Being the Ultra-Conservative that I am, I would’ve done it more tactfully :whistle:

This is how I would do it:

-Offer tax incentives to large companies that are based here in the US so that they don’t move there manufacturing operation overseas. This in turn creates jobs for Americans.

-Push WI legislation to approve a concealed carry law. WI is one of two states in the Nation that don’t allow concealed carry. This act has proven lower crime rates in every state that passed a C.C. law.

-Proposed legislation such as Trans 123 would be veto’d. Obviously the Gov’t doesn’t realize how many more jobs are created from custom vehicle work.

-Health Care. Offer more tax incentive to any company that carries an HMO for there employees. You can’t lobby or strong arm the insurance companies into lowering there rates – they are a business too, and Government should stay out of Private Business! If you don’t have health insurance, you wouldn’t be denied healthcare just like nowdays. Most hospitals will put you on a payment plan that is affordable to your needs. This in turn may get those too lazy to work out into the workforce….but most likely not.

-Gov’t programs like Welfare would cease to exist. Too many induviduals take advantage of this, and has since tarnished what the program was originally designed for. Also, all these programs to feed starving children in other countries would halt until no child in the USA no longer goes hungry – We need to worry about ourselves before we worry about others, it may sound selfish but its true.

-Any alien crossing the border illegally would be shot on sight. After a few bodies thrown back over the fence, the rest will get the message. If you want to reside in this country, do it legally.

-The death penalty will be limited to child molestors, rapists, terrorists, murderers, and any other criminal who commits such a heinous crime. The Bible states “An eye for an eye”.

-ALL school teachers will have to be tested and prove there compitence before recieving a teaching license. No child left behind…. Also teachers will not teach classes based off there personal opine, they will teach everything down the middle and not persuade students to vote republican or democreep.

-Offer the working class the tax credits alledgedly offered by the current administration, except you wouldn’t be taxed on the $13 break your getting now.

-Wasteful spending would stop. All Senate and Congress members would be given a standard, blue-collar salary that doesn’t see any increase in wages. Too many politicians abuse there power for financial gain. Donations would only be available for the campaign trail. No earmarks, no bonuses, NOTHING. All politicians would also only be allowed to serve two terms in office. There is no need for career politicians.

-Budgets would be very concise, thus getting this country back in the black and out of debt.

-The White House will not control the CIA. They can use any means neccesary to get info from suspected criminals and terrorists. Why should we play nice, you know they’re not with there prisoners….

-There would be no cuts in Military funding. You can’t put a price on the freedom of the citizens of this country.

I’ll quit now, all this has made me hungry :woohoo:

That is true, most people are fine with the coverage they have now. One of the core issues, however, is not that you have coverage you like now, but what can happen when you get sick. What is happening is people who pay their premiums (and generally like their insurance) are getting dropped by their insurance provider when they get sick and need an expensive operation or treatment. This isn’t something you can predict, and I’ve read and heard how these people were so shocked that it happened – they had always paid their premiums and done everything by the books as far as insurance – but when they needed it the most all of a sudden it wasn’t there.

In this case, a person then has a choice: either dip into savings to pay for the medical bills (and often this wipes the savings out) or go without treatment. Do either of these options sound good?

What the plan that the president outlined does to address this is twofold:
1. Insurance companies cannot drop people or refuse to insure them because of preexisting conditions.
2. Put a cap on out-of-pocket expenses for an individual (or family) per year on these medical bills and expenses.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health_care/plan/

If you’re perfectly happy with the insurance you have – great – you can keep it. They have said this all along. If you don’t like medicare because its run by the government – then great – you can buy your own private insurance when you retire. As stated in the speech, Obama said he will not sign a bill that pays for it by:
– increasing the deficit
– increasing taxes

So regardless if you love your current insurance or can’t stand it, your taxes won’t increase. The deficit won’t increase because if this bill either. That point was extremely clear from Wednesday night. The way that it will be paid for is eliminating waste in the current system (e.g. in medicare) as well as a charge on the most expensive and elaborate insurance plans offered.

Regardless of how you like your healthcare now, it should be obvious that the current system could use improvement in areas like medical records. Electronic medical records and an overhauled system of managing records and data could save a lot of money. Not only that, imagine if you were on vacation in another city and had to go to the hospital. With electronic records, the doctor could immediately pull up your full medical history. Eliminating errors, duplicate tests, etc can save quite a bit of money in the system.

The idea of the public option is to keep insurance companies honest. Right now they can pretty much charge whatever they want for coverage. A public option would make sure they stay competitive. Why do you think your employer would automatically switch to the public option? If the insurance companies adjust their rates to be competitive to the public option (which they’ll have to in order to keep their customer base), then why would your employer automatically decide to just switch?

That is what he said. If you don’t trust him, then read the final draft of the bill when it comes out. It seems to me that something which would raise taxes or increase the (already way too large) deficit would have no chance of passing Congress, so why would they spend so much time on something that couldn’t pass unless they can pay for it in other ways?

It wouldn’t be free. The only thing I can think of which would be “free” as you describe would be single payer which isn’t on the table. A public option would require the subscriber to pay subscriptions just like any insurance plan – the differences would be:
– the prices aren’t artificially inflated to give the insurance company huge profits
– you can’t be dropped for preexisting conditions
– you can’t be denied coverage
– your out of pocket expenses are capped (yearly)