YOUR COMMENTS

Deb: the big dig didn't break Boston's back. Boston is still up and running.
And not buying insurance would not make you a "criminal" any more than a parking ticket (read VIOLATION) would.
- Brian Nowak, Bedford

Really Brian? The people I talk with from my old state tell another story as they now pay huge amounts of toll increases, fee's and taxes to help pay for the leaks in the tunnels that now need permanent work crews to maintain. Not to mention the twenty three million dollars awarded to the man whose wife was crushed by a tunnel collapse.

So a fine is not punishment for criminal action in your view? How about our leaders doing this then. Let the people have a say by voting for or against the fine for not having insurance? Heck why not have the people vote on how they want health insurance fixed? They can vote either yes we want another government takeover or no we want competition and tort reform first. But what we will get is forced by the arrogance of those who helped get us here in the first place. Of course to get an honest vote we would have to keep ACORN out of the process.
- Deb, Derry

Deb: the big dig didn't break Boston's back. Boston is still up and running.
And not buying insurance would not make you a "criminal" any more than a parking ticket (read VIOLATION) would.
- Brian Nowak, Bedford

Health Insurance is not the cure. Health Insurance is the disease. Why haven't more people noticed that health care costs started really taking off when insurance became popular? Costs really got out of control when nanny states started mandating employer provided insurance. Why are employers involved in health care in any way?

You used to walk into an emergency room, get treatment, and pay 100% of the cost. Now you pay hundreds of dollars every month whether you're sick or not, then go to the emergency room for the same treatment. You fill out all sorts of obnoxious paperwork, get shuffled around, then get a bill for "10%" which turns out to be much more than the 100% cost before the insurance monopoly came on the scene.

We don't need more government involvement in healthcare, and we certainly don't need a "public option". We need government out of the way. Do away with employer insurance so that people can choose without being locked in to the lame plan their employer chose.

Government run health care will have the speed of the Post Office, the quality of Public Schools, and the integrity of the Congress. No thanks!
- Jim Peschke, Croydon, NH

1. Compared to 192 UN member states, NH average life expectancy disparity between the two genders is 10 years ... i.e. 10 years less if you’re a male. (NH DHHS data, World Health Report 2006 data, pp. 187 -192). Note that before women got the vote, men in NH had the same number of years of life expectancy. It has been my experience that the local VA Medical Center medical care system reflects this 'male disposability' sexism in its care.
2. Government intervention in healthcare via allowing employers to provide healthcare in lieu of wages during WWII, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. has disconnected consumers almost entirely from the direct cost of services resulting in massive healthcare cost inflation and virtually bankrupt government health programs. Translation: If the consumer generally perceives that something is say 80% ‘free’ or already ‘paid for’, they tend to consume a heck of a lot more of it. Government, as with crime, HS failure, etc. has been generally more of the problem than the solution.
- Mike, Hampton

New Hampshire Deplores Gregg's Lack of Contribution to Health Reform.
- Bill, Londonderry

Bob V, Manchester,

What if that person can't afford health insurance in the first place? It is quite expensive. Are we so callous a society we'll let people die or be financially destroyed? What if that person is assaulted? He should bear the cost because of someone else?
- C, Manchester, NH

Linda - you are like-minded individuals are able to pool your own money and start a non-profit co-op right now. You don't need Obama's permission to do this. What is stopping you?
- Tom, Campton

We need a not for profit public option.
The insurance company in trouble in Maine states it needs to make a profit of 2-3% for its shareholders. So they increase their premiums by double digits. Why don't they cut back on the $$ they pay to their CEO's and all that they spend on marketing? Maybe once they have competition from the public option they will do that. And if not they may go out of business. That will be their choice. Just give me the choice of a public option. Even if my taxes go up, it will still be better than paying my ever-increasing premium for health ins.
- Linda, Raymond

If someone chooses not to pay for health insurance, I say fine. But when you get sick and need treatment, bring your checkbook because it's going to cost you. Oh, and don't even think of complaining when the expenses clean you out and definitely don't ask for a handout because you're sick. You used your freedom of choice to decline insurance coverage.
- Bob V, Manchester

'Gregg deplores lack of coverage under health reform'. Well Mr. Gregg here's something that I and millions of Americans deplore and something that removes any idea that you really cared about values and American ideals: you were one of 30 Republicans and only Republicans that votes against Senator Franken's amendment that would punish contractors if they "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." This was written because a victim of rape was locked in a container without food or water after being gang raped and threatened with reprisals if she talked about the incident. So there you have Gregg's values. He'd rather protect a defense contractor's bottom line than the victim's rights. Shameful Gregg, shameful.
- Tom, Dover-Foxcroft, Me.

Please note the CBO estimate includes the cost of covering illegals, who will be covered under any public plan. The courts will rule this way. Obama knows this. Obama is a liar.
- Tom, Campton

What Americans think is the problem is the cost of medical procedures, and the possibility of being financially ruined by a crisis. What Gregg thinks is the problem is that a budget agency can tally up people for whom Gregg cannot brag that he gave them "coverage."

We now see in the Baucus bill that "not increasing the deficit" is code for higher taxes on medical providers, which will aggravate the problem of high cost. Any flavor of Obama-care will seek to reduce the national totals rather than the quality of care to the patient. Especially as new people are added, this can only be done by denying care. The CBO's phony cost estimate, as always, ignores behavior changes when Congress grants a new entitlement. Gregg and Obama will increase "coverage" with new obstacles to TREATMENT--and open contempt for Americans who only seek to provide for themselves.
- Spike, Brentwood NH

Fear not people, what ever the cost of this we are told we can be sure it will be more if not very much more. It's the same old same old reality of political manipulation of the people. But the real cost is not in dollars but in our loss of freedom and having to support this for eternity once it is put in place and the government takeover is complete. This administration is simply pushing this on us until we accept it.

I for one will be made a criminal by my own government when I do not buy the insurance it claims I MUST under threat of penalty or fine. That is not a government of the people but a government that dictates to the people and the proof is in their own contempt of not letting national health care die and seeking other ways of bringing costs down such as competition and stopping the trial lawyers who drive up costs. There is no reason these things can not be done.

This health care bill will be the straw that breaks the camels back like the Big Dig was too Boston. John Kerry claimed it would be nine billion to do the big dig and by the time it was done it cost fifteen billion and is still climbing and is plagued with problems.
- Deb, Derry

The biggest component of the high cost of SOME insurance is the fact that there's no competition due to state and federal laws prohibiting it and restricting the number of Insurance Companies that OFFER the product in each state due to cumbersome nonsense regulation.

Get rid of Government Regulation to increase competition and problem solved.

I carried my own ins for 10 years until ~1999 and never paid more than 153 bucks a month. I can no longer purchase that policy because of State and Federal Regulation that prohibits it.

Government is the problem in this instance and needs to pared back.
- Paul, Bradford

Silly!

You (UL, Johnson Foundation, and Urban Institute) have to explain where the difference between the $1.5B and $900M comes from. You can't because it's all smoke and you know it's smoke and no one will believe it if you spell it out.

Such is life in the US under Obama the First!
- Leo, Canterbury

How did mankind ever exist for milleniums without healthcare coverage just amazes me.
The size of government has been growing for how many decades Senator?
Is there any aspect of life the politician is not an expert?
From toilet paper to nuclear weapons. Yet many cannot figure out their own taxes.
Senator, you cannot leave office soon enough. Do not worry though. Taxpayers will be paying for some structure to be named in your honor.
- Michael, Manchester

One of my sons works for a company with 30,000 employees. My sons insurance premiums cost his company $390 a month. His dad works for himself,
and pays $1500 a month in premiums.
What is wrong with this picture? Dad needs to hire 30,000 employees. Then the insurance companies will coddle up to Dad and fight for his medical insurance business.
- Paul, Bedford

. . . and it now appears that the Democrats will propose to tax everyone who spends more than the 7.5% threshold on medical costs to find revenue for Obamacare.
At present, any medical expenses that exceed 7.5% Adjusted Gross Income may be deducted by anyone who itemizes. The Democrats want to raise that threshold to 10% for taxpayers under 65.

From taxing the rich. . . to taxing the elderly. . .to taxing the sick! Who's next?

Stay tuned.
- Guy Plante, Manchester