Do you want the health care reform bill to pass or fail? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Massachusetts Street on March 21, 2010

“To pass. As a pharmacist, I see a lot of failures with regards to the geriatric community and the minorities in the United States. … Reform is the answer.”

— Audrey Smyl, pharmacist, Alberta, Canada

“I want it to pass. … I think it’s a good step in the right direction.”

— Danny Smyl, engineering major, Lawrence

“Fail, I don’t think it takes care of what we need to do. … I think we need some changes in health care, but this is overwhelmingly too expensive.”

— Tom Girard, retired firefighter, Lake Perry

“I definitely want it to pass. We’re way overdue for health care for all Americans and this is a good start.”

— Joe Forinash, retired, Lawrence

Obama urges Democrats to come together

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Snap, You might note that a good portion of those who oppose the current bill do so because it does not go far enough in involving gov't in health care (public option, single payer), not that it's supposed to be a gov't take over of health care.

Seth Peterson 4 years ago

Like most US citizens, Pass. I'm glad they listened, for once.

mom_of_three 4 years ago

One thing I like about the bill is that kids can stay on their parents insurance until they are 26. Although we all want our kids to go out and be self supportive, it will be helpful for those who will take a little longer.

kimmydarling 4 years ago

You know, yes. I hope it passes. I hope it finds a way for people to stop living in fear of getting sick or injured because if they do they might lose their home or all of their savings. I hope it means people get the chance to seek medical care they otherwise couldn't have afforded to prevent things like cervical and breast cancer by awareness and regular checkups.

For everyone saying, "oh just go get on state health care we already have and suck it up" it's not that easy. not the parent of a minor child or suffering from a major disability? No dice. Sure you work hard and make just enough to live but they don't give you benefits, no kid? No health care

Pywacket 4 years ago

Pass(ed)!!! Woo hoo. About effing time a step is taken in the right direction.

Ask Sweden or Denmark or France or Germany (etc) what a tragedy it is to extend universal health care to all citizens. Or how their scary, scary "socialism" has ruined their countries.

Geez, do some of you people even TRY to think for yourselves or just swallow whole every lie told by Hannity, Rush, et al.?

This bill is not perfect by far, but it's a step in the right direction. A step that should've been taken decades ago.

Oh--and guess what? Those people who are uninsured? The ones you resent so much because you think you'll have to pay for their health care now? You have been paying for it all along. Only instead of paying for preventative care, you (and all of us) have been paying for far more expensive emergency treatment when the poor souls ignore the signs of early heart problems, suspicious lumps, mild infections, etc., which then turn into life-threatening (read: expensive!) illnesses and the ERs (instead of the family doc's office) MUST see them.

Maybe that will begin to change now.

tubs_of_love 4 years ago

Pass.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years ago

216 just reached, who in the hell voted for these evil people?

4 years ago

I hope the bill FAILS, goverment is taking over every aspect of out lives, the us is not a free country anymore

beatrice 4 years ago

You really have to wonder about those who want less art in their lives. How sad.

Easydoesit feels being an artist doesn't qualify as "work." Fine. From now on, since you hate artists so much, you are no longer allowed to listen to music of any kind. Any time anything in path of your eyesight might appear artistic, you must cast your eyes down to the cement. No visual arts for you, either. Oh, and throw away your tv, because "artists" act and write the programs you enjoy. Also, you are never allowed to go to the movies. Movies are made by artists. (I would tell you not to read any more books, but I figure you already are practicing this form of anti-art.) Nope, from now on you get to eat bland food (some people consider being a good cook an art form), you can only look at cement when within a city environment, no music, not even humming, no art of any kind. Yep, live the anti-art principle, and have a great life.

sunny, you just lied. You are the worst kind of American, the kind who only believes one party could possibly be correct on anything, ever. You would have made a fine communist. Instead, you are just a liar in America. How sad to be you.

PASS!

Charlie Bannister 4 years ago

Almost everyone misses the real purpose of this bill. It is a game changer in the respect that the government just controls that much more of another aspect of our life. That is exactly what progressives (Marxist's) want. There has been an ongoing encroachment against liberty everytime another entitlement program passes. Whatever happened to self sufficiency and hard work, in order to get ahead without a bunch of government help? We need to be getting rid of several entitlements, not adding more. The things that need to be fixed in the healthcare system could be put into a 25 page bill. There are about 5 or 6 things that need to be addressed. That's it. This monstrosity of a bill will be tied up in the court system the day after it passes. Then it will be later repealed. It has to be. We cannot afford it.

Tony Kisner 4 years ago

RI - I want to be an artist, I hate having to work, maybe I should contact my congressman. Come to think of it, not only is my health care a burden so is putting a roof over my head, and feeding myself. I could use a new car also. It is time this government did things for the people that the people want.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years ago

In an interview with Rachel Maddow Thursday evening, Pelosi asked Americans to "think" about a bright, new, liberating kind of utopia:

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer, a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance. Or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risks, but not be job-locked because a child has a child has asthma or diabetes or someone in the family is bipolar. You name it, any condition is job-locking."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/03/pelosi_and_marx_on_freedom.html

LiberalDude 4 years ago

Pass

Agnostick 4 years ago

sunny (anonymous) says…

"Ignorant pelosi suggested all the writers and painters quit their day jobs, where they get insurance, and the american people will pay for their healthcare so they can paint and write."

Source?

Tom Shewmon 4 years ago

Pass....and cap & trade to follow on it's heels. Makes me all quivery thinking about 11/02/10.

sunny 4 years ago

Ignorant pelosi suggested all the writers and painters quit their day jobs, where they get insurance, and the american people will pay for their healthcare so they can paint and write.

Ignorance at its best.

thewayitis 4 years ago

I will become a moocher... when they take out the pre-existing condition clause i will cancel my insurance and re-up when i get sick. Here's a newsflash, So will MILLIONS of others. Medicade is here now for those who cannot afford to get sick . Use it and leave the rest of us alone.

militant 4 years ago

WWIII begins when the U.S. defaults on it's loans from China and they start seizing our assets. Obama's true identity will finally be revealed, but it will be too late to stop.

50YearResident 4 years ago

I am trying to understand this "Oh, just pass it and let's move on. If you look at it like no-fault auto insurance, you just end up spreading the cost among even the safe drivers and therefore, lowers the cost for everybody." How can spreading the cost to safe drivers make it cheaper for everybody? Safe drivers are now paying for the bad drivers costs. So where is the savings? It's the moochers that are saving!

notajayhawk 4 years ago

FreshAirFanatic (anonymous) says…

"Merrill...I'm sure this is a waste to time to even try. But the numbers you quoted change dramatically depending on how the question is posed and what cost variables are used."

Not to mention the poll merrill cited is more than a year old.

dajudge (anonymous) says…

"Oh, just pass it and let's move on. If you look at it like no-fault auto insurance ..."

[sigh]

Okay, one MORE time.

Nobody is forced to buy auto insurance to cover losses to themselves (i.e., collision or comprehensive). You only have to have insurance to cover losses you cause to someone else - and that's only if you CHOOSE to drive a car.

"If Everybody is covered, the costs are much less individually, but, those who don't need it have to get it. Not fair, but makes better sense for the masses."

It makes "sense" for those who don't need something to pay for it - so those who do need it don't have to.

Brilliant.

prospector 4 years ago

Go fish.

The_Original_Bob 4 years ago

Punt.

yourworstnightmare 4 years ago

There are principled arguments to make about this bill and the deficit.

Too bad most in the GOP have no ethical and moral authority on this issue, having stood by and voted with Bush to engage in two wars and give masisve tax cuts to the wealthy. Indeed, many in the GOP said that running a deficit is healthy, that it is ok.

Now, the GOP deficit hawks are conveniently back. This deep hypocrisy makes any argument thay make ring hollow. The GOP lacks the authority to talk about deficits.

Too bad, because principled opposition is a good. The GOP present unprincipled opposition.

dajudge 4 years ago

Oh, just pass it and let's move on. If you look at it like no-fault auto insurance, you just end up spreading the cost among even the safe drivers and therefore, lowers the cost for everybody. As it is now, the healthy people opt not to buy health insurance, so the costs are spread much thinner. If Everybody is covered, the costs are much less individually, but, those who don't need it have to get it. Not fair, but makes better sense for the masses. Then, lets get on to another New Deal and get that no child left behind thing going by firing all the teachers.

CWGOKU 4 years ago

Fail

Liberty275 4 years ago

Why would anyone want the government forcing citizens to buy a product from a private corporation simply because they are American? That's just dumb.

Agnostick 4 years ago

Overall, I lean towards "fail" more than "pass." I would rather take a little extra time on this, build something from the ground up by bringing moderate Democrats and Republicans to the table. We need for this effort, not so much a "Gang of 14" as much as a "Gang of 40."

This thing that will most likely pass today has "shove it down your throat" written all over it. I wouldn't be surprised if, two years from now, a predominantly-Republican Congress strips all the teeth out of it, much like what happened to the Reagan tax cuts in the mid '80s.

--Ag

independant1 4 years ago

Let me get this right. The government will be more involved than today and it will be better for us all and cheaper. Yeah Right

Who's going to pay for it? Answer=Us Fail

Agnostick 4 years ago

spacehog... you forgot "thrice-divorced child sex tourist"...

spacehog 4 years ago

"I hope he fails!!" -Rush Limbaugh, fat All-Star Wrestling political Anal-List

FreshAirFanatic 4 years ago

Merrill...I'm sure this is a waste to time to even try. But the numbers you quoted change dramatically depending on how the question is posed and what cost variables are used.

For example...when people are asked, "would you be in favor of of a single payer option if it was free?" 76% will say yes.

But, "would you be in favor of a single payer system that would raise your taxes and cost over $1T?. 54% say no. [last night's Rasmussen]

And one more time. This is not Republican's holding up the bill. We are watching the end of the democratic party. It's like having stage IV "Progressive" cancer.

Oh...and what about education being thrown into this as well.

RETICENT_IRREVERENT 4 years ago

puff.

Richard Heckler 4 years ago

Moreover, tax dollars also pay for critical elements of the health care system apart from direct care—Medicare funds much of the expensive equipment hospitals use, for instance, along with all medical residencies.

All told, then, tax dollars already pay for at least $1.2 trillion in annual U.S. health care expenses. Since federal, state, and local governments collected approximately $3.5 trillion in taxes of all kinds—income, sales, property, corporate—in 2006, that means that more than one third of the aggregate tax revenues collected in the United States that year went to pay for health care for about 60% of those insured.

Recognizing these hidden costs that U.S. households pay for health care today makes it far easier to see how a universal single-payer system—with all of its obvious advantages—can cost most Americans less than the one we have today.

Medicare must exist in the fragmented world that is American health care—but no matter how creative the opponents of single-payer get, there is no way they can show convincingly how the administrative costs of a single-payer system could come close to the current level.

More on this matter: http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/0508harrison.html =============================================== IMPROVED Medicare Insurance for ALL http://www.healthcare-now.org/

Health Care In the USA http://www.dollarsandsense.org/healthcare.html

Doctors for Single Payer http://www.pnhp.org/

Richard Heckler 4 years ago

June 17 2009 - Huffington Post

Poll Shows 76% Support For Choice Of Public Plan

New poll numbers from NBC/Wall Street Journal produce two major and potentially conflicting story lines when it comes to the Obama administration's efforts for a health care overhaul. On the one hand, the American public overwhelmingly favors a choice between getting insurance coverage either through the private market or a government run option. Indeed, 76 percent of respondents said it was either "extremely" or "quite" important to "give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/17/obama-boost-new-poll-show_n_217175.html

==================================================================

Another Poll Shows Majority Support for Single-Payer

A New York Times/CBS News poll released last week shows, yet again, that the majority of Americans support national health insurance.

The poll, which compares answers to the same questions from 30 years ago, finds that, “59% [of Americans] say the government should provide national health insurance, including 49% who say such insurance should cover all medical problems.”

Only 32% think that insurance should be left to private enterprise.

http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer/

prospector 4 years ago

Is this a test? Did they study enough? I know they had over 8,000 tutor/lobbyists so I am sure the outcome will be as clear as mud.

Mary Darst 4 years ago

pass

notajayhawk 4 years ago

What health care reform bill? Even the White House has pretty much given up on using that misnomer (now favoring 'health insurance reform', in a desperate attempt at vilifying the corporations to garner support), as the legislation under consideration does nothing - absolutely nothing - to reform health CARE. All it does is create a system where costs continue to rise, and merely shifts the burden of paying for it to someone else.

Until we address the real problem - health care COSTS - finding a way to pay for it is pointless. If we can bring those costs under control, paying for it becomes irrelevant.

Donnuts (anonymous) says…

"I have to hope it will pass; I know the bill is probably not perfect but it is more likely than not a step in the right direction and as most usually the case it has to be tried out to find out."

You're absolutely correct that this is, inessence, an experiment to be "tried out". When you experiment, you don't change all the variables at the same time. The problem with that approach, Donnuts, is that if we implement almost 3000 pages of legislation trying a hundred different things at once, we won't have any idea which of them (if any) were improvements and which ones (if any) made things worse.

Flap Doodle 4 years ago

"...In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21holtz-eakin.html

edjayhawk 4 years ago

The bill isn't really that much help. The blue dog democrats watered it down so now there will be very little change.

skinny 4 years ago

I agree with jumpin_catfish

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." Dr. Adrian Rogers

jumpin_catfish 4 years ago

It will pass and then be challenged in court and who knows how that turns out and if it then becomes law it's effect on the overall economy will take a few years to work out. I predict it will have a negative effect and will require more reform and by the way social security is now sending Uncle Sam payment demands for OUIs congress gave it when they stole our money years back. Yes I said stole, the whole damn bunch of them past and present should be in prison.

purplesage 4 years ago

I, along with the majority of this nation, want this bill to fail. Yes, health care needs to be reformed. It costs more than anyone but the independently wealthy can afford. But government control of another aspect of our lives is hardly the answer. And neither is an expansion of public funding for abortions. God bless some of those southern Democrats with convicitions. And a few northern ones, too. And the lone Republican who is switching his vote to no..

If it were such a great plan, the government officials who plan to impress it on the American public would be cancelling their privileged policies and the Dems, with an unbelievable majority in Congress wouldn't be having any trouble raising the votes.

50YearResident 4 years ago

After the Drug plan forced through by Bush turned into a financial disaster for retiries by making it mandatory for all people to join the plan or face penalties if they were on social security. The real winners of the drug plans were the drug companies and Insurance agencies. I can't see how this plan will improve the quality of life for anyone except those people already mooching off the government. No one knows how this plan is actually going to work, not even the people that wrote it. If anyone reading this post can explain the plan, please enlighten me and 200 million other citizens of the United States and another 30 million illegals living here.

Flap Doodle 4 years ago

"I think Americans want this passed." Most Americans don't favor the Grand Mess. "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll, taken Friday and Saturday nights, shows that 41% of likely voters favor the health care plan. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed. These figures have barely budged in recent months. Another finding that has remained constant is that the intensity is stronger among those who oppose the plan. The latest findings include 26% who Strongly Favor the plan and 45% who Strongly Oppose it. The partisan divide remains constant as well. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Democrats favor the plan, while 87% of Republicans are opposed. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 34% are in favor, and 59% are opposed. Still, 50% of all voters say they’re less likely to vote this November to reelect a member of Congress who votes for the health care plan. Fifty-seven percent (57%) believe that if the plan passes, the cost of health care will go up. Only 17% believe the plan will achieve the stated goal of reducing the cost of care. At the same time, most voters (54%) believe that passage of the plan will hurt the quality of care. ..." http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform "Just 36 percent of Americans approve of Mr. Obama's handling of health care, according to the poll, conducted from Jan. 6 – 10. Fifty-four percent disapprove. In December of last year, 42 percent of Americans approved of the president's handling of health care, and 47 percent approved in October." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-6084856-503544.html There's a Swedish band warming up in the wings to sing their big hit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu1q17rUkVU

tange 4 years ago

The alternative to passing the health care reform bill speaks for itself: FAIL.

average 4 years ago

If it passes there will be improvements to it.

If it fails, it'll be another 16 years before anything passes.

16 more years down the road we've been on? Ugly as it is, pass it.

labmonkey 4 years ago

No one will be able to afford healthcare when the country goes bankrupt.

denak 4 years ago

Pass.

Aaron Gaddis 4 years ago

I think Americans want this passed. The republicans want you to believe otherwise but the fact is most of America is and will be happy once this is passed.

Shame on the obstructionist republicans!. Very out of touch with the direction this country needs to go.

grammaddy 4 years ago

Me.too,Donnuts. Those plans seem to work very well for them.My oldest daughter who lives in Paris raves about the healthcare she and her daughters have. We need to start somewhere, we can fine-tune it as we go along.

Donnuts 4 years ago

I have to hope it will pass; I know the bill is probably not perfect but it is more likely than not a step in the right direction and as most usually the case it has to be tried out to find out. I think that we ought to swallow our pride and take a good look at socialized systems of medicine in Europe and Canada and try imitating them.

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