Health Care Website and Blog

Universal health insurance cannot guarantee universal health care if it involves a single payer system controlled by the government, says Gerald Jones of Tuscaloosa.

He says in case of serious illnesses like heart attacks or strokes, emergency medical care is less than ideal in countries with universal health systems. In the United States, according to law, they are admitted and treated.

Letting the government take care of healthcare will be 'punitive', and 'those who advocate a universal, single payer health system, are merely looking forward to controlling it and all the money involved.'

Richard A. Gephardt says President Obama has a much better chance of success with healthcare reform if he aims smaller and concentrates on not failing. Aiming smaller may mean extending coverage to most of those presently uninsured, but with fewer benefits, or extending coverage for children or low income groups.

Gephardt, former Missouri congressman and Democratic party leader who bid for presidency in 2004, and who made healthcare reform the focus of his presidential campaign, says asking for more could lead to the whole reform package failing because of cost considerations, as it happened during Clinton's time. Gephardt was house leader then, and witnessed the fiasco first hand.

Gephardt says he is committed to universal coverage, but “to get to the end zone, you have to get to the 50-yard line first.”