I think the reason many people come to the United States for health care and the reason why most Americans like their health care is because it is the best in the world. Since I am a nurse, and my husband works for the #1 children's hospital in the United States, I'm a bit biased, I'll admit.

I also think Americans want their health care to be cheaper. They certainly do not want anything to come between them and their doctor. Which is one of many reasons why Americans do not want the government to put their hands on it like they have screwed up so many other programs.
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As Obama Pushes National Health Care, Most Americans Already Happy With Coverage

As the Obama administration pushes for a national health care plan, studies show that most Americans are overwhelmingly happy with their own health care -- including most of the 46 million Americans without insurance.

By John R. Lott, Jr. FOXNews.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

As the Obama administration pushes for a national health care plan, studies show that most Americans are overwhelmingly happy with their own health care -- but they are dissatisfied with the country's overall system, because most Americans who have insurance believe that those who don't have it are not receiving care.

Those same studies, however, show that a surprisingly large 70 percent of the estimated 46 million Americans who don't have insurance say they do, in fact, receive health care, and that a vast majority of them are satisfied with it.

A survey conducted jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation, ABC News and USA Today, released in October 2006, found that 89 percent of Americans were satisfied with their own personal medical care, but only 44 percent were satisfied with the overall quality of the American medical system. The survey is the only recent poll for which data is publicly available that allows for a comparison of the satisfaction of insured and uninsured Americans. (The data from a just-completed New York Times/CBS poll won't be publicly available for several months; the results that have been reported so far don't make the comparisons discussed in this article.)

Those with recent serious health problems, possibly the people with the best knowledge of how health care is working, were generally the most satisfied. Ninety-three percent of insured Americans who had recently suffered a serious illness were satisfied with their health care. So were 95 percent of those who suffered from chronic illness.

President Obama, in his press conference on Tuesday, seemed to understand that degree of satisfaction. While promising to help people who are "out of luck" on insurance, he said: "If you like your plan and you like your doctor, you won't have to do a thing. You keep your plan; you keep your doctor. If your employer's providing you good health insurance, terrific. We're not going to mess with it."

But while insured Americans say overwhelmingly that they are satisfied, more than half of them -- 52 percent -- believe that becoming uninsured poses a "critical problem," 36 percent view the threat as "serious but not critical," and another 7 percent see it as a "problem, but not serious." Only 4 percent view it as "not much of a problem."

Uninsured Americans, not surprisingly, are not as satisfied as people who have insurance. Nonetheless, 70 percent of the uninsured who indicated their level of satisfaction said they were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their health care, and only 17.5 percent said they were "very dissatisfied."

For entire article: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/...happy-coverage/

June 25, 2009

ABC's White House special struggled for viewers

President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening.

The one-hour ABC News special "Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America" (4.7 million viewers, 1.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) had the fewest viewers in the 10 p.m. hour (against NBC's "The Philanthropist" debut and a repeat of "CSI: NY" on CBS). The special tied some 8 p.m. comedy repeats as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

The special was shot at the White House and featured the president answering questions about his health care plan. The president's primary message was that those who like their current insurance will be able to keep it and that taking no action will result in higher health care costs.

The special drew fire from Republican leadership after refusing to allow an official opposition response, or even a paid ad. ABC also interviewed Obama on "Good Morning America" to help promote the special.

UPDATE: ABC points out that "Questions for the President" continued into late night during "Nightline" (4.3 million) and helped boost the news program to pull more viewers than CBS' "Late Show" and NBC's "Tonight Show."

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/06/abcs-white-house-special-struggled-for-viewers.html

My opinion: I understand that Congress is being pressured into signing a health care bill by the end of July, despite the large numbers of blank pages in it. (It is thought that Hillary's efforts failed years ago because the bill was too long in the making.)

So I watched this dog and pony BO-Infomercial to see if there would be any specifics offered. As a nurse, I heard the same familiar code words for limitations of services, and how we ALL have to make sacrifices (as if most of us don't), and how after a certain age, the elderly should be allowed to die with dignity (you know what that means to the health insurance rule makers)

There really were no specific explanations given because the plan is being designed by a select few and it will be passed whether anyone likes it or not.

One Canadian said yesterday, "Our system is so bad, we cross the border into the USA for decent and expeditious treatment. Our women have a 25% higher breast cancer death rate than the US because you guys have 2 life-saving medicines we do not carry here due to the expense, and you treat your patients quicker. If you start to practice socialist medicine like us, where will we go if we are really sick?"

My husband lived in England for several years and he says health care there is pretty darn inferior for your average working class stiff.

You can bet your bottom bibby that once the government takes over health care management, those private companies BO insists will still be in operation, will soon close their doors. Just like some hospitals are now closing their doors due to the entitlement people and Medicare mess.

Yes, we need change to make health care more affordable. But NOT change by governemt people who have ruined so much already.

I wish I had time to make a proper response. But, for now, let me simply say this.

My sister has lived in London for the past two years, and has received superior care, even though she is not a citizen. She may need to wait a month for her teeth to be cleaned, but if she had a heart attack she would be taken immediately to the best of the best.

I have struggled for the past two years with our very, very broken system - and I directly blame the government for allowing the sickness in our health care. To make this very personal, my husband will be without health insurance for the next 5 months, because the insurance company runs the government. Well, there are other groups too, such as drug companies, tobacco companies.... My husband is very, very ill and we will be paying out the nose for care, because health insurance is uncaring.

Obama is making a start. It is a huge step in the right direction. Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it better than what we have? I do not know, but I can only hope that it is a positive change.

We, Americans, need to stop sitting on our laurels and admit that our country, and the decisions it has made, have been and are flawed. We need change. No blame, no shame here. It's not the past administration, or the past and the past and the past. It is our own inability to stop being so arrogant that we think we know it all and cannot learn from others.

I am sorry that I will not be around to read the responses to this post. I think, for the first time in many years, we are in a position to make positive and progressive change. As citizens of this country it is time for us to be strong, look for what is working and work on fixing what is not working.

Josie:

But those same Canadians who can AFFORD to pay private high fees in the U.S. (which means not many Canadians since that is thousands of $$), have also quietly thanked their lucky stars they don't have higher fees for annual physical checkups, birth deliveries, all the basic medical care, emergency care in an accident, etc.

Our system is not totally public health care.

I will respond since I have several siblings who have worked for several decades in the Canadian health system (family doctor, 1 hospital pharmacist, 1 community pharmacist) plus friends who have been direct patient care providers. (1 of them a male nurse who worked for several years in Washington state and also in Canada. Returned to Canada to work as a nurse in area of forensic psychiatry.)

Right now I feel crappy. Body is recovering from blood glucose test that I had earlier from medical lab..ordered by my doctor. (I didn't pay directly for this test). I'm seeing a dermatologist..in half hr. right now.
And no, I don't pay for this family physician referral visit to see dermatologist. No, I won't be paying for this dermatology visit. I have to get something examined in office.

I pay a monthly set fee (regardless of Canadian resident's annual income) to my province's govn't ministry of health for health care insurance. RAte is reasonable for what I get..which is alot. If I was working full-time most likely my employer would pay this monthly fee as part of my benefits.

I feel abit off right now..but maybe after appointment, I'll go for a short bike ride..lower this possible blood sugar level bit after eating corn, etc. for supper just now.

See y'all later!

I've lived under both systems, and all I can say is socialized medicine is 100% better! As far as Americans having the best medical care, that might have been so at one time, but like everything else, medical updates are global. We live near two univeristy hospitals, which interchange with Harvard medical university. The newest developmenmts and treatments are shared world wide. And that is good.

The only thing I pay is a 5 dollar visiting charge every three months. That covers all doctors, operations, dental care...just everything. And they all have the most modern and best equipment.

I think we do need healthcare reform. All of the scary things we have been told over the years by people who tell us socialized medicine (and socialized is a very bad word itself) have already come to pass: denial of treatment, denial of care, long waits for care, people hampered because they belong to HMOs and either have to wait to be precertified or must travel to another city to see a doctor (in my state this is like 65 miles so is not nothing). PLUS, we have the added, uniquely American negatives of losing insurance due to change of job, having insurance cancelled, or not being able to buy it at all due to preexisting conditions. More plus, we can literally go bankrupt due to medical bills. About 60 percent of personal bankruptcies are as a result of medical bills -- and a number of these are from people who already *have* insurance.

If our private insurance system is so good, why does the US pay twice as much for healthcare as any other industrialized country AND have a system where nearly 50 million people have no insurance? Why do we have the life expectancy rates of a third-world nation? Why are our infant mortality rates so high? Why do we pay almost no attention to preventive care? And biggest of all: Where is all this money going? Where is all this money going?

People want to return to care between themselves and their doctors? Of course they do: the doctors can be and are overruled by the insurance companies all the time. Why this isn't practicing medicing without a license is beyond me. I'm amazed at how afraid we are of the government when we have already taken over by the insurance companies. And these companies owe to their sharholders first. They can't be voted out of office if we get ticked off at them.

Gee, I maybe I should be ashamed: I'm related to some of those entitlement, Medicare people. My daughter is a combat veteran who is now disabled. If it weren't for the government and her 'entitled' VA and Medicare assistance, she would have no health care at all. She's uninsurable on the private market due to health problems and was denied medications when she did work (they're expensive). It's good to know what other people think of her, but I think she's going to continue getting the services anyway. Nice to know your fellow Americans have your back.

People want health care to cost less? What are we going to do? Ask the insurance companies to lower their rates out of the goodness of their hearts? My other daughter cannot afford insurance at all: even though they are just lazy, shiftless bums who work they cannot afford $1,000 a month in insurance fees.

Yeah, we have excellent care if we can get it. And we who are lucky enough to have insurance love sorting through all the crazy, incomprehensible bills and calling back and both to get mistakes corrected. Oh yeah, and I totally appreciate the threats sent out with a first bill. I just got one the other day and called back and gave them a piece of my mind. Some people are probably terrified at getting these, which I'm sure contributes to their well-being.

I totally agree we need healthcare reform and said so right up front. We are the best, and yet we have so much need for health care changes.

As a nurse for decades, I have seen the very best and the very worst of our system. All the examples in the world, I have seen in my many years of hospital nursing.

Like many of you, I could be here for months citing example after example of both sides of the health care coin. Heck, my always-unemployed young nephew, his two always-unemployed girlfriends and their SEVEN young children have received millions of dollars in government assistance that taxpayers pay for and which waters down medical benefits for working class people.

Does much need to be fixed? Yup. Are there good reasons why people are saved every day because of our great doctors, treatments and technologies? Absolutely.

Has the government and their special interest groups and the insurance lobbyists done anything to make things better? Very little!

Just to be clear, here is my untwisted message regarding what I do NOT support:

I do NOT support Congress being pressured to sign BLANK pages of health care reform over a couple of weeks that BO and his few friends can fill in after the signatures are obtained...

I'd like an independent commission of medical and administrative professionals who KNOW the medical field from all perspectives, coming together and formulating one or two plans which will be presented and voted upon.

Let's see what in the United States IS actually working well, and see if we can incorporate the best ideas on either a statewide or national scale if need be.

Medicare is a mess. Do we really want government scamsters to be in charge of making more health care decisions for us????????

Elle: I know what you mean about those EOBs (explanation of benefits). I have spent many hours on the phone fighting billing errors with certain medical insurance companies. I've been in appeals issues over things which should never have been challenged by insurance reps who know nothing about medicine.

It can be a nightmare paying super-expensive insurance premiums, just so the medical system can be paid for the millions who do not have insurance for one reason or another. And when I think of the insurance/pharmaceutical companies sleeping with their political friends so they can eek out more company profit, I get sick.

Part of me knows that no matter what the American people think, we are going to be stuck once again with something most of us do not want. Yet I always hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, some good will come from behind closed government doors in the weeks ahead.

But then, I still believe in Santa Claus........

are you sure? Fed Ex and UPS are doing just fine running side by side with the US postal service.

LIsten to the people here on this board who are Canadian. Do they sound like they are drowning in health care bills? How many canadians go bankrupt every year because they got cancer? or had a serious car accident?