The other Awards Obama will will this year...

[--Pete]

Hi,

My idea was simple; healthcare reforms to make sure nobody is uninsured and everybody can get the medical treatment he needs even the people without jobs.

I think the main problem with what is being worked out is that it will combine government inefficiency with insurance company greed to generate a system which will cost more and do less. I think that either a nationalized health system or a free market system heavily regulated would be more efficient and less costly. However, the first is virtually impossible because of the strong opposition by the insurance companies, the health care providers, the pharmaceutical companies, and a large segment of the population. The second is doable, but would face opposition by many of those same groups. And regulation is a large, additional expense. Besides, as long as the situation is left in the hands of the free market, there will always be a large segment of the population who, through poverty, apathy, ignorance, or greed, will not be insured.

I'm in favor of change, not because I think it will improve the situation, but because it may break it enough that a real solution will eventually emerge. And, who knows, the horse might learn to sing.;)

--Pete