Obama Asks For Your Questions On Health Care (VIDEO)

President Obama is scheduled to hold an online town hall on Wednesday to discuss health care and the White House is asking people to get involved by submitting their questions about health care reform via video. The White House's blog says that in this instance "we are engaging online networks outside of WhiteHouse.gov, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter." Watch President Obama's video about the discussion below. To learn more about how to submit a question, read here.

Comments

[ntegrity4me]

There's an argument for both sides. Unfortunately, single payer is not the answer for either.

[Jase84]

Bah, single payer, or a public option is better than the status quo.

[WoodyCPM]

Of course it is. The health care reform bill had better include a viable, meaningful public option or a lot of people are going on a rampage.

[slocomgp]

O.K. What is the answer?

[weatherwaxx]

It works reasonably well in over 30 countries. Are you saying Canada can do something the US CANNOT?

[fodel]

Here's my question: If there's public health care.. will there still be HMOs?

[Samalabear]

HMOs are an animal of the government and they're another middleman. They should die an ignoble death, too.

[kimleehan]

I've heard public option compared to medicare. My father works and does alright, but my mother collects less than $600 dollars from S/S before deductions, She was a housewife most of her adult life and did'nt earn very much. they deduct $ 96.40 for medicare and $12.30 for medicare prescrition drug plan. My question is, Is this concidered good since she still has to pay a deductale and her doctors are always sending her bills for what medicare won't cover?

[WoodyCPM]

No, it sucks. Your mother should not have to pay all of that to receive health care. She has been a productive member of a human society all these years. The society should figure out a way to get her health care without it costing her 25% of her income, no matter what it is. It's insane. We pay more for heath care in this country than anywhere else in the world but we're not healthier than anywhere else in the world. In fact. we're sicker than most of those countries than have a single payer health care delivery system. Trust me though, you're going to have to kill a bunch of insurance executives, hospital owners and doctors to get what we need. There's 4 trillion dollars at stake, they're not going to give it up without a fight.

[Samalabear]

Actually, if it is modeled on Canada's Medicare for All you'll never see another bill again, although I think Canadians do pay some premium. Some commenter quoted a rate of $75 a month for a family of four. And there are no deductibles. This is the way single payer is supposed to work. Here are some good sites that will get you started on single payer.

http://www.calnurses.org/

http://www.ucimc.org/content/healthcare-reform-single-payer-vs-public-option

http://www.healthcare-now.org/

[Oakland]

Make people submit a video and limit the size of his audience to everyone under 30.

[jakiew]

canadians wouldn't give up their health insurance for anything. the articles you read must have been put out by insurance co.'s in this country who don't want to give up the huge profits they make by charging people large premiums and deductibles and then getting us to pay for half of what they should be paying on top of it.

[ntegrity4me]

Wrong. They come here if they aren't "sick enough" to be seen in Canada.

[rgirl]

jakiew, I have several friends that live in Canada, and they all have said that their health care stinks. The wait is too long and one of my friends came to the U.S. to get her surgery done at her expense because she said she couldn't wait that long to have it done in Canada. I am personally not for a government health care, I don't think the governments involvement is a good thing. I've lived a long time and I've seen what State and National government has done over the years. Anytime they tax something they never let it go, it just becomes bigger and bigger. This country is pretty much bankrupt and printing up money to spend on ridiculous things is leading us down the wrong path. The taxpayer needs to have tax relief not just tax and tax and tax us to death. And if this Cap and Trade thing make it through our energy bills will be going through the roof. I don't know what the answer is, but spending and spending when we don't have the money isn't it. I think it's time for the government to tighten in their belt not expand it.

[slocomgp]

since you have lived a long time, are you on Medicare or do you pay for private ins?

[Canuck3]

I would guess that your "friends" in Canada either don't exist or they are a minor element of Canadian Public Opinion. I know people who think that way up here - and to a man they're Conservatives voters. Their experience (if it really exists) is as minor blib of some people who always complain about everything and have some kind of chip on their shoulder against nearly everything and everybody. Sorry - but it's true.

Single Payer Canadian Medicare works - and the vast majority of Canadians agree (not just a small majority) - so these people have no argument. Don't listen to them.

[Samalabear]

You see that's the beautiful thing about the internet -- you try and diss the Canadian system and lo and behold in pops a Canadian. Thank you, Canuck. Love it when Candians come in and tell us the truth about their system.

[jakiew]

We sacrifice our lives, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for the almighty , ever increasingly costly health care card. this article should be required reading for all, especially politicians

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/140918/we%27ve _been_trapped_inside_a_bad_health_care_system_so_long%2C_we_don%27t_even_know_how_much_we%27re_missing_/?page=entire

[gino618]

If systems such as Canada's are so good, and ours in the US is so bad, how come this occurs:

"HAMILTON — A critically-ill premature-born baby from Hamilton is all alone in a Buffalo, N.Y., hospital after she was turned away for treatment at local facility and transferred across the border without her parents, who don't have passports.

Ava Stinson was born Thursday at St. Joseph's Hospital, 14 weeks premature.

A provincewide search for an open neonatal intensive care unit bed came up empty, leaving no choice but to send the two pound, four ounce baby to Buffalo. "

http://cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090626/090626_BABY_PASSPORTS/20090626/?hub=CP24Home

Not ONE available neo-natal bed in the entire province so the child had to be turned away and sent out of the country to the US for care.

[Viper]

And guess what ... Canada will cover her treatment in the U.S. when they dont have resources (and at medicare or medicaid rates, which get accepted). Canada spends half has much as we do and covers everyone... so we should be able to cover everyone quite well given our cost are twice as much! And their cost are not doubling every 8-9 years. Nor is their cost increasing dramaticaly as a percent of GDP (which means in the end we cant afford what you think is great healthcare and 60% of physician dont)!

Canada is muxch more sparsely populated by the way. And by the way treatment reciprocity exist all around the world.

Now I can tell you stories where we dont transfer care to some one who can treat as Canada did, we just keep putting them in ambulances and transfering them around if they cant pay! Or people bleeding to death while waiting in emergency rooms with minor problems because the rooms are filled up with the uninsured.


Regards

[Samalabear]

A friend of mine has a daughter-in-law who is a French citizen. She is over here and needed brain surgery to remove a melanoma. She also has MS. Sloan Kettering demanded $83,000 upfront, which thank God they had one well-off relative who was able to cover that. This care, though, and all of her subsequent care will be reimbursed by the French Government. Now, of course, if we had reciprocal single payer there probably would not have been an upfront bill.

[Canuck3]

Perhaps it's because Buffalo is a very short helicopter or ambulance ride from Hamilton comparted to the trip to any major Cnadian city (i.e. Toronto) and since OHIP was paying fopr it anyway why not?

That kind of story is a pathetic attempt by Right-Wingers to focus on ONE small incident that might have actually been justified.

[JuliaRain]

Guess Hamilton will get neonatal funding next year! :D

[rxvette]

There's a lot we can do to improve the healthcare system in America but it is my belief that the most important part of successfully reducing overall costs and therefore improving access to affordable care lies with all of us individually.
To learn more feel free to read my blog article:
rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html

[rxvette]

Sorry forgot to include the address as a direct link - http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html

[boomslang]

We are have to take responsibility, individually but also professionally as doctors , lawyers ( I purposefully do not include insurances as they only have a business model for their conduct)

[Brian Rabble]

Cap and Trade = massive tax
Healthcare reform = massive tax

do you really think he is only looking at the top 5% to pay for all this?

[classicalgeek]

The CBO is not including the savings that will be realized. Add those in and you'll find that we'll end up making a profit.

[VikingQuest]

Everyone will pay, few will benefit is my guess.

The odds of us paying for 50 million people's health insurance somehow lowering the costs to the rest of us is non-existant.

[Jase84]

Bull. It will put prices in check, which the health industry doesn't want, and we are already paying for the uninsured. Guess what happens when one is forced to go the hospital, and they can't pay the bill....

[Theo67]

It's called economies of scale.

[Viper]

Oil 147 per barrel last summer... that was a tax also, just collected by the arab world and a few speculators in the U.S. like Goldmans Sachs.. Under Bush, energy cost trippled.

Under bush healthcare INSURANCE cost doubled... thats a tax too, just not paid to the government! My income and my employers is reduced by that cost! It will have doubled again in another 7 years... 28% of GDP!

It also has meant MFG jobs moving out of the country to Canada and elsewhere, where they have single payer. Detroit, 50% population lost. Avg price of house 18K.. across the lake in Canada they make more cars now than in michicgan, house price 200K.

Keeping Private health insurance industry is costing us all other industry in the U.S and the future of this country.

56% of Fortune 500 execs want single payer. 60% of DOCs. 72% of American people.

Regards

[jemiltd]

I just watched Michael Moore's Sicko on Shotime's Showxase. Eye opening. Every American should watch.

[ntegrity4me]

No thanks. He's a lefty. If a "moderate" would put together BOTH SIDES and make a documentary out of it, I'd be happy to watch!

[slocomgp]

Don't hold your breath.
I agree it is eye opening and worth watching.

[rgirl]

ntegrity, I so agree with you, This country needs to become more moderate. Anything that Michael Moore puts together is so slanted to his personnel beliefs. I wish we could get rid of this two party system, it has become so bad lately with each side blaming the other. How can we ever work our way out of this mess if all we do is blame each other?

[northstar11]

6he system you have leaves 47 million uninsureed and those that have insurance can losr it in an instant ---that should be all you need to know.... what makes you think you will always be covered and healthy---- a simple car accident could leave you paralysed -then what -no job no coverage??

[Samalabear]

Actually, CNN and particularly Sanjay Gupta tried to debunk facts in Sicko. They had to apologize to Michael Moore. He got is pretty darn accurate. The situation has only gotten worse since Sicko.

[Nomadius]

You won't find a perfect model all around the planet. A few countries seem to be slightly more successful and those fall within what most narrowminded people would label as socialist countries with "socialized healthcare" AKA Europe or European Union countries.

SIMPLE TEST...try to finf out what visitors have to say about US healthcare costs and services if they had the misfortune to have to be treated during their visit to the US.

NOW, compare the above with what US citizens have to say about European healthcare after being treated during their trip.

Nothing better than first hand opinion

[classicalgeek]

There's a huge difference between socialized systems (like the ULK) and single-payer systems (like France and Germany).

As for US citizens being treated by European healthcare, I fall into that latter category. I can't wait until I'm able to move there permanently.

[TJCole]

A few, yeah 36 to be exact...!

We can easily pick the best form each that works for us it's called adaptation and key to survival and evolution...

[HumeSkeptic]

There are plent of surveys and studies available. I have posted some below.
I would rather go by that than anecdotal accounts of a few people.

[lj9283]

If you want some first hand accounts and explanations of what works for 5 Capitalistic countries who offer Universal Health care take a couple of hours and watch the PBS Frontline Special "SIck around the World"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/

[rxvette]

I've watched this show a while back and it was excellent! I even referenced it in my latest blog article about reforming healthcare - http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html

We don't have to reinvent the wheel here. We can take some great ideas from other countries and put it in place in America and it could have a profound impact. Thanks for mentioning this program to everyone. It is a must see!

[HumeSkeptic]

We rank #1 in the world in healthcare cost per capita.
We rank # 37 in healthcare quality.
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm

France is ranked #1, and has a single payer, universal healthcare system that costs less per capita than ours.

72% Americans want government involvement in healthcare.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/05/health.care.summit/

59% physicians want national health insurance (32% opposed).
http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html

We have the most expensive and one of the worst systems among five industrialized countries in a recent study.
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2007/May/Mirror--Mirror-on-the-Wall--An-International-Update-on-the-Comparative-Performance-of-American-Healt.aspx


We have among the highest infant mortality rates of industrialized countries.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html


And Republicans think that our healthcare system is just great!

[ShadowfaxinUT]

It's perfect for the Republican agenda: the rich get richer and the poor get sick and die.

[HumeSkeptic]

We rank #1 in the world in healthcare cost per capita.
We rank # 37 in healthcare quality.
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm

France is ranked #1, and has a system that costs 43% less per capita than ours.


What are the objections to having a healthcare system that is the best in the world and costs less?

I'm all ears.

Don't give me bullcrap about what Obama said and what Dean said or how many votes in the Senate we have.

Tell us why we shouldn't have the best system that costs less.

And this would be a good question to ask the President.
.

[vazzy13]

Why only video questions? Not everyone has a webcam! He eliminating the people who need healthcare most - the poorest...they're not even hearing about this because they don't have home computers....may even be homeless by now...hmmmmmm

What I want to know is how will this plan - or any plan - stop the insurance companies from continuing to screw people? I recently had surgery, for which I had to get preapproval - twice. I was told everything was covered at 100% after my deductible. So I saved some money, paid the deductible, and had the procedure. Now I am getting bills from the hospital, the anesthesiologist, everyone from the attendant who took care of my used johnny to the nurses in post-op! WTF?

Also, my employer recently changed our coverage so now instead of a $500 deductible, we have a $5,000 deductible!! Tell me - WHY is it that once you sign up for benefits for a calendar year you cannot change anything unless there is "a qualifying event" such as marriage, birth of a child, etc? BUT the employer or insurer can change anything they want at any time as it suits their financial needs???? I want an option that restricts and regulates the insurers and employers once the contract is issued. Why is it the "contractee (employee)" is always getting screwed, but the "contractor" pulls anything they want??

Talk about THAT Pres!

[slocomgp]

I have private insurance, a self employed Realtor. My insurance is going up over 25% on July 1st, it went up 20% early last year, again the year before when I turned 50. My deductible is $5200 a year per person. The coverage stinks and continues to get worse. I can't afford to use my insurance and keep making the payments. There is no contract, just pay the bill, agree to increases and the reduction in coverage. Nothing to protect the insured, you have to fight for every bit of coverage after paying for it for years. Its not like we can shop for better rates because at my age pre existing is a fact. I haven't had employer based insurance in over 20 years. Where I live there are very few jobs with benefits.
It must be nice to have your employer cover part of the bill.

[ntegrity4me]

I will continue to pay premiums, see my Doctor, get tests when "my physician and/or I" decide (not when the government decides). Give the socialized health plan to people who want a hand out. Leave the rest of us alone. I just pray my insurance company will still be in business! Native Americans have "free health care" paid for by the government, and that system is awful. Many in my state PAY for private insurance so they can get REAL care. Sad.

[Coastalthinker2]

At present, your private health insurance provider is getting between you and your physician whether you realize it or not. Ask many physicians about this if you weren't aware of this fact.

[ntegrity4me]

I've never had a claim denied. My provider and I are on the same page when it comes to health care reform. There is a problem with premiums for employers, but single payer is not the solution. My doctor hates the idea of single payer!

[Viper]

So the VETs and the people receiving Medicare are getting bad care? BS. Medicare is about the best coverage you can get! With babay boomers retiring, 1/3 will shorttly be under Medicare.

You are likley talking about medicaid , which is bad , payments are too low.

Our cost as an employer for insuring relatively young work force at our cancer centers is around 20K... plus there are deductables/copays/coinsurance....

I find most people view what they pay for their healthcare as what is taken out of their pay and not the additional 70% paid. I also see what happens when they get sick and lose their insurance since they cant pay for it... The time you really need health insurance is the time it will go POOF!


Anyway you get to keep what you got as long as your emplyer keeps it... but emplyers are covering 5% less every yesr due to the cost. Actually if you subntract government employers only 40% of employers now provide health insurance.

Regards

[classicalgeek]

The government-run Native American clinics do an amazing job with the funds that they are given. The problem is that their budgets are the first to get cut, because the US does not honour its treaty obligations in a meaningful way.

That is my only fear with the public option--that those of us with pre-existing conditions, undesirable health, or poverty will be marginalized as have the Native Americans. After all, (sarcasm on) if we were deserving, like those white male rich and powerful guys in the Congress, we wouldn't need their help (sarcasm off). They forget we pay for their health care.

[Viper]

Not likely when members of congress and we all have the same plan!


Easy to target a small group like indians.. not so easy to screw the entire country.

Regards

[Gdebs]

And I suppose you left your grandma on an ice flow when she got too old to pay her way.

[jakiew]

LOL GOOD ONE!

[Viper]

Medicare in our state covers most ot the people... and its a government program and superior to private healthcare.

I got a quote for a 68 year old employee and his wife, both in good health from Humana .. 5 years ago ( medicare does not cover you if you work for an employer with healthcare, the employer must)... the quote then was 36K... to day it would be 54K!. The employee was being paid 10/per hour or 20K per year. The same doctor treats you under medicare or Humana by the way...

People who talk like you, really are short on the facts and long on Rush.

Pls note that in France, England and germany, private plans also exist as supplements .... just the rates are really low!

Regards