This is the main reason why I think that health care is not something we are ready for.

We need to get real about it.

If... Every person in the United States sought care in an ER just once in a single year.

the cost to the US would be...

at an average cost of $3,000 per visit.

eeek $912,273,520,000. (for a SINGLE year)... (this is based on the US census july 2008).

we are talkin 9 TRILLION US in ONE year.!!!

We been lied to big time.

all the other silly thing they are saying about the medical bill is pure smoke.

Bottom line is we can't CURRENTLY afford that much in a single year and the actual cost will be much higher (people don't just go to the ER...)

NEED TO FIX THE ECONOMY FIRST.

I agree. They are going to cripple this country by trying to do to much all at once. We are going to self destruct. I have not been impressed with our direction. My 2 cents.....

Lets see you could knock off a couple of those visits just in WHAT I PAY into MY EMPLOYER based policy......Problem is people ARE using the ER for High Dollar cure for a $50 aliment. Those costs has BEEN passed onto to me with sky high premiums and wage concessions.

SOMETHING NEEDS TO GIVE!!!!! I dont know what Obamas final plan will be. Noone on here does. I know if something isnt done I might not be able to afford mine and Ive paid into mine for 20years!!!!!

Adventure,

You said, "NEED TO FIX THE ECONOMY FIRST".

I think that's part of fixing the economy. People are going bankrupt and losing their homes for medical reasons.

Unfortunately those that do not have health care use the ER as a Doctors office cause it is free to those who do not have health care and yes again those who are working and paying taxes have to foot this bill....So, the problem is that to many people are taking advantange of the system and no one appears to want to do anything about it. It seems that starting from the doctors right down the line to patients some is looking to take advantage of the situation. President OBama adressed this somewhat....The question is where do we start and what will it take get everyone together and start doing the right thing???

BUT HOW DOES CANADA DO IT???????????

the united states has learned nothing from what it has done in the past


remember the fall of the soviet union


reagan and his crew feed the soviets false info to make them panic and spend and spend trying to protect themselves

as they were fighting in where afganistan

where is the u s fighting afganistan and neighboring iraq what is going on here increased spending trying to protect the u s from what

being attacked again from whom the terrorist

where are they saying or have said the terrorists are from at least most of them

iraq and afganistan interesting is it not

at least there are a few that learn from the past actions of the united states

to bad it is not those in control of the united states


but hey.............

You don't fix anything by adding trillions to mandatory spending in the budget. When the percentage of mandatory spending is significantly larger than discretionary spending you are in serious trouble financially. That leaves the government with less options to cut, and increases the likelihood of significant budget deficits in the future. Deficits that we will not be able to sustain..

I can't understand how people find huge debt as no big deal.. Amazing..

I can't understand how people believe that the government could ever run anything efficiently based on the government's track record....

Incorrect. Fixing the economy would in turn fix our medical bills.

Supply and demand.

Going to the ER is not free for those with no health insurance. They still get charged. Whether or not they pay it is another issue.

To quote someone else...

Is that so...

Percent of homes lost for medical reasons VS percent of homes lost because of an unrealistic view of future markets....?

Part of the propaganda... To sell the package.

We are just now seeing the tip... If JOBS don't get stablized and MONEY ain't worth nothing I reckon houses will be empty all over the nation (and it won't have a darn thing to do with medical expenses).

You can't build a new building on a crumbling foundation... Ya got to fix the foundation first else the whole come tumbling down.

I think that is a bit excessive. There were just over a million filings last year, or less than 1% of the households (not individuals, households) in the US. That number, from my knowledge, also includes businesses so it's even less of a part of the population.

Even if they were 100% households and 100% medical related, we are proposing to fork out $100B a year or essentially one hundred thousand dollars for every household that filed.

People are losing their homes because they can't afford to pay for them. There was a huge trend in maxing out the ridiculously high offers banks would make to get a loan and buying a home that you really can't afford. What happened when they got sick? Yep, can't afford the house payment. Next trend......more people on welfare or using medical services and not paying the bills. You and I get the backdraft from that by now paying higher premiums to subsidize those that aren't paying.

Now, I get to look forward to cookie cutter care by a doctor off of a list some guy at a desk chose for me and pray to god if anything ever happens, they don't make me jump through bureaucratic red tape to get a band-aid.

Health care needs reform, but it needs to stay in the private sector. Our freedom and choices are being stripped away one by one. I really feel this is one big thing that is being pushed WAY too fast. All under the guise of equality.

There is no doubt that our medical system nees some work.

But its just like buying a furnace for your house.

If the walls are falling which do you put out money for... Replace a working furnace for a more expensive but more efficient one?

Or fix the darn walls...

and replace the furnace when YOU CAN AFFORD TO.?

Which one is a priority AT THIS MOMENT?

No kidding....look at the "cash for clunkers" deal or whatever it was called. Now, they've amended the list and some cars no longer qualify. The dealerships might not get their money back out of those supposed rebates.

EDIT: I think they may have even suspended the whole program. I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

If creating a health care reform is determined by the economy being fixed first, there will never be a health care reform...I'm not so sure the economy is fixable at this point..that is unfortunate.

The economy is quite fixable... Congress needs to put this medical stuff on a back burner and focus.

Big business needs learn how to become small giants... and we need to put on the stiffness of our 'depression' era ancestors...

and work our way out of it.

Well if it's quite fixable come up with an idea and let me know..

I have ideas scattered all over these threads... Some mine, some from others... and a lot of them make sense.

But... Government will never ask for such ideas... from someone not in a position to effect their pockets.