Comments for Keep US Competitive at http://www.hatchforsenate.com , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://www.hatchforsenate.com Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:48:38 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/keep-us-competitive#comment-51 I find that I actually agree with Sen. Hatch in large measure here - more so than M. I think that Brian has latched on to an unspoken key to our problem - the prices of specific services have not increased nearly as much as our use of those services - the problem lies more in our lack of knowledge and self-control in deciding what health care services to use than it does in some inevitable greed or inefficiency in the existing health care system (although inefficiency should also be addressed). - David Mon, 18 May 2009 16:04:19 +0100 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/keep-us-competitive#comment-50 I agree with your point, but this isn't a solution of the problem, just shooting down a possibility. I am of the opinion that healthcare is not an inalienable right bestowed by their creator. I know it goes against the entitlement path we are presently pursuing, but I don't think anyone is entitled to healthcare. No one should be forced to pay for my healthcare. The expansive government programs of medicare, medicaid and social security are good predictors of what the future holds for the country should a one payor system be adopted. The solution is not larger government. The answer is not to make the people more dependent on the government. How about limiting insurance companies from paying more than 80% of actual cost? I don't know that prices for services have increased as much as utilization of the services has increased. There needs to be more personal responsibility (the opposite of entitlement) in the equation. - Brian Mon, 18 May 2009 15:11:27 +0100 http://www.hatchforsenate.com/blog/keep-us-competitive#comment-49 While the demographics of our nation continue to move toward more of the aged and infirm, the crisis mounts, Senator. I fear that while the business community wrestles with "preserving the engine of economic success" (i.e.: increasing and justifying their profiteering) that increasing numbers of people will continue to become insolvent, suffer and needlessly die. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce should be a backseat player in these reform negotiations at best, unless they want to forgoe profit in the name of compassionate and modern treatment. You, Senator, could start with the pharmaceutical industry and their exorbitant profit levels (which they justify as "R&D,") at the expense of both the govt and the citizen. Healthcare in the United States is indeed broken, Senator, and it should not be left to the muscle of corporate commercial interests to frame this debate. - M Mon, 18 May 2009 14:28:55 +0100