*Percentage change since '02 in average premiums paid to large US health-insurance companies:+87
*Percentage change in the profits of the top 10 insurance companies:+428
*Chances that an American bankrupted by medical bills has health insurance: 7 in 10
     From Harper's Index  9-09

@ Tonka Town

Everything?!  If the US government cuts private lenders out of the student loan market they would save $80 billion (with a b).  But don't take my word for it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/16/AR2009091603001.html

Do you trust insurance companies to not "f" things up?  

What's wrong America taking responsibility for the people "the system" has failed?

Great.  You've now described Medicare, which is going bankrupt.  And that Department of Education is funded by federal dollars.  See, you're talking about programs that taxpayers pay for, yet they still lose money hand over fist.  Does the Dept. of Ed. make money, or lose it?  Apparently, you weren't a math major.  The money comes from somewhere, and when it runs out (which it will eventually), everyone in the program will lose coverage or the government will take more in taxes, in which case we'll all be speaking Chinese right quick.  It's a slippery slope, and one that comes to an all-too-chilling end.

"Does the Dept. of Ed. make money, or lose it?"

It's a service. Not a business. The government is supposed to provide services... not make a profit.

Medicare has ONE TENTH the administrative costs of private insurers. And much of the costs for the bloated private bureaucracy goes towards denying care to customers in every devious way possible. And forget preventive medicine, they are mostly into PREVENTING medicine.

It is foolish to think of anything done by the Dept of Ed as a cost.  That's an investment.  A recent study shows that in the US, the net value of a college graduate to the tax base over a non-graduate is about $100K, after accounting for any public funds that helped pay for their studies.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14428647

I quite sure no matter what course our country takes, there's no way I can learn Chinese.

Tonka, why this anti-government ranting? 

Would you rather we didn't have public schools? Would you like all roads to be private and tolled?

This bill is about regulation in an industry that has destroyed itself. I just don't understand the vitriol that follows any talk of a public option or single-payer. Both would be better than what we have. Most of my friends do not have health insurance as it is almost rare to have businesses offer insurance (they usually offer to pay part of it). I do not have the option through the small business that I work at. I have minimal coverage even though I'm young and it costs me hundreds each month. I can't even go in without it costing me money. In fact, it does nothing for me unless I've already paid thousands of dollars up front, and then there is a pretty damn good change that insurance company will weasle out of actually helping me when I need it.


We don't live in a 'capitalist' society. We live in a shared country that pools its resources socially for the greater good, that cares for its people where it can and protects them from attack.

IF what everyone paid for health insurance was redirected into a Universal Health care system there would be no short-falls. 

Starting from the premise that the government fucks p everything it touches is a flawed place to begin at. And a thoughtless one as well. We get bombarded continuously with the things that go wrong we fail to acknowledge the vast majority of things that go right because no one remarks about them. If you watch the news, read the papers, listen to people who bitch about everything under the sun  and base your opinion of how things are going solely on that, you miss 99% of what happens.

Yes, government needs critics and people to push it to act better, but just saying government doesn't work is not a criticism, it is ignorance.