Mathew Homeless in Phoenix, 2010 (haha).

I agree, the American people do need to be put in the drivers seat as Mathew indicated. And yes, history has shown us what Homeless has said: when then the gov’t hands gets on something, prices increase excessively.

The market will be able to decrease prices, I totally agree.

Most of the cost in health care today is malpractice insurance. Wanna lower prices? Place realistic restrictions on the amount that people are allowed to sue for when their doc messes up. Doctors are only human, therefore they are not perfect. They are going to make mistakes from time to time. This is a risk that you knowingly accept when you CHOOSE to visit the doctor! If you are unwilling to accept that risk, don’t go to the doctors. Take your chances on your own I say.

Removing the special protections from antitrust legislation the insurance industry enjoys would be a good first step.
Opening them up to laws suits when they deny coverage illegally would be another good step.
Currently they enjoy a high degree of immunity from prosecution, and that leads to abuses of their clients.
The biggest cost in your system is the administration fees the insurance companies charge. Even the nonprofit health insurers **** up most of the money through office charges.

You got it !! — PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

I investigated Medicaid Fraud for 28 years and saw untold numbers of Medicaid Recipients who viewed a Medicaid card as a personal credit card from the government so they never bothered to seek medical care until as one woman once told me Honey…. I don’t go to the Doctor until gangrene sets in

If you mandate that in order to continue to receive health insurance benefits people must make routine visits for routine exams routine tests routine innoculations and then follow up on any problematic symptoms…that would reduce health care costs.

Much of the cost of health care in America is directly related to government regulation and over sight. Doctors and hospitals are required to have huge administrative staffs dedicated soley to responding to such government involvement. Then, too, a significant cost is contributed to by frivolous law suits and the resulting malpractice insurance that doctors and hospitals are required to carry. Did you know that there are many hospitals in the U.S. that no longer have emergency rooms because they cannot afford the insurance required to support them? And that is not the fault of the ‘evil insurance companies’ who we have recently learned are not rolling in the dough, it is the fault of lawyers and their frivolous law suits. You get rid of or control of government over regulation and these absurd law suits and you’ll significantly reduce the cost of health care.

There are a number of other things we can do and it wouldn’t cost the government one, single, solitary, gosh darned dime.

But back to you, if you believe we’re wrong, what HAS this bill done to ‘reduce the cost of health care’ other than shift that cost to the government, which does not reduce it or mandate that a procedure that costs the doctor $100 to perform will now only be paid for at a rate of $90. How long do you think a doctor will perform a $100 procedure for $90? Are you folks honestly that ignorant? Doctors are already turning away Medicare patients because they cannot afford to treat them. Is that because the doctors are greedy or…wait for it…is there actually a cost to the providing of medicine and medical care that we should be addressing? Have YOU actually tried to find out why medical care costs so much? I doubt it. But the problem is, neither did your congress.

educating the public on moderation. Moderating ones diet to a healthy one. Focusing on that type of preventative care should cut down the costs. Because most of the health problems people are having comes from shoving unhealthy foods and drinks down their throat. Not saying everyone should turn in a greenie, or a veggie head, but a little moderation and healthy eating goes a long way. Also a tax on every pre packaged consumer foods with low nutrition value would help out a lot.

This insurance reform increases cost.

Changes needed:
A) Eliminate the tax deduction for Employers.
B) Make all insurance individual - pick your level of coverage

Then insured individuals will be forced to watch their costs. Insured individuals never ask how much. They just ask if it is covered. They are spending someone else’s money so it doesn’t matter to them.

This way it makes everything fair and removes the cost from employers. It also removes favoritism by our government to corporations and penalties against individuals.

Eliminate health insurance companies.

They are nothing but middlemen that provide nothing.

They make a profit from health care that shouldn’t even be there.

Clamp down on hospitals, doctors, and all health care providers.

Why anyone would defend health insurance companies is beyond me.

They deny health care insurance to selected groups of people while trying to sign up only those that are a minimum risk.

Pre-existing conditions are the biggest pile of BS there ever was. So if you are healthy and have no history of health problems, the insurance companies want your business but if you really need care, then you are denied.

What we need to do is put the American consumer back in the drivers seat. Remove anything that gets between the consumer and his bill (government and insurance). Large scale insurance only serves to do one thing: increase costs. Think about it - does the insurance company actually care how much a procedure costs? They get thousands of claims a day - they can’t investigate them for over billing or fraud. Look at auto insurance: How much does an oil change cost? $30 or $40 right? Why does it all the sudden cost $3000, $4000 or more when you get in an small accident? Because the insurance company is paying for it, not you - and so the mechanics take their time. They overcharge the insurance company to make up for losses elsewhere - and any number of other things because they know you don’t care and the insurance company isn’t watching.

We need to put the bill back in the hands of the American consumer - because when you see your own money going out the door, then you are more inclined to question the expenses and only do whats in your best interest (not the myriad of tests the doctors want to cover their malpractice requirements).

Remove government regulations and health insurance should be for catastrophic events - like heart attacks and the such. Not for every little time you scrape your knee or have a cough.

First off, identify extraneous costs and eliminate them. If other countries can expand healthcare to a larger base of citizens for a lesser cost, then this must be possible and we’ve done it wrong.

Extraneous costs: over-testing as a hedge against malpractice, un-checked insurance premium increases due to health care monopolies not having to compete.

Those two need to be eliminated, you do that with tort reform, and by breaking up the regional monopolies (and similarly removing the anti-trust exemption from health insurance companies).

This health care bill we have in congress has it all wrong. Forcing everyone to buy insurance won’t reduce costs if the insurance companies still don’t compete. It’s just more money for them, and I am not confident that they will use it to strengthen their business model, they will use it to line their pockets. Their is no incentive whatsoever in the health care bill for health insurance companies to give Americans a better deal. That’s the bottom line, that’s why this bill is not reform and why it won’t work.