Well big bro, some people cant live their own lives. they require government intervention to get what they want.....

Heres what i think is funny...."if people are mandated to have insurance, prices WILL go down"...obumblers words..........using this idea, u have just thrown a lot of sick people into a system that has to cover thier medical needs...prices are gonna go up fast .....Caterpillar has already stated that under this plan thier first year will cost an additional 100 million doallrs......u will see them sneaky bastards sneak the government option in because a whole lot of companies will be leaving the U.S....jobless rates will get higher......

So those that can afford the mandate, will buy new insurance. However, at the same time, clinics and hospitals won't have the staff to handle all this new hope!

Ever wonder why most of this bill does not take effect for four years?

Hi TP

I think I see where BB is going with that comment, and if so, I have to wonder too if it's he's not made a good point. I never thought the language of the bill regarding "forced to buy" would hold up on constitutional ground. I do realize also that the:::one point::: what ever trillion$ it's to cost in a decade::: is a mere equivalent to what caring for 50 million or more by then without any health care coverage. In fact the number estimated by the end of that decade is closer to 70 million without any. So::: we pay for it either way. But I for one still wanted them to deal with the massive unemployed numbers ahead of anything else. My dad said this weekend, that::: "They had to do it this way, or why else would they need to work on health care if people were working again?" Good point I said. The need to radically change this system wouldn't be so urgent if we had the jobs back that got shipped away.

He told me to read "Cloward and Piven" A strategy that has been unfolding for the better part of the past 40 years. I hadn't heard of it myself, but after reading it I can see how we are pushing along that path. But I still say most of our malaise can be turned around if only they repeal the bad legislation of the past decade. Hope is slowly dying. I don't see it as a party specific plan. I think the socializing of some things are inevitable or we wouldn't have been seeing all these stimulus packages from Bush to date, along this path we were taken the past decade. Once the Piven perspective has been analyzed I think it's easy to see how it can take root. You build such a huge base of poor people and transfer the wealth at 95% or more to just 1% of the population and it's just a matter of a few years that the "cracks in the dam" finally bust loose. Plutonomy in a country such as ours is never a good thing. You take from the bottom (Jenga)until the top is of such a huge glut, there is no way the (economic)weight can be sustained by the ever weaker(poorer) bottom. Total collapse is the outcome. Could be that we missed this? Take a look at it and see what yous think?

Lucy

There is proof out there...the history is there...

Tennessee launched TennCare in 1994 to cover the uninsured. Started with a budget of $2.6 billion, it quickly took up one-third of Tennessee's budget as costs grew to $8.5 billion in 2004.

The state stopped the program in 2005, cutting 170,000 from the plan. It now offers "Cover TN" that limits annual coverage to $25,000 in medical costs at significantly higher premiums and co-pays; the program is still in deep financial trouble.

Maine implemented its plan, including a public option ("DirigoCare") in 2003. Touted as "self funded" (no new taxes), the program has added $155 million to the state budget, requiring increased taxes on beer, wine, soda and paid health insurance claims and has increased health premiums substantially. The state now does not allow new entrants.

Massachusetts started its plan in 2006 with an initial annual budget of $450 million, which it overran in six months, spending more than $650 million that year and requiring federal subsidies annually since. The state subsidized more than 200,000 uninsured, which has resulted in emergency room visits exploding.

Since 2005 insurance costs have risen 21 percent to 46 percent faster than the rest of the nation and employer-provided premiums are now the highest in the nation.

Massachusetts is so pleased with its medical care voters elected a Republican to the Senate in anger over their experiences.