Elena,
“Most of the people I talk about their health-insurance are not satisfied with it
So the catastrophic rhetoric doesn’t resonate with them.” Yes, I know them too. They are the same people that have not done any research and don’t understand their policy or don’t understand the value of what plan they have.

Fletcher,
Good write up, I think a lot more people think the way you do than the more vocal public voices know. I do feel that as a community, and I do mean Richmond, VA, we have a long long way to go in educating our employees and employers about what health insurance is and what it should and should not be used for. I feel that HMO’s have catastrophically mislead the general public about what insurance is for. Generic Drug = $5, Name Brand = $10, I don’t think so, its more of a 1:10 cost ratio, not a 1:2 like your HMO would like you to believe. Without writing a book about what is driving up our insurance premiums here. I encourage everyone register and come learn what is really going on in the insurance industry and stop reading what is going on in Washington. http://healthcaresolutionssummit.com/

For the person that thinks their healthcare plan is too much, you need to shop. Research the company you plan on using and possibly even get an insurance agent to help you research plans. You can get a base plan with large deductible that will protect you from a bankrupting illness or disease. My family of six in Missouri is roughly $300 a month for a good solid plan, but you pay for your own expenses up to $5,000 a year. People need to budget for their healthcare, but I don’t want the government telling me what to pay and then rationing our care when it comes to my families health.

This is just a big power grab for the government and sincere people not realizing how real economics and the real world work. Even congress is not going to give up their tax payer paid plan to join this health care plan of their own creation. And our local democratic representative is oblivious to the questions and facts presented to him. This next election cycle should give a lot of them a sound awakening.

Blessedly, he numbered his points….

1) “…being told that the current system is broken and it’s imperative that we scrap it…”
No one is saying that.

2) “government controls the rules of the game.”
Right. That…is…what…government…does. Duh.

Then he says, “According to that legislation, private insurers would be constrained from offering policies that differed substantially from the “public option.””
No, it does not.

He follow that with an apples and oranges comparison. (OK, they’re both fruits. His is worse.) First, he says the claim that “government control will reduce health care costs also rings hollow.” He answers that saying, “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that rather than reduce expenditures, the currently proposed legislation would actually add $1 trillion or more to the federal deficit over the next decade.” That has nothing to do with reducing costs. More money will be needed for providing more health care. Again, duhhhhhh.

3) Finally, our guest columnist says the health plans being promoted by the party in power now will mean we go from “government of the people” to “people of the government.”
I’ll quote, Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. “The romanticized and sanitized vision of the economy led most economists to ignore all the things that can go wrong.” Likewise, a romanticized and sanitized vision of our any form of government will do the same.