[3AngelaD]

Tommy Thompson will rue the day he asked for this sucker. It is a Rx for 1) inviting every medical indigent in the country to move to one of the five chosen states for the freebies to be provided by everyone else, and 2) a HUGE, HUGE draw for more illegal immigration, the medically indigent of the Earth will flock to our shores. If Americans want socialized medicine, they should move to Canada, and see how they like how it works there, before inflicting it on the rest of us.

[Governor]

Let's see Oregon just voted down Universal Care by a healthy margin, and TENN-CARE has just about bankrupted Tennessee. Now the DEMORATS want to backdoor the Kintoon's health care package.
We aare paying hospitals and schools NOT to train doctors and nuses, but we let any alien doctor in to practice on us.

[Alberta's Child]

No person or organization that publishes a report on a "health care crisis" in the United States should be taken seriously unless the report clearly points out that the U.S. does not have a health care problem, but an insurance problem.

Any segment of the insurance industry that pays settlements to people who don't have to die or be dismembered to submit claims is facing the exact same problem as the "health care industry" in the U.S.

The problem is that the insurance industry by definition does not respond to normal market-driven forces like any other industry.

[anniegetyourgun]

"Other demonstration projects would test getting rid of paperwork and test a "paperless health care system," increasing the use of computers; beef up 40 of the nation's community health centers, with sophisticated equipment; and upgrade treatment of chronic conditions like diabetes."

Yeah, sure...that's the ticket....

[Lunatic Fringe]

Here's a better idea- impose strong sanctions against attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits. That'll dramatically drop insurance premiums.

[luckodeirish]

There is not a health care crisis. There is an illegal immigration crisis. It's very simple math, too many non paying illegals who demand and are given access to the best health care in the world.

[laurav]

Well, here's my question, and I appreciate any responses. I'm facing the prospect of being soon uninsured. I do not work for a large corporation (I have various freelancing gigs) and my temporary health insurance soon runs out.

I've found various plans for individuals, but they all cost so much that I'd be actively making myself less healthy by paying it! (I'd be cutting out, say, food).

Why can I not find affordable insurance for an individual? Even when I'm young and healthy? What regulations are on the books that prevent this? What rules? What insurance policies?

I don't favor socialized medicine at all, but the whole system makes no sense to me.

[Axenolith]

Crisis made to order by and for the Federal Government via regulation, mandates, and lawyerization.

[jwalsh07]

What a coinkydink, Goron comes out for single payer socialism and the NY Slimes and the National Academy of Shmucks come out with this. Must be serendippity.

[Calico Cat]

And just wait until the Boomers start retiring! I bet government will wish they hadn't frowned on smoking, because this enormous generation is going to live forever, and their costs will belong to their kids and their grandkids.

[LurkerNoMore!]

So it is a health care crisis or a health insurance crisis?

[Spyder]

Here's a good thread on waits for emergency room care in the UK Waits up to 3 days not uncommon.

[Nick Danger]

The National Academy of Sciences said today that the health care system in the United States was in crisis and that the Bush administration should immediately test possible solutions, including universal insurance coverage and no-fault payment for medical malpractice in a handful of states.

Other than the fact that it has a fancy name, how is the National Academy of Sciences qualified to make recommendations on the subjects of insurance financing and tort reform?

If they were talking about better procedures for performing heart surgery, I would be happy to hear that they were being listened to. However, I do not care what a bunch of medical practitioners has to say about how to run the business side of things, or the legal system.

In fact this whole thing sounds to me like a bunch of liberal professor types trying to use their seats on a science advisory board to promote their political beliefs. I am really tired of that act.

If I understand Bush, he will happily adopt some of the recommendations, and postpone consideration of others. In other words, he will use the NAS report as cover to stick it to the tort lawyers, while accidentally forgetting to implement any of the other stuff. It is good to be king.