, there will be less incentive to curb costs. We always spend our own money much more carefully than we spend someone else’s. Universal coverage is not an acceptable answer. Read Healthy, Wealthy, & Wise by John F. Cogan, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel P. Kessler for a very insightful solution. Additionally, The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care By Dr. David Gratzer, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute with a forward by Milton Friedman, a Nobel Laureate economist, also provides a very convincing argument.

POSTED BY: GERARD MILLER (July 12, 2007 09:12 AM)
IT IS EXTREMELY HARD FOR ANY DOMESTIC BUSINESS TO COMPETE IN THE WORLD MARKET WHEN OTHERS BENEFIT FROM A UNIVERSAL GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE PLAN. LET'S EXAMINE AND ADOPT THE THE BEST IN WORLDWIDE PLANS AND DISCARD THE ONES THAT DON'T WORK WELL AND ARE NOT COST EFFECTIVE. WE OWE THIS TO OUR CHILDREN.

POSTED BY: Karen (July 12, 2007 01:10 PM)
I would like to see "cafeteria style" medical plans, where people can choose which coverages they want instead of having to take everything vs catastrophic-only which is normally offered by employers. Some younger folks may want pregnacy coverage; some older folks may not and instead want prescription drug coverage. It should allow people to decide on coverage based on their specific situation. Of course, that would mean the insurance plans would have to calculate premium amounts on each piece of coverage.

POSTED BY: Ralph Herndon (July 15, 2007 11:00 PM)
I have a quick little story that will be of interest to you: I was recently in an auto accident. A lady rear ended us while we were waiting for the car ahead of us to turn into a driveway. I laid on a transport stretcher in the hallway of a local hospital emergency room for several hours. For that privilege, my health care provider received a bill for over $3500 dollars. Let’s not even begin to talk about doctor fees, x-ray fees, etc, etc, etc. Am I missing something here? We need to go after the root of the problem, which is in fact, obviously, the medical industry itself. It is no wonder the insurance companies keep raising rates. After all, they are not going to absorb these ridiculous fees.

POSTED BY: KDavis (July 16, 2007 12:11 PM)
To me this is simple...go back to making hospitals not for profit, do not allow hospitals to write off the PPO discount as a loss, do not allow direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs. These things alone would save over $100 billion a year before anything is done to change how health care is delivered, paid for, or acquired. State plans are more costly and restrictive. The Tenn. state plan is half of their entire budget and the benefits minimal at best.

POSTED BY: Susan (August 30, 2007 07:03 AM)
Profiteering appears to be away of life in the health care industry. Increasingly physicians are refusing to take Medicare because of what it pays and the difficulty in getting paid. Medicare part D added more bureacracy and administrative costs. This was done to appease pharmacetucal companies. The people we have been sending to Washington are not representing the welfare of the people, but of themselves and the deep pockets that keep them in power. How does the ordinary citizen fight this? How do we stop a government by the people that is no longer representing the people? Maybe it is time for even a greater reform on a more basic level. Something that addresses the lack of loyalty to the American people as jobs, and taxpayer dollars are sent everywhere outside of the nation. We are wasting billions due to the incompetence of our current leadership and the promotion of fear and scandal instead of working on real problems.