Posted on 12/18/2006 5:26:59 AM PST by A. Pole
WASHINGTON -- Universal healthcare, an issue the White House and Congress have largely abandoned since the early 1990s, has reemerged as an issue on Capitol Hill and around the country, with lawmakers looking to Massachusetts' landmark plan as a political and structural model for the nation's 46 million uninsured.
Healthcare specialists and government officials across the political spectrum say the healthcare debate has reached a turning point, with both liberals and conservatives ready to compromise.
Liberals are setting aside old demands for a single-payer system, while conservatives are showing a willingness to consider more government involvement in the provision of healthcare.
With Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, an architect of the state's plan, mulling a presidential run in 2008, healthcare is likely to be a big topic in the both the GOP and Democratic presidential primaries, party officials say.
[...]
Senator Edward M. Kennedy , Democrat of Massachusetts and the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said he will call hearings in the new Congress to explore using the Bay State plan as a national model.
And some Republican senators think the plan might help US companies compete in the global market by easing the burden of rising healthcare costs. Representative Edward Markey , Democrat of Malden, said he will push for similar hearings in the House.
"It's a conspiracy of the left and the right," said Ed Haislmaier , a healthcare specialist with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
[...]
Senator Trent Lott , a conservative Mississippi Republican and a newly-named member of his party's leadership, called the Massachusetts plan "a good idea," and said he wanted to examine what parts of the program could be used elsewhere in the country.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Universal health care in 2008?
I've said all along, we'll get National Healthcare because the corporations want it.
Universal Health Care is the code-word for socialized medicine, period.
To redistribute wealth, via me paying someone elses' healthcare costs, while diluting the quality of my own SELF-PAID medical care, is where it's going.
For those who want yet-another bloated, inefficient, welfare/entitlement program, thinking SOMEHOW there will be more benefit in a socialist system, move to Canada or some other country which suffers from socialized medicine wait-in-line second-rate system.
The erosion of personal responsibility and self-reliance, and the juggernaut of government-dictated lifestyles continues.
As if our state doesn't have enough financial problems...
The Romney plan was built by the Heritage Foundation so it has that going for it.
Going federal with it, is to me, a bad idea.
Let's see how it works for a few years and encourage other states to try their own experiments for a while.
Certainly, something needs to be done about healthcare costs but no need to rush into a one size fits all plan for the 50 various states.
Yes, and we can all wait in line with the 60+ millin who'll be let in under the immigration amnesty.
Healthcare specialists and government officials across the political spectrum say the healthcare debate has reached a turning point, with both liberals and conservatives ready to compromise.
Yeah sure Boston Globalist. Edward Kennedy's bill doesn't have enough votes, and you know it. This thinly-disguised cheerlead won't change a single mind, so why bother wasting a tree on it?
"....more government involvement in the provision of healthcare."
Gee, and more government has worked so well in the past too.
You got THAT right!
It's even against the law in Canada to offer to pay the doctor rather, the doctor to accept private payment, in order to speed up your procedure. So, just sit back & wait your turn...IF you can live that long.
There's a reason Canadians in dire need of medical treatment are charging across our borders in search of immediate treatment.
Mitt's plan is contributing to the MA exodus.
Just what we need, another program that costs much more than expected and will require tons of tax dollars. There are only two possible results, rationed healthcare or more expensive healthcare.
Just what we need, another program that costs much more than expected and will require tons of tax dollars. There are only two possible results, rationed healthcare or more expensive healthcare.
Triangulation at its finest.
Here's a better idea.
Cap civil damages against medical providers and doctors, eliminate HMOs/PPOs, offer 0-interest student loans for students majoring in any medical field, and allow the free market to work to drive down prices.
Health care is not a right, and it cannot be made cheaper through a massive pyramid scheme.
And, rightfully so....we all PAY for OUR places in that line!
/sarc
The fact that corporations want it is why politicians keep trying to jam it down our throats......it is one piece of legislation that has the potential to affect almost 100% of voters....and usually polticos keep away from such stuff. The Dems lost Congress twice over it...the first time around was 1946, the second 1994...because it is THE one issue the elctorate is scared of....putting their live in Ted Kennedy's hands!!!!
It is a huge fallacy to think that lawyers can redesign businesses better than the pros in that industry.
Most Canadians I talk to generally are favorable to their program. Might have problems but better than what existed before.
I had a neighbor who put off treatment for aches & pains (in chest); he couldn't afford plane ticket to hospital or maybe was worried about how much money it was going to cost his family. He died of heart attack a month after problems began, left a widow & 4 year old daughter. Everytime I see that little girl, I think about it. Now my family has a decent healthcare plan; but what if shoe was on the other foot? Got to be a better way and I'd rather see repubs have some input when it comes down.
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