I was disappointed that both Obama and McCain failed to answer

[Bandit]

the lady's question about whether they thought Health Care was and should be a commodity? Obama gave a good answer about his plans for Health Care Insurance but did not answer the question. I guess it is one of those things where if you answer truthfully you will lose. Health Care should not ever be a commodity IMO. It is as Obama plainly stated a Right and should be handled as such with Government providing for it 100%. Just as Government provides Police Protection and fire protection, and clean food and water protection, etc., etc...

[madokie]

1. That is exactly how it should be

I'm a vet and use the VA for my medical needs and I can say with certainty that here in ok where I live the VA treats us right. I would wish the same for all Americans.

[dbonds]

2. You can't answer that question if you think it shouldn't be a commodity...

That would turn the entire health industry against you overnight. But stating that it is right is the right foundation. I doubt McLame knew what commodity meant - he didn't seem to know what priority meant, kept answering like he thought it meant a sequence.

[ecstatic]

4. Yeah. All the while talking about his suspended campaign and spending freeze

So much for multitasking.

[babylonsister]

3. They did dance around, but when the question was raised about

a right vs. a responsibility, Obama nailed it.


NASHVILLE -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama offered radically different responses to what was arguably the best question asked so far in any of this year's debates.

snip//

"Quick discussion: Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?" said the NBC newsman. "Senator McCain?"

"I think it's a responsibility," responded the Republican nominee for president.

McCain then rambled through a torturous attempt at an answer, ranting about "government mandates" and griping about the requirements that would, necessarily, go with any univeral program to provide health care for all.

Brokaw then turned to Obama.

"Well, I think it should be a right for every American," the Democrats declared. "In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that."

On a night when both candidates continued to dance around the economic crisis -- more frequently pointing fingers of blame than offering programs for renewal -- and when they repeated their stances on foreign policy issues involving Iraq, Iran, Israel, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the essential line of distinction was drawn by the candidates themselves on the essential issue of health care reform.

more...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/369687/obama_v_mccain_fundamental_difference_on_health_care?rel=hpbox

[KharmaTrain]

5. Corporate Health Care IS A Commodity

Anyone who had to try to figure out the prescription drug fiasco last year will understand what this means. Gramps wants to privitize this system...give you 5 Grand and good luck...you're on your own. It then becomes shopping for your healthcare like you're auto insurance...and it allows the insurance companies and big pharma to control what type of care can be bought and where. Sure, you could end up with a basic care package that just ensures someone at an ambutol will see you.

Senator Obama was correct in saying healthcare should be a right. I don't see him backing a 100% socialized system, but one that removes the stranglehold the insurance companies have on the system. We're talking about regulating the costs not only of individual insurance, but also that paid by physicians and other health care providers that have driven costs through the roof. Government intervention in setting up a managed care system takes the insurance companies away from playing god and gives more emphasis on pre-emptive rather than emergency or catastrophic care. With a large number of us boomers getting older (and many already suffering from years of poor or inadequate health coverage/care) the demand for a more accessible and afforable system will become a bigger and bigger priority.

[Possumpoint]

6. What Nobody Wants To Talk About Is

The need to reform the patent laws in regards to prescription drugs. The Pharmacy Company's, through their lobbyists, have formulated the laws to their maximum advantage to maximize profits. Please don't think that I'm against profits. They are a needed component for a successful business.

There is however a point where things go too far. That happened long ago with the Pharmacy Industry. By reforming the patent laws to restrict the length of patents on new drugs and to prevent the extension of new patenets to recombiened existing drugs, much can be saved.

[zipplewrath]

7. They both missed, Obama missed "more"

When I heard the question, I knew what the lady was asking, and it was a great opportunity for Obama to relate it to Fannie and Freddie and the whole "greed based" regulation approach. Basically, if you "let the free market decide" in healthcare, that will continue to drive the price through the roof. The answer that Obama needed to give was that there can be "free market elements" in the healthcare and insurance industries, but it will take the same strong but measured regulation that we should have had in the finance industry all along. We cannot allow healthcare to succumb to the "what the market will bear" forces out there. Individual elements within the industry should be allowed to pursue profit motives, but we must ensure that these individual forces cannot coordiante and cooperate to drive up costs. Alternately, we must ensure that we as customers can negotiate as a group to help keep costs down, and services available,a process in which regulation and the government in general can be helpful.