A brief word about the health care "reform"

[Flabbergasted]

I've read a bit about the Obama's "supposed 15 million left uninsured" Health care plan here, and how it's compared to other health care plans by Clinton and Edwards.

I'd just like to point out that real health care reform is going to be an astonishingly slow process. The next president, if a democrat, will be able to get the ball rolling, but considering the immensity of the problems, and especially considering the special interests working against certain reforms, we may not see substantial changes within the first, or even second term of the next president. Media had a huge impact on public opinion in 92 with Hillary Care and many Americans are still afraid of "socialism".

My point is the next presidential term is probably not going to implement an entire revolution. Very little has been said about the most important issues surrounding reform, namely driving costs down and diminishing the clout of HMOs. I believe we should remove ads from TV but there's a snowballs chance in hell. A plan that insures an additional 30 million Americans in four years would be huge in my mind and a step in the right direction. IOW 15 million left uninsured may not be that bad.

[lvx35]

1. I think they should shoot for universal right away.

I was just reading an article about Russia, where the majority support Putin in nationalizing all oil, gas, other energy. And here we sit, afraid to get halfway up to the standards of most other first world countries with health care. But I think we can do this, and we can do it decently fast. A number of factors will be coming into play in coming years to make this so. I think Obama made a mistake in aiming too low with his plan.

[TransitJohn]

2. Insurance isn't the way to go.

Single payer is the way to go....my 2 cents. Insurance=extortion+racketeering.

[regnaD kciN]

3. Absolutely...

I agree with the above poster -- we need to get it done right away, or suffer the fate of a thousand paper cuts like last time. Because of this, though, I think we need an approach, like Kucinich's single-payer or even Obama's plan, that opponents won't be able to scare people to death with slogans like "they're going to force you to pay for health insurance or else!" as they certainly will with any "individual mandate" plan.