count on you - glad I could make you laugh as well

Can always could on you to make me laugh though!!!!!!!!!!

Now funny that is.

darwin; you've got that right, a whole bunch have alot of FREE TIME on their hands being the economy has just about completely tanked & that stimulus is working so well- thus FREEDOM & they have the RIGHT to get pissed being the gov't wants to take over healthcare - oh, wait we'd still have options right? Can always could on you to make me laugh though!!!!!!!!!!

IGOR, its alive!

Its alive IGOR

I am scared is not a reason to oppose something, it is an emotion. This country would be a much better place if conservatives could get their touchy feely emotions under control.

Under Obama we have gained so many more freedoms and now have a lot more rights. It is great. Obama 2012!!!

SarahB1-On a serious note, the recent anouncement that GM is revamping production will do little to sustain any inertia towards improving the economy. Just think, GM borrowed at least 60 billion. Thats a big hole to dig. Short term ok, long term not ok.

Aruba, jamaica, Come on pretty mama

chainsawchuckie: Try turning off the Fox News.

dgSDGbvs

Some one help me.
I did not catch which plitical party Kohl belongs to...republicrat; demolican; put-my-name-on-a-building-and-i-will-get-votes-crats; focus-mostly-on-a-lousy-basketball-team-while-my-state-languishes-lican; i've-got-millions-of-bucks-so-screw-you-voters-crat; i-have-health-care-for-life-as-a-senator-lican...

oh,never mind...it is a lost cause; i love big brother!

Bob Keith
cooldadiomedia.com

ok if I opt out of social security and medicare can I have back what I paid in ?????????? since it was to be held for ME in the first place. think America!!! you are losing your freedoms and rights faster than the government can make money. Just heard on the news they are going to slam this thing down our throats because they found a way around the they are suppose to do it. We are sinking faster than the titanic. get your life vests on.

Did some one say social security? The better plan is The Galveston County: A model for Social Security reform. Now the economy has tanked, baby boomers are taking early retirement, withholding surplus is gone and big spenders in Congress needs a slice of the health care pie. As Judy Robson said: "now we are in the drivers seat, the car is out of gas". (I know she is a state Senator, but I just love that quote.) HEY CONGRESS, YA GAVE IT ALL AWAY! President's Bush and Obama can't spend a dime without Congress.

Proartist: I will gladly forgo collecting Medicaid and Social Security if I can forgo having premiums withdrawn from my wages. Oh wait, my withdrawls are paying someone elses coverage. How sociable of me.

werknarly: I'll take it! SS is gone anyway & if you remember - we tried to privatize SS. As far as roads- great, I'll pay a toll, just like I do when I goto IL, they should pay us for the use. Then MAYBE the elderly that may not even use the roads could have some more of THEIR own money (tax breaks)!

greatidea; so you want the gov't to regulate it & implement it? sounds like a little conflict of interest dont you think. Even 200 years ago our forefathers were smart enough to implement a system of checks and balance! What we need is regulation & reform NOT reinvention of the entire system.

sarab1 all the dealers are sitting with houndreads of thousands of $$$$$$$ that the goverment hasnt paid one red cent owed to them more gov,t at work....

hondaman3: I saw a news report last evening that stated the government was adding additional staff to handle the "Clunker" paper work because the public's response to the program was so much greater than anticipated. The reporter also noted that because of this program, GM was calling back more than 1300 workers and that the automakers were reporting their first upswing in sales in many, many months.

For real, truthful answers and a solution, Paul Ryan at city hall next Wed.

the goverment cant even run the cash for clunkers let alone helthcare get these dems out of power before they break this country......

"But Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold said they prefer the public option."
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Hey, sorry tweedledee and tweedledum. We don't want your socialist health care system at all. Please use Governor Doyle as your role model, and leave public office. You served one term, that was enough, and what the founding fathers wanted. Anything more is excess. The two of you are professional political freeloaders, and poor ones at that. Move over, let someone with common sense take over.

Our peaple in office do not get it. If they think we need the Goverment to run our Health Ins. Then we should have the same Health care they have ,

If a Public Option is included in any Bill, it will be a huge transfer of Wealth. The Middle Class will no longer exist. This will redistribute and control all that is left.

"a piece of legislation that trampled all over the constitution".

Whats your issue with helping weed out terrorists?

Well, you have to give Feingold some credit. He did vote against TARP, the worse piece of legislation in decades. Every other clown in this state other then him and Sensinbrener voted for that sham. He was also the only senator in the entire country to vote against the patriot Act, a piece of legislation that trampled all over the constitution. Feingold also supported both Bush's supreme court nominee's as I recall. So I'd hardly say the guy "rubber stamps" anything...Now kohl on the other hand.

Wow, a radical socialist (Feingold), and a guy who only gets awoken from his crypt once every 4-6 years (Kohl) are rubber stamping the radical president's takeover of healthcare? What's the next big story, "Sun to rise tomorrow morning!"?

I would want MY government involved in decisions of what coverage should be included in my health care rather than allowing that decision to an overpaid, multi-million dollar salary CEO that also gets bonuses for reducing coverage and excluding coverage to people that need and deserve it!

RAF-I also wonder why Tammy Baldwin opted to do phone conferences instead of face to face interaction? I received such a request at my home.

Interesting, if you look at Kohl's website he does not list in advance any scheduled time/day for meetings about healthcare.

Raystone, I agree with most of what you say. Our health delivery is great and many come here from other countries for their health care if they can afford it. Funny, though, that you mention the significant rise in cost at about the same time that the Hill-Burton Act which was in existence for many years was set aside and Managed Health care replaced it. That's just about the time that hospitals were taken over by large corporations, many hospitals were non-profit before that and many were run by various religious groups. Well, anyway, costs have been rising at a phenomenal rate ever since and could be the reason why the PROJECTION into the future for Medicare was off the mark. Perhaps, it was based on the Hill-Burton model and not the Managed Care model.

raystone, I agree with most of what you wrote, except about Medicare. There is a logical fallacy being repeated that the rising cost of the Medicare program is somehow because of mismanagement. Medicare recipients receive services and products from exactly the same companies as those with private insurance, yet Medicare costs are actually rising LESS than private insurance costs. However, Medicare costs are rising because HEALTH CARE costs in general are rising! Medicare doesn't employ doctors or own hospitals or drug companies.

Healthcare does need fixing. We have great quality care, Saudi princes fly to have surgery done. It's the costs that are out of control. Unfortunately, government doesn't have a good track record of running a program while reducing costs. In 1967 when Medicare was started, the projected cost by 1990 was estimated to be $12 billion - the actual cost in 1990 was $120 billion.
-
We need to change regulation to break the insurance company stranglehold on the process, and get individuals involved in paying attention to costs, and giving us price comparisons and transparency.

Zoom, How long have we been fighting the war on poverty? And, has it worked?

Many of the government social programs have had a negative influence on our society.

Zoom, thanks for the link. I read the projection and, indeed, the projection goes up. Then I read (on the same link) the CBO analysis and comparing the two charts the health care plan (HR3200) looks like it will make the deficit worse in the next 10 years.
Direct quote:"According to CBO’s and JCT’s assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a
net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period.
That estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill’s insurance coverage
provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO
estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions
that JCT estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those
10 years."
I would like to say that looking at these projections, I still don't see it. Medicare and Madicaid have not risen much in the last few years so this still doesn't make sense that it has caused all this deficit up until this date. Beyond this date are only projections. Maybe it is time for our government to slash spending for jets, pull out of the UN (how many dollars saved there?), stop spending on the war on poverty in other countries as we are now impoverished and can't take care of our own (one of then Senator Obama's bills worth 850 billion dollars for the war on poverty). THEN......cut the salaries of the Congress and Senate, give them only merit pay, cut their benefits and give them the public option for health care. Slash their pensions. Cut the expense accounts and travel for the House and Senate, both....travel by coach or by car. Cut their staff benefits and office allotments. We have to cut back on our expenses, our salaries and jobs are in the pits, healthcare is becoming another money pit that we pay for them and their families, while they bicker over ours. Did they bicker about their raises this year? We also should look into their other perks like their gym, etc. I am sorry, but when it comes to giving the Americans a return for their tax dollars, it never happens but make sure the minnows have water even though people don't; make sure the turtles have a bridge; make sure the taxpayer gets fleeced at every turn. Healthcare is not THE problem......there are far greater problems and it all starts with the politicians. Our founding fathers were wise when they founded the Republic and not a Democracy. Now, we need to have our politicians learn to read.....first and foremost, the Constitution, then the partisan bills they eagerly sign and shove at us because THEY KNOW what we need and want.

I would want MY government involved in decisions of what coverage should be included in my health care rather than allowing that decision to an overpaid, multi-million dollar salary CEO that also gets bonuses for reducing coverage and excluding coverage to people that need and deserve it!

"The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, primarily because of the rising cost of health care."
http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collecti...

"When questioners asked about the exploding national debt, Kohl agreed the debt is growing at unsustainable levels, but he said that’s another reason health care costs have to be cut."
The above statement just doesn't make sense to me. Can someone connect the dots and explain how healthcare contributed to the exploding national debt? Surely, Medicaid, Medicare, and the VA didn't cause our present economic problems. Actually, my earliest recollection of troubles started with the passage of NAFTA, outsourcing, jobs going overseas because of unfair trade agreements and the most recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I am so sorry that both Kohl and Feingold have dug their heels in the mud and are prepared to take a partisan stance when a bill hasn't even been passed out of committee yet. I thought they represented you and I and what is in the best interest of the people of this republic.

raystone – you weren’t paying attention at this forum. Kohl did give “one” direct answer. He did state that he would not vote for a health care bill that would include coverage for illegal aliens. Now let’s see if he holds to his promise.

Other that that, it was just another song and dance.

Less Government = More FREEDOM!

werpknarly,
the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, passed in 1996 as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, guaranteed insurance portability and ended the problem known as job lock. People with chronic medical problems feared changing jobs because they would lose their insurance or be turned down.
Tell your wife can go ahead and change jobs.
*********
and as a business owner, you do not HAVE to offer health insurance. I worked for a company for four years without it. we were given a stipend to go find our own -- and we did. go figure.

herb kohl is alive?

proartist... you truly do not understand how many labor contracts read regarding retirees health coverage up to Medicare...do you?

Would you be willing to pay what it will cost me under Obamacare?

If so, I'll be in line right behind you to vote for it.

proartist, great idea, if they will also let the tax payer opt out of paying taxes so they can pay their own way!

proartist--they are not going to do that because they are hypocrits.

Simple but very effective idea ... Every person who is against reforming health care with a public option because they don’t trust the government, think it will cost too much, it will cause Grandma's demise, it's "socialism", health care will be rationed, will pay the bills of illegal immigrants, and other myths ad infinitum, should sign a contract to the effect that they would forever after refuse to participate in any Medicare and Social Security programs. If there truly are so many people opposed to changing the shameful and corporate-profit-controlled status quo, then with the savings by their opting out, the remainder of the citizenry could well use those monies to fully fund these programs and real health care reform, too!

I can sympathize with the senator here. The poor guy is out there trying to explain things and the senate does not yet have a bill out of committee. The president says one thing and the media comes down as if he canceled the whole game?

All of our elected officials are trying to explain the need for this and have been pushed into a mode of responding to rumors that are completely unfunded. From what info has come out, the Senate has their head screwed on right and just very well may do the right thing. If it is a huge co-op that can save money instead of a public ownership plan, so be it.

how come the gazette didn't mention that kohl didn't give a direct answer. isn't that the dems plan? baffle them with b.s. even seniors are dropping from the AARP because the AARP is in obama's pocket. the governments bankruptcies include the postal service, amtrack, social security, medicade, medicare. and on and on. economically, china will be the only one standing when the smoke clears.

Don’t like government programs? Then give up social security, medicare, the V.A., All road should be private toll roads. Maybe we should privatize the fire department (pay to play if your house is on fire!), the police..(wait, we already have blackwater)

Kohl didn't give one direct answer at this "forum".