...billions to be poured into health care...will do little...

[WhiskeyGirl]

The billions to be poured into health care from the economic stimulus package will do little if anything about the chronic conditions behind the nation's stubbornly large ranks of uninsured.

Instead the plan is a temporary lifeline, hasty measures for nearly desperate times.

Jobs aren't the central point of the package sought by President Barack Obama, passed by the House and steered to the Senate.

(snip)

For those who qualify, relief would be substantial.

Where are the jobs?

It's so expensive for people to extend that insurance now that many don't do it. It can quickly eat up a majority of unemployment benefits.

Healthcare is expensive, it doesn't seem to matter who is paying the bill.  Is there going to be any reform of say how drugs are priced?  I seem to recall over the years as an examply that Americans pay much more for their drugs than does anyone else in the WORLD.  Others pay pennies, Americans seem to pay full price and fund all the bells and whistles and profits for drug companies. 

Why doesn't everyone pay the same fair price?  Any reform in site from the Obama folks?  Or, does Obama believe that providers are already being squeezed and Americans should continue pay or subsidizing everyone on the planet?

When I think back over say ten years, I can't think of a single healthcare provider that didn't have an electronic record keeping or database, and it included the details of my healthcare program.  It seems to me that private enterprise already has modernized the record keeping process.

Why the massive Fed database?  Medical experimentation on the unwilling or unknowing public?  Any chance that American's could just "OPT OUT" of all these experimental programs?  Just say NO to their informtion being used in medical experimentation, no matter how noble it may sound to government or private researchers? 

When will Obama worry about the dignity of our private information?  How can anyone use this data if there isn't somekind of linking information available years down the line for long term study? 

Is anyones personal financial information safe?   Identity theft been eliminated yet?  It identitfy theft a priority with the new administration?  Anyone care who rips off Americans?

How much will drug companies and researchers be paying for access to this information?  Maybe the cost could be 'SELF FUNDING'?  Surely, drug companies would love access to a database that shows what doctor prescribed their drugs and to whom or at least to whom and a zip code for example.  Make their marketing dollars go farther?

For Americans that may have moral and ethical concerns about medical experimentation, where is the IRON CLAD opportunity to just OPT OUT?

I don't see anything getting better.

Where are the cost controls for healthcare?  Leveling the playing field with DRUG COMPANIES?  Other healthcare providers?

How much pork will Americans continue to pay for under the Obama administration?  I've never understood why, as an example, the uninsured would pay say $20,000 for a hospital stay that someone with insurance (insurance paying the bill) would charged only a small fraction, say $8,000 for the same services due to the insurance discount? 

What is the difference between giving everyone access to a fair price and - price slamming the uninsured, taking adavantage of, overcharging, gouging, snake oil, and other schemes?

It seems like everyone will get to continue coverage at high prices, taxpayers will subsidize additional research and other medical activities, and providers will continue to report record salaries, bonuses, and profits...all paid for by future generations, taxation and lost opportunity without the opportunity to cast a vote.

Four in five doctors still rely on old-fashioned paper files. Digital records are bound to cut administrative costs and improve care by making it easy to share patient information. But conversion is a huge task, for which Obama wants to spend $50 billion over five years.

The economic recovery plan isn't the only game in town when it comes to health care, although it's the most expensive. The Senate has voted to extend government-sponsored health insurance to about 4 million of the estimated 9 million uninsured children. The House acts on that next.

How old is that "four out of five doctors" number?  Where are the studies that would show that anyone will cut administrative costs and improve care?   Who controls access to the medical database?

Why not focus on making every existing healthcare dollar do the work of two or three?  Why keep ploughing money into healthcare provider profits?  Why not work to level the playing field through fair pricing available to everyone?

Anyone "we the people" can trust with our personal and financial information?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hAwt5IWXHtCpUTQWbW1dBQaxH-gwD962QA880

just my humble opinions