Joe the Plumber (Page 5)

Yes! Life is choice.

(which has nothing to do with pro-life or pro-choice)

The reason that costs are so high is because HMO's short-change doctors and hospitals in the name of profit, reimbursing only for the bare minimum allowable by law for any given care. And if there's a single typographical error on any of the forms, guess what? You don't get paid.

FWIW, I work in a socialized health care system (the US Military Health Care System) and I love it. I know that I can do what I know to be the right thing for my patients without having to worry about how it'll be coded, whether I'll be reimbursed, etc. etc. and I can treat a private the same way I would treat a 4-star general with the same problem. It's a great system in which to be a doctor, and there's a reason why military surgeons are so sought after when they leave the military--I'm already getting recruiting letters and I'm nowhere close to paying off my contract.

But nobody wants a national health care system even though the only people getting rich off the system are insurance companies.

None of those guys (to quote Fox News) "won the debate." Fox made Joe a celebrity and guess what? Celebrities get reported on. Especially when they're phonies.

edit: I think it's pretty fair when McCain himself says Obama's tax plan is going to hurt Joe, to report that  Obama's plan will actually help the guy. Assuming he's licensed and all.

Here's the problem with a consumption tax: it discourages consumption.

 Dr Pete, do you feel the concept of socialized medicine would work for the entire country? Could our government actually manage a system of this magnitude? The system you work in is considerably smaller and if I'm not mistaken funded by the government, but operated by whichever Armed Service branch in which you are commisioned. Does every branch of the service have it's own medical department or do all branches of the service answer to each other and work together toward the same common goal? This last question is irrelevant to the discussion, I'm just don't know the answer and was curious to find out.

 I think the insurance companies are a goatrope that are adding to the problem. So we remove them from the entire equation and let the government operate in this role. Do all these insurance people then become employees of the Govt or do they hit the street? I would really love to see free medical care for every person in this country. I am just reluctant to believe that the government could effectively manage a program of this size.

Calling the US economy capitalist is far from the truth. Might as well call it communist.

I can walk out of the office and put my hand on 3 people for sure (probably more) who have at least 2 different social security cards. They are making $14.00 per hr. and $75.00 per day for per diem, 2 of them just became fathers and it cost them $10.00

I'm sorry Ijust don't think this is what our taxes should be paying for

 Sorry if that came off as a shot at you personally. It wasn't. It's just my take on what I'm seeing and reading from the news outlets.

because that is totally unrealistic.. greed is huge in people and created the mess we are currently in.. do you expect it to magically go away.. a quick poll of 5 coworkers netted me a total of $0 taxes collected for 08 .. great system 

Maybe, but in an economy where the Dow drops 700 points on news consumer spending is down, a 30% sales tax might not be the best way to make things better. To me, adding $250 to the price of a flat screen TV might discourage me from buying one.

As stated above, consumption tax stifles economic growth, not enhances