As You See It: Oct. 4, 2009

I'm a young American who voted for change in my nation and health-care reform, including a public option is one of my main concerns.

[Carl Bendix]

To Erin Carrera: Doesn't it occur to you that maybe it is the insurance industry along with tort reform that needs overhaul instead of healthcare??? Obama's scheme is nothing more than a means to transfer more of the cost of providing free or low cost limited health care directly on to the rest of us while providing many more gubmint jobs to manage the boondoggle. The net result has to be a reduction in services and longer lines for that service.

To Teren de Cossy: What was the population density in Ireland? Were they giving away services to anyone who blew in from Somalia on refugee boats? Did they also provide free care to the Oriental boat people? How about the refugees from the middle east?
Why don't you consider moving back to Ireland?

[to Bill]

re-PVUSD

" With a 4 percent downsizing and a 4 percent wage and benefit cut, we can meet the budget"

Maybe if they stop the ESL programs, free lunch to kids with parents with cell phones and SUVs, and buses for the forced diversity program we might not have to mess with class sizes or wages.

Budget surplus!

[Corralitos Taxpayer]

"As a person on Medicare, I have government-run health care and it works very well"

Sure it works very well for you but it's not going to work out so well for your children and grandchildren as they pay the bills for your medical coverage. Medicare's unfunded liability is currently $61.6 trillion so enjoy your government provided medical care but just understand why thinking Americans don't want to expand the program to everyone

[also to Bill]

RE PVUSD
Let management start first by doing what they say they will do IF all the other unions do the same. It is time for them to lead the way without their easy out of only doing it if the other unions agree. Management can well afford a cut compared to someone making $25,000 a year.

[Another Lowe blow]

I can't recall the last time I opened a Sunday Sentinel without seeing a blindly partisan, mind-numbingly repetitive letter from Ron Lowe. I'm just not sure if it's a different letter providing a nearly identical installment of his opinion on health care reform, or the same letter which the Sentinel keeps printing again, and again, and again, and...

[dON hEICHEL - sOQUEL]

"I believe Obama's statements that insurance reform will strengthen Medicare, will not cut benefits and will save money."

Teren de Cossy, Santa Cruz

A true believer! Rigggght!

And I believe Obama's stimulus will keep unemployment from going above 8% nationally.

Gad, there will be a ton of Obama statements to look back on and reflect on after his single term in office as Prez.

What a mess Obama will create...green jobs for all and a chicken in every pot!

[Lama Osaba]

Another Lowe blow wrote:

I can't recall the last time I opened a Sunday Sentinel without seeing a blindly partisan, mind-numbingly repetitive letter from Ron Lowe. I'm just not sure if it's a different letter providing a nearly identical installment of his opinion on health care reform, or the same letter which the Sentinel keeps printing again, and again, and again, and...

Typical, idiotoc Ron Lowe. Why does this foolish man refer to anyone who disagrees with the Messiah as "screaming mobs" when liberals have always been praised whenever they disagree with anyone else?

[dON hEICHEL - sOQUEL]

Another Lowe blow wrote:

I can't recall the last time I opened a Sunday Sentinel without seeing a blindly partisan, mind-numbingly repetitive letter from Ron Lowe.

Rigggght!

But Mr. Lowe is instructive on how to suck up to the Senile Editors...what your letter to the editor says IS important.

Notice that there are two other letters supporting Gov't healthcare today along with the suck up Ron Lowe.

Go Senile!

[RobtA]

I want government-run health care, too. I want it to be high quality, luxurious, and above all, paid for by YOU. Maybe it will burden the next generation; but since I don't have kids, that's not my problem.

[dON hEICHEL - sOQUEL]

"As a person on Medicare, I have government-run health care and it works very well."

Ron Lowe

President fudges facts on health care proposal
By Sally C. Pipes

Medicare's creators, for instance, promised in 1965 that the program would cost $12 billion by 1990. The actual cost in 1990 —$110 billion, nearly 10 times the original estimate.

By 2008, Medicare and Medicaid constituted nearly one quarter of total federal spending. The president in his recent address to Congress said that his health care reform plan — projected to cost $900 billion — would be deficit neutral. It would be funded mainly by eliminating fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid, both programs of the government.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/o...

FRAUD AND ABUSE? How does this fraud originate? Medicare has no budget to investigate and is merely a check writing machine (with your tax money).

That keeps the overhead expenses down alright. Is it working for the country? NO!

[dON hEICHEL - sOQUEL]

A Jobs Crisis
Joshua Zumbrun

The rise of joblessness, always a political problem for the White House, is especially unwelcome news for an administration that predicted its $787 billion stimulus package would halt unemployment at around 8%. Since its enactment,$86 billion has been paid out, and taxes have been lowered by $62 billion as a result of the bill's provisions, but this has been unable to stop job losses.

The headline unemployment rate does not include people who want jobs but have given up looking. Including these people, most of whom surely consider themselves unemployed, the rate rises to 11.1%. The broadest measure reported by the Labor Department also includes people who work part time but want full-time work. This measure, of underemployment, reached a high of 17%.

"The only factor that kept unemployment from rising higher was that 571,000 workers dropped out of the labor force," says Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/02/unemployment...

[Public Opt Supporter Too]

Why is the knee-jerk reaction to honest desire for change so often "If you don't like it, move somewhere else"? This is AMERICA! If I don't like it, I'll work to change it, through common sense and a majority of votes. That's what it is to be American. Trying to shut down debate by shouting down, questioning patriotism, and telling people to move somewhere else is not constructive.

For those that say it's not a healthcare problem, it's an insurance problem, I agree. So, are you proposing a solution? I think a public option is the solution. That would be reform by using real competition. Any other way will not address the basis of the insurance industry ... not healthcare, but rather maximization of profits.

[Right on Time]

Public Opt Supporter Too wrote:

Why is the knee-jerk reaction to honest desire for change so often "If you don't like it, move somewhere else"? This is AMERICA! If I don't like it, I'll work to change it, through common sense and a majority of votes. That's what it is to be American. Trying to shut down debate by shouting down, questioning patriotism, and telling people to move somewhere else is not constructive.
For those that say it's not a healthcare problem, it's an insurance problem, I agree. So, are you proposing a solution? I think a public option is the solution. That would be reform by using real competition. Any other way will not address the basis of the insurance industry ... not healthcare, but rather maximization of profits.

Working to change it doesn't have to mean ruining it for the rest of us, right? The concept is so simple that I can't figure out why you don't get it.
Insurance companies need profits so they can...wait for it....PAY CLAIMS!! What you hear from Obamatrons are the worst horror stories (and I agree...they are horror stories), but they don't represent the majority, which is why 85% of Americans are happy with their healthcare.
Dismantling what works for 85% of Americans is a ludicrous approach to reform. Instead, mandate how the insurance companies must deal with pre-existing conditions and renewal of policies for those in the throes of illness. Healthcare is not the problem. Fix the problem.

[csb]

why is it that only the 'right' refers to Obama as the messiah. Do they know something that those of us on the left don't?

[Hommie_Skooled]

Teren de Cossy:

We've all heard the Michael Moore talking points about infant mortality and life expectancy. Please do a little bit more study before parroting them again.

In the USA, our national statistics count nearly every live birth. Many other countries, Russia Federation, as an example, do not count infants born alive with less than 28 weeks gestation, less than 1000 grams in weight and 35 centimeters in length, who die within seven days of birth. So yeah, the USA looks worse in the stats because because we count preemies that may not live. We do more than just "count" them, our extraordinary health care professionals do everything possible to save them. If you ever find yourself or someone you love in the sad position of having a baby at less than 28 weeks or under 2.2 pounds, there's not another country in the world you would rather be in.

The overall life expectancy stats you are fond of quoting are skewed because of the amount of violent deaths in the male, 18-24 years-old, minority group. Go to any unbiased source of data, perhaps the CDC stats. Absent the young, violent deaths, the USA has just as many, if not more old geezers tottering around thanks to our health care system.

[Lama Osaba]

csb wrote:

why is it that only the 'right' refers to Obama as the messiah. Do they know something that those of us on the left don't?

Another typical liberal who has to have everything spelled out for them. Do you not understand sarcasm? Here's another one for you, the "right" and the rest of the world understands Obama is an idiot who is taking our once great country down with him. Stop drinking the main stream and Democratic party koolaid.

[pat]

Lama Osaba wrote:

<quoted text>
Another typical liberal who has to have everything spelled out for them. Do you not understand sarcasm? Here's another one for you, the "right" and the rest of the world understands Obama is an idiot who is taking our once great country down with him. Stop drinking the main stream and Democratic party koolaid.

the rest of the world thinks he is an idiot? name the countries that strongly identify with that view. last i checked, 27 of our 28 closest allies approved of Obama and the forigners i have talked to feel that he is a good president.

[pat]

Lama Osaba wrote:

<quoted text>
Another typical liberal who has to have everything spelled out for them. Do you not understand sarcasm? Here's another one for you, the "right" and the rest of the world understands Obama is an idiot who is taking our once great country down with him. Stop drinking the main stream and Democratic party koolaid.

further more, the rightwingers in america think it definitely, but they are an island in the world as usual.

[Llama Osaba]

Not worth wasting my time to respond as you are not doubt a mental diseased liberal who will never change your opinion. I travel the world and the world opinion is Obama is an idiot. However, the left leaning media will never portray that opinion. Do you not see how stupid you liberals look to most of the country and the rest of the world?

[Public Opt Supporter Too]

To "Right on Time",

I think, by definition, the money used for paying claims in NOT profit. I'm, of course, referring to the money paid in bonuses and stock dividends that we paid above and beyond what the health actually cost. So, I'm not trying to ruin anything for you or anyone else. A public option is just that, an option. If I choose to stay with Blue Cross, I can ... so can you. Or you can stay with Kaiser, or UHC, or whatever limited choice you have with your employer. The insurance company can then get between you and your doctor.

I agree that the there are things about the insurance industry that need to be fixed, like denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition.
But that shouldn't exclude the OPTION of buying into a national health care plan, instead of whichever health insurance plan my employer can afford to be part of.

I would like to hear more suggestions from you on how to reform the insurance industry. I'm all for it. And I would be glad to see insurance reform do away with the need for a public option, but for the decades that it's been talked about and debated, I've seen nothing come of it.