david jacobs gives us living proof that repeating the same cliches repetitively (redundancy intentional -- is his?) doesn't prove a point.

Be careful that the baby doesn't drown while you're wishing for the same dirty bath water.

Our society needs to function to care for the most vulnerable, not to protect the pockets of the least vulnerable.

Three cheers for the good work done by the RAC, and by the President. As a happy Medicare beneficiary, I envy my friends who are covered by the VA. And, by the way, I should mention that some of my best friends are attorneys, so jacobs lost me by his gratuitous crack at them.

If I want an OB/GYN annual checkup, the wait is 2-3 months. A dermatology appt for an annual mole check-up? 2-3 months. If it isn't an emergency, I can wait a few weeks to see my GP. So, how worse could it be with health care reform? I can't get in to see a Dr NOW. Israel does not have a homogenous population, it is an immigrant country whose citizens come from all over the world. It may have a different legal atmosphere, but perhaps that's a part of medical care we need to change.

The present health care debate is largely governed by special interest lobbying groups buying up politicians and quite successfully spreading propaganda amongst the citizenry.

Right now there are millions of Americans who don't have to wait for specialist visits. They simply can't afford them. They can't have preventive or routine care.

Right now, the life expectancy of a child born in Israel is 80.73 compared to the United States which comes in at 78.11.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102ra

Yes, our statistics reflect the fact we have horrible poverty and financial insecurity in the United States. Pointing that out only strengthens the case for coming up with universal health coverage, something available in other developed nations.

In the USA, our physical/mental health depends on our financial health,which is not always a constant. People who feel secure financially will often find fault with any effort to create a more just system of health care. Any change will threaten those who feel things are working well for them.

Two cautious questions: (1)Looking ahead, are you really financially secure? (2) Are you really getting the world's best health care or are you getting the doctor's best financial deal?

American medicine can do many wonderful things, but it also does too many unnecessary things to people who don't need invasive procedures and medical tests with no proven value.

Unfortunately, you won't know when you've been sold a procedure you really don't need or a medication with risks for you that are unwarranted.

We could have the best health care in the world, but we sure don't have it now, even for those who think they're getting it.

I'm no health care expert. I can only speak as a person who lived in Israel for a year, got sick or injured more than once that year, and required treatment by specialists before I got back to the USA.

It was my "Year in Israel" with Hebrew Union College. I was a "second-career" student of 48, so I was familiar with dealing with insurance companies in the U.S. to negotiate health care for myself and my family. Israel was a shock, in that the concern was about making sick people well, not about wrestling with the insurance companies.

My DOCTORS decided if tests were necessary. My DOCTORS decided if drugs were appropriate. DOCTORS took time with me, figuring out what was the matter, not just taking a brief look and then running along to the next thing because of some insurance-company imposed time schedule.

The system there is not perfect, but it is focussed on making sick people well, not on making as much money as possible so that investors can be paid dividends and lobbyists can be paid to influence Congress.

Yes, I had to wait for some appointments. But here in the states, my waits have been far, far longer, sometimes for more urgent appointments.

Most importantly, no one was going to decide to go digging back through my files, hoping to find some reason to disqualify me from care. That happens here in the U.S. EVERY DAY, it is standard procedure, and if no one in your family has yet had treatment denied for a serious illness because "oops, you don't have a policy anymore," count yourself very lucky indeed. I'm not speaking from hearsay, I'm speaking from personal experience.

No system is going to make everyone blissfully happy: health care systems of necessity deal with people in some of their most unhappy moments. But surely we can get something better than the mess we have in the USA today. My own experience is that the Israeli system is much better.

I would like to have the healthcare afforded to Israel. My wife had to wait 6 months here in the United States for her hip surgery, so don't complain about waiting for services to me, your voices sing in a very low volume. Her test were valued in the thousands of dollars with a collection of baseless scares. The test were extensive and expensive, at least she had employer health care. So how much of the money (billions) that the United States gives to Israel helps to support the health care system and the public or private hospitals there? I fine it very disingenuous for the United States to give money for other countries to support their peoples healthcare and not their own citizens! Congress should pass a universal healthcare bill for the people of its country: the same as other intelligent countries.