One of the hottest topics in the news today is healthcare reform. President Obama addressed Congress and the nation to try and clarify his healthcare reform bill. During his address he was heckled by a member of Congress. This heckling has lead to off topic discussion, in which the issues he was trying to address were lost. It was a distraction that may actually hurt the Republican agenda because now “Monday morning quarterbacks” are focusing more on civility than the overall subject. Blurting out during a Presidential speech is immature and irresponsible. There are much better ways to disagree with the President of the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxHKSHvMRWE
It appears that the media has been focusing on the incident rather than the topic at hand which is healthcare reform. This could be viewed as a type of media bias, as mentioned in last week’s blog, which is trying to take the spotlight off the real issue of healthcare reform and focus on the “bad behavior” of the Republicans.
We all understand that there are serious questions surrounding healthcare reform, questions that need clarifying. For example, the cost of healthcare and how it will be funded. Will the quality of healthcare be affected? Will we still have the option of choice? Will the brightest minds still endeavor to become doctors? What will be gained, what will be lost? These are the real issues of the healthcare reform bill that must be addressed and should not be overshadowed by partisan behavior and opinion.
What do you think?
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As well all know, the healthcare system in the United States is very well flawed. How is it that in other countries they have free healthcare and everything is provided for them, but in one of the richest countries we have more people uninsured than any other country? The topic of healthcare is a hot topic indeed. I feel as if though providing everyone with healthcare shouldn't even be an issue, but because it is, you can't blame Obama. Obama is trying very hard to fix this system and work out all the kinks. At this point we should be grateful we even have some sort of healthcare. This problem has been long existing. Obama walked into this, hoping to fix it, you can't blame someone for trying to improve our conditions. I feel the only possible choice we have is to give it time and wait it out. We KNOW that this has been a messed up healthcare system, the proof is the movie Sicko by Michael Moore. He created a movie and it has examples of how screwed this system is. There was one instance of a couple who were very wealthy and had health insurance, but due to the husband having several heart attacks, and the wife developing cancer, the insurance companies wouldn't cover all of their treatments, hospital visits, doctors appointments, etc. Results; they lost everything and had to move in with their daughter because the bank took their home. There was another case where a man's job supplied him with no insurance and he had to stitch his own knee shut after an accident at work. One of the more terrifying ones to me was a man who's middle and ring finger were cut off from the top knuckle up. they told him that his ring finger was 12,000 dollars and his middle finger 60,000 and that he could only pick one. Now do you see how unfair this healthcare system is?
ReplyDeleteI feel like no matter what happens, until our healthcare is free, we're not gaining anything. I can tell that Obama sincerely wants to see change, right now free healthcare is a little too radical, but with an intelligent man like Obama, i feel things can only get better from here.
I think that Obama is the first president who is actually trying to step up and make a change that will be ever-lasting. He is trying to make healthcare more affordable and more available to all social classes. By doing this, he expands the realm of the national healthcare system.
ReplyDeleteI am in complete agreeance with Obama's guidelines. Obama's propostions about this healthcare plan states that age, sex, and pre-existing conditions shouldn't be factors that qualify a person or family for insurance.Also, he underlines the fact that businesses need to insure their employees so that they are sharing the responsiblity of reform.
One guideline of Obama's that really stuck out to me stated: "creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system." I believe that this proponet will eliminate the unpleasant happenings and mistakes (intentional or not) that go on in hospitals, doctors' offices, etc.
Yes, universal healthcare is a very hot subject at this time. I know that many people are in favor of it, and I hope my opinion doesnt offend anyone, it's just my view.
ReplyDeleteA lot of college students are liberal, statistics show this, but because of the views of my family, I have grown up to be conservative. I have a very strong opinion on the subject of universal healthcare because most of my family have careers in the healthcare field: my mom is a registered nurse and works at the ER, my grandpa works at the ER also, my uncle is a CNA, several members of my family are EMTs, and my aunt is a paramedic and works in a doctors office part time. What I have heard and seen from my experience in the healthcare scene has helped form my opinion of universal healthcare. I disagree with it. I believe that if Congress passes Obama's bill it is just another step towards socialism. We are a capitalist nation and have always been. Our government does have many social programs, because government does have a lot of influence in our lives, whether you think so or not. I believe that if we have universal healthcare it is a step too far into the lives of the citizens, in our free market nation. Universal healthcare does have benefits but it also have many downfalls: there will be long waits to see a physician, inefficencies, and also it can lead to substandard healthcare, not to mention where would the money come from? Oh yeah, the taxpayers.. and we know how much Americans love paying taxes. The taxpayers money would be going towards people who decide to go to the ER because they just need their drug fix, there are more people than you know who abuse medicare as it is, and get "free" visits because they want another perscription for narcodics. Universal healthcare will pose a longer wait for people who actually need serious medical help. The person on the list for a heart transplant may have to wait 6 monthes instead of 2 weeks with Obama's plan.. and after 6 monthes it may be too late.
I propose that America reform Medicare and encourage people to form Flexible Savings accounts or Medical Savings Accounts. I believe universal healthcare goes against the values of America and is another step in the wrong direction for this country. America's healthcare system is unique, and though it has flaws it can be fixed by another means that Obama's bill.
Well I agree. Healthcare is a very important issue that should be addressed properly. However, it's politics. There is always arguing and issues between politicians. No one will ever agree on one thing, then that wouldn't be politics.
ReplyDeleteI know that you think that universal healthcare is a step in the wrong direction but I feel that it is something that would help our country greatly. There are so many people in this country that don't have the jobs that will support them with healthcare and they can't afford healthcare on their own. If the United States got universal healthcare, people would be able to get help without worrying about it breaking the bank. Look at Canada. They have universal health and it seems to work out. They are not taking a step in the wrong direction. Granted, United States is one of the most powerful countries in the nation, but we should help our people out with some healthcare.
It's important that we have a serious discussion about health care and the actual pros and cons of the current plan. However, I don't think media attention to outbursts like the one at Obama's speech prevent reasonable discussion of the issues; i think they encourage it. The debate over health care has consistently been one of posturing, insults, lies, and bad faith arguments--not real debate at all. Moves like the "you lie" incident are par for the course. The enemies of health care reform are using whatever underhanded demagoguery they can think of--including outright lies about death panels and rationing, lies about private insurers being shut down, and contradictory arguments about taxation and medicare--to derail the plans and protect their backers. If the media starts calling the right out on their tactics, things might become a little more civil and more might get done.
ReplyDeleteThe health care issue in our country has been and still is an on going issue. I do believe that President Obama has been one of the first president's in years to put an extra effort in reforming the system, however.
ReplyDeleteThe media may be very bias about the situation but I do not believe that they have any real influence over what does or does not happen with the reforms. The issues with the reforms being made are within the government. There are always going to be the politicians against the universal health care system; as the person above stated, and they will make it as difficult as they can for Obama to move forward with these reforms.
There is the argument that providing universal health care may keep the average work force in the country from working harder and trying to find better jobs to support the cost of health care but countries such as Britain and Canada do not seem to have those issues; both of these countries offer universal health care. There will always be positives and negatives of a new health care system but there are positives and negatives to the sytem we currently have. It could never hurt to try and if it does not work our government is more than capable of making the necessary reforms to change the system again.
I believe that we need to create a universal health care system to get our country moving in the right direction. It would give the people a more positive outlook and give them faith in the government; something that has been lacking since the Bush adminstration. I think and hope that the reforms are in our near future and we will see where it will take us from us there