The fella that sells health ins at the town meeting today...

[fadedrose]

has to realize that so many have gone the way of the blacksmith - sad, but it has to be said.

Did he speak out and protest the loss of jobs in the pottery, clothing, steel, fabric, large appliance, small appliance, automobile, vacuums, shoe, and by golly, don't forget the people you can't understand when you call for help on the stuff you bought made overseas?

Sorry pal, were you there when we were affected by the closing of steel mills in PA? I don't remember any insurance people carrying signs or aggravating politicians on our behalf...never heard your voice, sir.

You need to be retrained for another job while there's still time. Maybe the President has a bill to help you. And hope the health care bills passes so that you'll have health care, if not a job...

[John Q. Citizen]

1. Obama said that he wants to bribe the health insurance industry. That was his answer.

Obama said that by having mandates that every American has to buy insurance then the health insurance industry, who has been working every step of the way with Obama, will do the right thing.

Your answer is different than Obama's answer was.

The questioner pointed out that the insurance industry strongly supports the Obama plan and Obama agreed.

[fadedrose]

5. It will end up that the health ins companies will eventually be phased out

There's no other way. They can start out anyway they want to, but with a public option, they will be wiped out.

UNLESS they go to a different clientele and take care of things that need to be paid if someone is disabled, temporarily or permanently - mortgage insurance, cleaning people, house repairs, car repairs, a general "helper" type insurance other than paying doctors and hospitals and drugs.

President Obama has previously stated that because of the way our system is set up now, health insurance companies HAVE to keep selling health insurance, but I don't believe he meant they would have to do it forever.

Their days are numbered - whether a health bill passes this year, next year or in 10 years - things have to change.

[John Q. Citizen]

9. So by giving the insurance companies a trillion a decade they will be wiped out?

Why would the insurance industry work to be wiped out?

Wouldn't their stock go down? Instead, it's going up.

I don't think your conclusion makes any sense at all.

In fact I think of this bill as written in the house and the Senate as the insurance industry bail out bill. That would also explain the support the insurance industry has repeatedly given these reforms.

[fadedrose]

11. I'm relying on the young votes that got the Pres elected

The more us old people die, especially the conservatives, and the more underemployed younger people survive, the more they will demand health care. The jobs that the old people had that provided them with a steady income and great health benefits for 30-40 years or more are not to be had. Young folks will be unable to pay trillions for health insurance salesmen.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. So your plan is that after you die there will one day in the far future be a single payer system?

I'd rather work for single payer here and now instead of working to give the scumbag criminal insurance companies a trillion in extra tax monies a decade.

I'm in my fifties but i'm not giving up until I see single payer in my lifetime. And that means opposing bad legislation no matter who it comes from or from which party it comes.

[fadedrose]

17. Turned 71 yesterday . . .

I don't give a damn about me, but I do care about YOU when you're 65 and my children and grandchildren. Medicare is wonderful and worth fighting and waiting for if everyone regardless of age is covered by it, whatever they decide to name it. Eventually it will be single payer if people like you stick to your guns and demand it.

I hate the word "insurance" used in any context when it comes to health care. I want a national "health program" where insurance is not a factor.

The promised land may be just a tad out of our reach, but reach it "they" will, not necessarily "me."

[global1]

13. Correct Me If I'm Wrong - But Don't Health Insurance Companies Still Exist........

even in countries that have a national health system? Like UK or Canada to name a few.

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Yes, but they fdon't cover what what the national system covers. For instance in Canada,

people can buy travel health care coverage, usually for travel to the states. It's so if they get in an accident while vacationing in Florida they aren't bankrupted because they are iunfortunate enough to be forced to get care at a hospital in the states.

And there are companies that sell coverage for a private hospital room, in case someone has to share a room under the Canadian provincial system.

But there is no coverage sold that covers what the provincial plan covers, only things not covered by the provincial plan. I'm not sure about the UK, but I bet they have a National Health page up that explains it.

[izquierdista]

2. I'd advise him to stay in the health field

There are a lot of incontinent people in nursing homes that could use his help.

[patrice]

3. I was in the early rounds of the IT layoffs. I could not believe it, how no one seemed to notice

hundres of thousands of jobs just disappearing, no one noticed but us jobless ones that is.

[emilyg]

4. I noticed. My heart

aches for everyone.

[patrice]

8. It REALLY is a terrible experience, because the basic message is "The quality of your work, how

good an employee you are, your responsibility, diligence, creativity, effort, everything you sacrifice for your job, everything you thought about America the Just, the land of opportunity -

NONE OF THAT MATTERS! You are, at minimum, mistaken, or you have been lied to.

[KT2000]

10. this is so true - but

it is a lesson so many have to learn from so many experiences. I once worked with a group of people who were poisoned on the job. The employer (a huge aerospece company), denied their workers comp claims, called them liars, mental cases and malingerers and told the governor they would leave the state if their claims were approved. The people had to go on SSI, or welfare, some commited suidide. They and others like them are a destitute group of people now. This policy continues to this day.

There are so many injsutices and no attempts to right them. I take comfort in the fact that this struggle has been faced by many in history and we are in good company. We never have to believe in the "powerful" ever again and can instead turn to our new enlightened perspectives.

Peace to you.

[global1]

12. You Wouldn't Be Talking About Viet Nam Vets That Encountered Agent Orange Now - Would You?.....nt

[KT2000]

15. This would be

a new formaldehyde resin that was used in manufacturing - they were worked with no days off to meet deadlines until they started passing out and worse.

But you are right - the script for such poisonings, including Agent orange are the same. Admiral Zumwault was going to make it his cause to reveal the effects of Agent Orange but was told to stop because it "would bankrupt the nation," courtesy of the well organized pulp and paper industry.

[KT2000]

6. that guy really bothered me

he should have apologized for making a living from companies that screw people - as in retroactively cancelling insurance policies when people get sick, which was mentioned by Obama.
He should have been too ashamed to stand up.

[fadedrose]

7. He reminded me of the Auto people who drove planes to the meetings

in Washington, who me?

Didn't that guy ever wonder why sick people had to take care of him and his family financially?

I would feel funny making a buck off of the idea that I'm gambling on somebody's health, hoping they don't get sick so that I get richer.

[crazy_vanilla]

18. amen to that nt