This is a dicussion about health care and what it means to us individually and as a society. What do you anticipate the proposed health care reforms will do for our nation?

I am very interested to see how this plays out. I believe all the presented reforms will work wonderfully for the country, but the GOP will be fighting it hard. I hope an initial reform takes place during his first term, and improved upon during his second.

Sam, I'm glad to see you're so hopeful, not even doubting that there will be a second term! I believe that the country is in dire need of a reform, and despite the far right's fearful cries of "socialism!! noo!!", this country needs a little bit more of putting tax dollars to the general good. Everybody deserves health care, not just the rich.

Heathcare is a serious and difficult issue to attack. Unfortunately, unlike other developed countries, the US is so large that creating a nationalized healthcare program will by its very nature be huge and burdensome.
With so many people without insurance, we are in desperate need for some sort of unified approach that provides care for everyone. If you've spent any time in an emergency room in the past few years, you know that our health care system is falling farther and farther into debt and the taxpayer is paying for more and more of healthcare anyway.

The focus and goal needs to be a single payor national Health care system. This is what works and will make the difference in peoples lives. Anything less is a comprimise with big business. We should go back to president Trumans ideas

May God be with us on this issue. Health protection is needed for all to protect everyone's health interests.Cost containment, cost prevention, and effective delivery and management systems are key to its success.

SCREW OBAMA and his socialistic "health care" plan. Friends of mine in Canada say they know people who have died while waiting for rationed health card and surgery.

Healthcare Reform is a necessary evil in the sense that there is much opposition to healthcare reform. Once providers realized that Medicare / Medicaid had "deep pockts", our entire healthcare system has been deteiorating. This means that deterioration of the healthcare system has been occurring for no less than 3 or 4 decades. Turning healthcare around will mean that all providers will have to accept less at the same time providers will be expected to provide high quality services. Paying a Nurse Practioner the same as a physician does not make sense; yet, that is exactly what Medicare does. Having two or three immediate care centers and/or hospitals all in the same areas does not seem the most cost efficient either. It wasn't until recent years that hospitals began putting marble floors and crystal chandeliers in lobbys. Instead of providing better quality services, hospitals have started utilizing more nurse practitioners, fewer licensed physicians, and have become dependent on advertising to bring in higher volumes of patients. Instead of reasonable charges, most providers and facilities escalate the charges by no less than 10 times what the charge would have been 40 years ago. Admittedly, times have changed. Technology has changed. HIPPA Privacy is now an important healthcare requirement -- and, that costs. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly and in a timely manner by healthcare professionals. Whether an individual is among the rich or the poor, there should not be a question as to who should receive treatment. Healthcare Reform is a big undertaking and I personally admire President Obama for taking the task on. Right now, I am among those looking at COBRA in order to have healthcare insurance. Without healthcare insurance, medical patients are often billed double what they would be charged with healthcare insurance. That is an obscene business practice and any medical facility or provider caught billing patients double should be fined twice what they have charged. Perhaps, that would give them pause.

Guess what, we already HAVE a healthcare safety net for those without insurance. Before you believe the hype, read "Obamaland" great book by a British guy who has already been through 20 years of socialism and Nationalized healthcare that is sometimes NO care at all. YOU DON:T WANT THIS. Why do you think people from other countries come here for medical treatment? Because we have the best care in the world. When doctors' salaries are fixed and hospitals are prohibited from expensive procedures, we will have HORRIBLE care like all the other nationalized healthcare countries. Once again, many people are so shortsighted and only thinking about what the gov. can give them free right now.