President Obama's Healthcare plan

Wow! I was pleased to see the 3 objectives on the President's health care plan. I agreed with points that he is trying to accomplish. How we are going to pull it off is another question. I have for the longest time believe that the money that is spent on health care in this country is more than enough to cover everyone. The issue is the way we fund the system.

Medical care for everyone

I think people confuse medical care with medical insurance. Countries that have national health care don't let insurance companies dictate the system..or do they? What do you think?

HSA Health Saving Accounts Are they good for me?

My office most receive a few dozen phone calls a week requesting information on how Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) perform. I have to confess that I am a big fan of the way it works. Almost all of the major health plans offer this type of plan. The first company to actually offer them and understand what the government was trying to do was Assurant Health Plans. They seem to have a handle on how, what and why HSAs were about. What is really nice about Assurant Health Plans is the flexibility that they offer. If you are an individual they have a plan that works for just about any one's need. I think the biggest resistence to moving to an HSA is that people dont understand how it works. People that call us get a full detailed explanation and the large majority of them select this type of coverage.

All in no one out

I recently attended an 85 th birthday party for a gentleman by the name of Quintin Young. I had a fantastic time and I thank my good friend Ray Werntz for inviting me. Dr. Young is a very impressive man and told a story of the health care system I had never heard before. I have to say that it was one of the most interesting events I had ever attended. The message I got from the evening is that there should be a single payer health care system in this country. I personally think that we should provide medical care to all citizens of the US as do almost all civilized counties do. I don't have an answer for foreign nationals, here legally or illegally but I do know that most countries provide health care for their citizens. I had a conversation with a man who was a bg supporter of the event and questioned what all the passion was when in Cook County and almost all large Metro areas in the US they have a public health system? If you live in Cook County (there are approximately 7 million people out 12 million in Illinois) that have access to a public healthcare system based on a no charge or an ability to paybasis. so essentially it is free. My friends response was that the care was terrible. I thought it probably is. Bt it is care. I know of several friends of mine that had surgeries at CC Hospital and were very happy with the way they were treated and especially happy about the cost....FREE. One of them gave his address in South Barrington and didn't pay a dime. So I guess my question is that if the care at CC hospital is so bad, what happens when we have a national system? I know that the Veterns Adminstration has a very well run system and the doctors are paid. Medicare pays for seniors and the providers get 100% paid at a reduced rate, but they get paid. Medicaid, well 2 out of 3 isn't bad I guess. Well what would a national health care system look like?



Tim Elenz

Why do we pay taxes

I have heard from a number of people lately that there seems to be a firearms shortage in America the last several moths. Personally I am not a hunter and have no passion about the 2nd amendment with the exception that the Supreme Court ruled after two hundred years and has said Americans can own firearms. Although, there appears to be a lot of politicians that don't want Americans to possess guns. There is a huge movement to change the law of the land so the government can limit citizens access to guns.
What really got me thinking lately is the financial melt down we are going through. I think the bottom line is that we have been robbed by a number of different sources. Large corporations, mortgage companies, banks, stock brokerage, insurance companies, legal and illegal immigrants, etc As I began to start thinking about it, it occurred to me that we pay taxes to be protected from bad forces. We have laws and our governement is suppose to protect us. If my neighbor steals my property I am to call the police (government) and they are going to take the proper actions to retrieve my property. We pay taxes for services but most importantly for law and order; to be protected.
Well the way I see it, we were not protected. The government let their people get robbed. We pay large amounts of money in taxes and apparently it didn't protect us? A few bad apples, some who paid large amounts of money to a number of politicans in what we can campaign contributions were able to take advantage of the system and rob the American people. What surprises me the most is that Congressmen Pelosi , Franks and Senator Dodd, Reid, Durbin and Obama.... no we promoted him, are still running the show. Well in fairness to President Obama, he was a freshmen Senator and busy running for President. I have met him and I personally like President Obama and believe we should give him all our support and see what he does as our leader. He inherited a lot of stuff and a bunch of people I would not want to be on a sinking boat with. Politics is a game and to a certain degree those who get elected have to play it.

I guess I understand why there is a run on guns in this country. Our current government doesn't seem to possess the ability to protect us. They allow our citizens to be robbed and have done very little to protect us. I guess we will have to see if other people are brought to justice when the dust settles.

So I guess I wonder.....Why do we pay taxes?

Universal Health Care

Wow! President Obama inherited a lot of stuff. People say well George Bush is gone so now let the healing begin, but we still have Rep. Pelosi, Franks and Senator Reid running a branch of Government and they don't seem to be working with President Whole heartily. Pelosi's mouse represents the old pork belly attitude that these leaders still possess. A couple 30 million dollar mouse projects would be a good start to addressing healthcare issues. President Obama has his work cut out for him to be able to get this branch to un learn and re learn a new way of approaching America's issues. We as a nation need to support our President and give him a chance to try his recipe. We elected him and he needs to be given the opportunity.I as so many of my colleagues agree that the dollars spent on healthcare are more then enough to take care of all Americans. The money is just not being spent in an efficient way. We have one of the best healthcare if not the best in the world. We have allowed the system to be focused on profits not care. I believe that a form of Universal health care might be a solution. Reports show that Medicare runs at about 1 to 1 1/2 percent for administrative costs. And virtually all medical providers are paid for services rendered. The Veterans Administration has similar costs and is probably one of the best run systems in the world. Why is our system broken? One word......PROFITS.While I was not a big fan of Michael Moore, I have to say his movie "Sicko" was well done. I agreed with most but not all of the facts. He did a fantastic job on the majority of the movie.I believe that healthcare reform