States lead in rush to reform health care

States lead in rush to reform health care

www.reuters.com

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Matt Oglevie makes a good living as a self-employed house painter, is healthy and has no family to worry about. But he has been looking for a night job so he can get health insurance.

"I've got to have something. I've gone too long on my luck," said 37-year-old Oglevie.

Like Oglevie, an estimated 47 million Americans gamble daily that they won't suffer a major illness or injury and often go without needed medicine. With rapidly-rising health care costs, the number of uninsured has grown from 43 million in 2006.

U.S. lawmakers have argued over reform plans for years, and the spiraling problem is a hot topic in the 2008 presidential campaign with leading Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledging changes are needed.

But state leaders say they are tired of waiting for answers from Washington and at least a dozen states are trying to pass far-ranging health reforms this year.

"The list is very long of states that have made health reform a policy priority," said Laura Tobler, health policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"It isn't coincidental that the presidential candidates are also talking about health reform," said Tobler. "People on the street are pushing for reform."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well, maybe individual states can get done with what Washington seems inept to do. Our health care system in the states is an absolute mess.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'll be interested to see which states will try to implement some changes and how they plan to do it. Will they require all residents to have private insurance, and then help subsidize those who cannot afford the premiums? Hillary Clinton has proposed similar legislation, only on a national level. I applaud the states that are willing to enact some reforms in health care; it's been a long time in coming.

Funny this is coming out of here, KCMO. We're a sanctuary city. Our hospitals are being crushed by illegal immigrants. I had two ER visits in a two year period, one for an animal bite and one for a wreck injury. The price of the emergency visit alone had doubled between the bite and the wreck, and I went to a hospital on the edge of Little Mexico (it's still a damn good hospital, so I didn't mind paying extra).

Expanding universal programs funded by theft only serves those that are creating the problem to begin with.

Hospitals are forced to increase costs because they have to care for people who have no intention of paying for the service. Doctors are going into private practice instead of general medicine because scumbag lawyers have forced the requirement for insanely expensive malpractice insurance. Besides the plethora of federally mandated and expensive red-tape care providers must endure, private citizens are denied the right to import pharmaceuticals with guaranteed quality for much lower cost from countries that aren't dealing with all this crap.

I'm terrified at what people demand. Requiring people to get coverage? Requiring the insurance agencies to cover anyone who applies? Require this, mandate that... They're going to cause premium costs for EVERYONE to SKYROCKET. But that's OK... you can always request government assistance funded by more tax dollars. Who cares if you give up all your decision making rights once you sign up to spend other people's money? You were probably too old/too fat/too "undesirable" for that liver transplant, anyway. Right?

Only three groups of people should be permitted access to government medical assistance: children, poor elderly, and poor disabled. Only because they don't have a choice. Everyone else needs to shut up and get to work.

People need to get past the BS idea that health care is a right and they shouldn't have to pay for it. It is a modern luxury. Being able to get an MRI the same day you see a doctor is no different than being able to check your email on your cell phone. All these idiots screaming for universal health care have zero concept of true suffering. At least they live in a country where they even have access to quality medical care.