I think just getting the term "public option" out in the general lexicon of the public is half the battle - and the other half is making sure it's defined fairly. If the Right succeeds in sticking the label "socialism" on it then kiss it off. But if it's understood to be a technique not for supplanting private plans but for keeping them honest then it's got a chance.

Is anyone proposing transforming Medicare into a Universal health insurance?aht

Instead of creating new government programs. Get rid of some, and save administration costs and roll them all into Medicare. Let small business individuals over 60 but not yet 65 , self employed buy into it. Eventually roll the entire nation into at its pays for s

I called my congress-critter yesterday, and asked if they could put forth a vote, before any further discussion, agreeing that the Congressional package (system, etc) would be exactly what is available to the public-at-large.

Meaning, if you don't deliver health care for the public-at-large, you lose your health care. It is now, officially, "personal."

If we could get this introduced into the discussion - I can dream, can't I? - it would be fascinating to watch the dancing.

This "cost cutting" obsession is going to kill people. Right now we have a system of companies trying to "cut costs" by *cutting care* facing up against a patchwork of state laws protecting Americans, making sure (or not--in deficient states) that people get the care they need.

As soon as this fraudulent "public option" from the federal government moves in, the state minimum-care regulations will be pre-empted and Americans will get the shoddy, deadly, insufferable care like in healthcare ghettos like Canada.

We need to guarantee BENEFITS, compel PARTICIPATION, and accept the simple fact that the best health care in the world is going to be the most expensive health care in the world.

Do you want Lamborghini care or Yugo care! Give me a break.

American Healthcare costs twice as much as any other capitalist democracy in the world, with no benefit to us in health or longevity. Our healthcare costs have been outpacing inflation for decades and are now bankrupting businesses, pension plans and citizens at an alarming and increasing rate.

As even Obama admits "Big American Health" is too big to fail, it must be reformed... The easiest way to fix our system, without destroying it and starting from the ground up, is to find the greatest areas of waste and eliminate them. This will buy us time and allow a less painful progression towards a state of the art, 21st Century healthcare system.

The two most glaring defects of our current system are: The fact that one third of all healthcare money is skimmed off the top by paper pushers in the insurance industry; and the fact that 80% of what remains is spent "selling hope" to the terminally ill, and their family members as they make end of life decisions on how they want to spend the time they have left.

The solution to the 30%/paperwork problem is simple streamlining... Outlaw the "pre-existing conditions" and eligibility/protection issues, and standardize rates that can be charged down to simple age and dependant status. Insurance that is open and affordable to all. The fitness freaks will wig-out at the thought of sick kids and obese/smoking white trash sharing their coverage, but by reducing the business overhead to a manageable 5%, the cost of their premiums should remain stable (the highest rates in the world!).

The real savings will occur when doctors are required to provide full disclosure, of precisely what a full-on end of life grind in the hospital actually means, compared to a peaceful death at home (with home hospice) or at an inpatient hospice facility. Doctors love to whine about how little Medicare pays, but the truth is, the end of life grind is the jackpot at the end of the Medicare providers quarter.

Many feel giving hope to the dying is a "unfortunate necessity" in healthcare, and perhaps this is true, but failing to fully disclose the unpleasantness, pain and futility of end of life heroics, is perhaps the greatest "tolerated sin" in healthcare today. Doctors and nurses need to stop talking about hypothetical "miracles that might happen" and focus on "the quality of life" for patients during their last few months of life.

These two steps are not only doable... They are ethical, sane, and realistic solutions for healthcare in 2009.

When people start yelling about the bogeyman of Canadian health care, you know it is time to tune out and look at the facts, at reality.

The OPTION- not the mandate or the requirement- to join something like Medicare or Medicaid is the only possible way real health care will be achieved.

It is the only way the poor, unemployed and underemployed will ever have a chance at receiving decent health care.

And how great would it be if small businesses could finally compete with big businesses? Small businesses won't have to lose employees because of paying the crippling costs of ADMINISTERING health care.

Think about it. Why should American businesses be in the health care insurance business in the firtst place? Wouldn't most businesses rather let someone else deal with the headache of administering health insurance?

Naturally, the huge insurance companies are scared to death of losing their reason for being. But really, every one knows their profits depend on denying people the health care they need.

Come on people, e-mail your senators and representatives and demand the full public option be included- NOT DELAYED, NOT DILUTED.

sort of like, impeachment being off the table.

call me out in favor of a slice of socialism. i fail to appreciate the amount of greed it might take for someone who would deny his or her fellow human being adequate medical care on account of money.

and where do we go from here?

because i can demand all i want in front of my easy chair or go out in the proverbial streets. and i can write all the letters i want.

until we have some sort of campaign finance law with jaws and humongous teeth; "we" have nothing.

(not to bring you all down, so anyway.)

as usual we have too many choices presented to us, as a country, to hold on to one simple thing. i suppose we do the best that we can; yet utterly fail to understand opposition to healthcare for all.

if we are, as we like to brag, the richest country in the world...why do we leave our grandparents to their own dwindling devices?