Take the kids to a playground, go to the library...

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And those are paid for by?  The Government!  Thank you.

Some are paid for by the government.  Lots of private donations go into it as well.  Broadcast television and radio isn't government funded but everyone has access to them.  The Library and Playgrounds the government funds are already a part of the taxes we currently pay.  No increase needed.

They are talking about significant increases in taxes if they want free healthcare.  My point stands.

Obama is for smart change, not change for change's sake.

There's no need to change the lobby - someone wise like Obama would realize that.  Obama would look at the whole of John Byrne's work, and rub his chin and wisely nod his sage head and say "Folks, there's no need to change this lobby.  We Americans can all agree, Democrat and Republican alike, that John Byrne's work is perfectly represented in this lobby."

Then he'd lower you taxes.

QUOTE: Having insurance isn't the answer anymore as even the insured are finding  themselves screwed by the system more an more often.

Absolutely.

Our son was prescribed allergy medication from about the age of 8 months.  Around the time he turned 2, maybe 3, our insurance at work changed providers.  The next time we needed a refill of his allergy medication, it was denied by the new insurance company.  The pediatrician's office submitted the necessary paperwork...and it was denied again.  Woke up one morning to find his eyes so allergy-affected that they were swollen most of the way shut.  Zoomed him to the pediatrician's office, on the phone with the insurance company the whole way.  See, they'd denied both requests for the medication because there were over-the-counter allergy meds available, and they weren't convinced that the doctor had tried them and determined the prescription stuff to be necessary.  Um...hello?  He WROTE A FRAKKIN' PRESCRIPTION!  And he'd been on it for over a year!  That, to me, says, "This is what the doctor finds necessary."  The icing on the cake was, upon escalating to a supervisor, having her mention at one point that her personal health insurance was with another company!  And told me which company!  That spoke volumes to me, and I told her so...that she clearly knew that their service was poor, because she had coverage elsewhere.

At the doctor's office, they filled out the required paperwork again, provided me with a large handful of samples of the allergy med to get through the insurance company's period of red tape.  It was finally approved.  Meanwhile, over a month after the initial denial, we received a letter explaing the denial and how to appeal it.

That's why I would be much more likely to agree to insurance reform/regulation than I would to socialized medicine.

Give companies financial incentives for offering decent insurance to their employees in the form of tax breaks.   Instead of just giving pure tax breaks, tie them to something that helps the healthcare problem as well.  The companies win, the employees win, our wallets win.

Updated for spelling