Its hard to predict pros and cons because nothing like the currentlyh proposed idea has ever been implemented in the US. It has in other countries with mixed results. The best way to look at things is to review how things are now and what will change…Most people don’t know exaclty what is out there now….if you asked people they would agree it is bad but most couldn’t offer you an explanation as to why it is bad. I don’t claim to know everything about the matter but I will give you my OPINION of our current system and the new proposal and howw it will affect both.

Old. Our current system mostly allows individuals and businesses to control which insurance plans are offered and the insurance plans decide what is covered and what is not. For most this means that the insurance companies decide what gets done. Prices are enormously high for the uninsured, part because there is little competition for insurance but part because Hospital and Medical Overhead run real high. To protect the poor and underinsured the goverment has been paying for health centers across the nation to give basic care. However the poor and underinsured still lack ability to get specialty care. Another important aspect is that the goverment ddoesn’t dictate that all businesses give their employees medical benifits. One aspect that neither old or new addresses is patient education which i personally wish they would.
Under the current sytem, Doctors get paid decent with specialists getting paid better….insurance companies also get huge benefits and the lower and middle class if there is such a thing have less access to care.

Under the proposed plan…the goverment will offer a plan to “compete” with the other insurance plans. The goverment gets its money from taxes among many other things whereas the insurance companies get their money from premiums. Therefor the goverment plan will be very cheap for almost everyone. Instead of the insurance companies deciding what gets covereed the goverment will. Indirectly this means that the goverment will decide what happens to you (note the insurance companies do that now). The plan also requires small businesses to offer health benifits would can be good for businesses that do well but could be bad for those that struggle. Because of the low cost of the plan most businesses if they are looking to cut costs will scoop up the plan. As attested by medicaid/medicare the goverment plan will have less coverage than most existing insurance plans. These things mentioned are factual although I am a little fuzzy on the small business part. From here on the rest is just a guess on how it will affect patients and doctors and that is the only thing anyone can offer is a guess

The left will say the new plan will bring doen costs and provide the greatest access to care ever seen. Patients who could not get in to see a doctor before will be able to afford it now and the general practitior wont get paid any less. They will use countries that have implemented similar plans and have had success with it as an example.

The right will say tell you the goverment will take over your health care and that insurances wont be able to compete with the low price. If they drop their prices the reimbursement rates to the doctors will go down and the doctors won’t get paid as much. If the doctors (specialists mostly) don’t get paid as much potential doctors will consider alternate careers. The cost of medical education runs 200-500 thousand and around 8 years of post college education. They will not want a pay cut. There is also speculation that the current batch of doctors won’t be able to handle the new numbers of patients who now can afford care. The right will argue that quantity will become more important than quality. They will also sight countries that have similar plans that have failed. The right will also argue that the only way to pay for the program will be higher taxes
who is right…we wont know.

Many people think this Health care totally lacking in information, facts, or understanding–or they are reflections of propaganda that has been used to prevent the US from providing access to quality health care for 50 years.

A free nation is one that deals in information and facts–not knee-jerk reaction against government. How many of these responses show knowledge of the fact that the for-profit, private health insurance companies are increasingly denying health coverage, dropping people who need health care the most, and running “administration” costs (mostly profits and salaries that are many multiples of what the people who deliver health care make) of over 31% (compare that to Medicare’s 3%).

A free nation is one with an independent press. Our media are owned if not run by huge corporations with ties to the profits of the health-care insurers and pharmaceutical companies.

These same “arguments” were used to oppose Social Security, the TVA, Medicare, NASA, and many other government programs that have succeeded where the private sector has failed.

We do not need tort reform. We need to stop letting the medical profession police itself. Doctors who constantly make mistakes that cost people their livelihood and even their lives should not be allowed to continue to practice medicine. And if we had the guaranteed income for disabled people, universal health care, and guaranteed pensions that other first-world countries do, awards for malpractice would not have to be high enough to cover loss of health insurance, loss of income (sometimes for life), and enough money for victims of malpractice to live in whatever residual dignity they may have left. How many of the people responding even know that only one out of six cases of malpractice even go to court?

The Obama reform is too timid: it allows health-insurance companies to continue to run for profit. A public option, however, like Medicare for all, would at least act as a brake on the size of the profits.

Personally, I do not believe that the greatest priority in health care should be profit; it should be favorable outcomes for people who need it. As long as ca$h is the basis of our system, however, expect to see less coverage, higher premiums, higher co-pays, and less access to heath care when it is most needed.

If you favor the staus quo, that is what you are fighting for.