Spot on, Steve.

First off, Obama is not a socialist.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/jun/29/mark-neumann/obama-and-team-socialists-wisconsin-gop-senate-can/
Second, the health care law will REDUCE the deficit.
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jul/11/american-commitment/tv-ad-says-health-laws-cost-2-trillion-double-what/
Read the facts, not what some pundit yells on the radio or tv.

Totally agree, Roger.

Mimi, we are well aware of Mr. Altimire's loss, and know his time as a US Representative is short-lived. That does not change the fact that his statement regarding families and businesses planning around Obamacare is pretty silly.

This has nothing to do with being rich or getting sick - it is purely economical. For example:

1. Due to mandating employer provide free insurance to all of their employees, business will hire fewer people (they can reduce their costs, by just not hiring!),
2. The healthcare bill (as passed) creates 21 new taxes on US citizens (not the rich - everybody!), not raises taxes - creates new ones!

Be careful what you ask for.

Ken, you are so right. I am a living example of how my health care coverage has been RUINED since Obamacare passed. Natasha, I want health care REFORM - not this socialized medicine that ruins the best health care industry in the world and ruins our country. Have you read the bill? I have. We can't afford it. And it rations care, and anyone who says it does not is lying. We CANNOT keep our current insurance OR the doctors we now have if we want to. It's a lie -- read the bill. The taxes we pay will skyrocket. You don't seem to realize that Obamacare will lead to this: people with resources will be able to purchase good health care and the rest of us middle class slobs will end up with Obamacare and no choices. We'll have to deal with the IPAB -- a small board of appointees (they are not doctors) who will make major decisions about what is covered under Obamacare. And let's not forget all of the Federal officials & employees, Senate, Congress and their buddies/favorite organizations who have "waivers." They don't have to use or comply with Obamacare. Just think about that. If Obamacare was such a good deal, why have the House & Senate exempted themselves from having to use it? READ THE BILL PLEASE. And PLEASE take care of yourself and your health, because Obamacare will not pay for procedures/meds if you get to be a certain age. Beyond scary. This bill needs to be repealed and we need real health care reform to replace it. Good riddance, Rep. Altmire!

Something drastic needs to be done to the healthcare system, costs and coverage's are out of control, AND we need some form of universal coverage like every other industrialized nation. BTW Debra: we do NOT have the best health care system in the world, we have the 37th health care system in the world; as stated by the New England Journal of Medicine (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910064)

Charles, Charles, Charles "costs and coverage's are out of control" BECAUSE of government subsidies and regulations. AND YOU WANT MORE OF THEM!!!

Think man. Think.

And "universal coverage" will only ensure that everyone has access to the same dimished quality of care.

Do you think aspirins were free when they were invented???? NO!!!!

But if it was up to people who think like you, tylenol and advil would have never been invented, since you would have seized all the profits of the aspirin makers to ensure that everybody gets "free" aspirin.

Think man. Think.

Google "Avastin UK". I received this drug for chemotherapy for stage IV cancer, and IT IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK.

Think man. Think.

@Steve, anybody can throw stones, what is your proposal for re-mediating the ailments of the US health care/health insurance (because in non-socialized medicine we are forced to consider them conjointly). I hear all the negative about "Obamacare" which was patterned after "Romneycare" which was originally a "Nixoncare" idea. I'd like to hear some all encompassing remedy which does not leave children, women, and men dying because they are not paid enough or cannot afford to pay for healthcare or the selectively granted and exorbitantly priced insurance? We as humans should not be forcing natural selection on our fellow humans because of a man made concept of economics. I always thought we were better than that, but I'm seeing lately that many are not.

I know plenty of Canadians and have had this discussion before with them. If you are sick, you can see a doctor the same day.....

What a twisted pile of bs this is, Steve. People who are FOR affordable health care are selfish? I think that selfish is the people that are so buffered from what is happening with so many Americans that they couldn't care less for those LESS fortunate than them. That, my friend, is selfish and don't ever pretend that your lack of care for those people who are suffering is anything less than selfish. Thank God you haven't called yourself a Christian; the hypocrisy would be too much to bare.

That article does not state how many of those were for elective cosmetic surgery which is not covered in Canada. Incomplete information from which to draw any conclusions.

I think its far more dangerous to ANY citizen to consider healthcare "private", it gives absolute power to the healthcare system and that is exactly what we see today. Even though its it's only a quote from a movie, i wholeheartedly believe: "The day we stop fighting for each other is the day we lose our humanity."

Charles, Charles, Charles, there you go again, you think "its far more dangerous to ANY citizen to consider healthcare "private", it gives absolute power to the healthcare system and that is exactly what we see today."

Woud you rather give all the power to the US government? They have done such a good job managing social security and medicaid. NOT!!!!

Let me ask you this, if you are on the table, who would you rather have taking the scaple to YOUR liver, a highly compensated, motivated individual who graduated at the top of his class and and has 15 years of education and internships, OR some affirmative-action, DMV reject HACK, who belongs to the SEIU union?????

Be honest Charles -- it's your liver.

@Charles – There is a difference between healthcare services and health insurance – a concept most people cannot grasp. What Obamacare mandates is that all citizens buy a commodity (health insurance) from a private company (insurance provider) or face a tax.

But it goes further. It also mandates that taxpayers subsidize the commodity (health insurance) for those the government deems to indigent to pay for the commodity (health insurance) themselves. To accomplish this, Congress created no fewer than 21 taxes to fund this boondoggle.

One might ask, “Why is the government doing this?” The government is doing this to manipulate demand in hopes of driving down costs. Is it the role of government to manipulate commerce? Of course it is not the role of government. But who cares as long as people believe the new taxes will only hit those "greedy 1%ers" resulting in their premiums going down. Yay for free Obama money!

You left me with a quote, let me do the same, “Ten percent is good enough for Jesus. Well it oughta be enough for Uncle Sam.”

@Outraged Citizen, sounds like your more outraged at the government for much more than this attempt at healthcare reform, if that's the case we agree. I'd agree with your quote too if you changed "Jesus" to "God" (because tithing is an old testament command: Deuteronomy 14:22-29) and if the 10% applied to every industry except churches. Yes I'm saying Goliath's which so obviously are extremely profitable in a monopoly type environment (non-profits like Highmark and UPMC) for example should loose their non-profit status. BTW, I'm not a liberal I'm a Libertarian which is far more conservative than the current GOP.

@Charles – You don’t call yourself “Outraged” if you’re generally a happy person!

You’re right, I don’t like government waste. But I hate the erosion of personal freedom even more.

You left me with a quote from a movie; I left you with one from a song. Chillax!

Good point EDR. It's called "moral hazaard" - when the productive people see unproductive people being subsidized by the government, the productive people stop producing and join the unproductive.

I like the fact that he (Alt.) tried to explain to people that Republicans are once again wasting time in Congress. They refuse to vote on a jobs bill but keep beating the hell out of health care. Selfish and wasteful people.

Thank you, Laura, for pointing this out. Republicans just keep wasting our tax dollars and I am sick of it....and yet bizarrely you have all these Republican folks saying they are against waste.

OC:
The jobs bill is important and yet Republicans refuse to vote on it. Constant fighting is costing us Americans real money....it has to stop.

@Stacy – Let’s be intellectually honest here. We can point the finger at both sides for not voting on legislation the other side thinks is important. The reason the House has passed a repeal of Obamacare 33 times is because the Democrats in the Senate have failed to call it up for a vote 32 times.

Placing this behavior solely at the door of Republicans doesn’t move the discussion forward; it only continues the partisanship you say you abhor.

Interesting @Outraged, you oppose all manner of health care reform and possible "hidden" taxes, but your perfectly content (if not pleased) to have your representation waste millions of dollars and 1000 of hours voting on dead-end legislation that instead could be used to work on much more important legislation than some that has already passed, AND been declared constitutional. What kind of conservatism do you call this? Sounds ambiguous to me. I think some conservative introspection is in order.

Ditto to what Regina said. When somebody chastises businesses for not using available cash to hire new workers, I never hear any of them saying they would do the same. In other words, when asked to risk their own cash, their words of suggesting others risk theirs, the demand goes hollow. At this time, why would ANY business expand and hire new workers?

The aroma coming from DC is filled with uncertainty. Remember December of 2010? Tax rates for 2011 were not established until a couple of days before January 1! Now, we are out less than six months before January 1, 2013, and what is settled? Fed income tax rates? Capital Gains tax rates? Dividend tax rates? Payroll tax rates? Estate tax rates and rules? Health insurance premium rates? Oh yes, the codes are all in place for the changes. But, will Congress have the political will to let them stand? History tells us that the uncertainty will fill the air until December 31, 2012.

Many who are critical of businesses believe that business planning happens just like Congress's actions on tax bills, wait until the last possible minute. Psssst, ... does not happen that way.

Leadership for our nation coming from DC, .... nah, it isn't happening!

Stacy, do you own a company that pays for health insurance for the employees? Do you manage the finances of a company that makes budgets for the HR department? What is certain about health care costs for 2013, 2014, 2015 for budgets?

Your assertions about the timing has nothing to do with 2013, 2014, etc. Yes, companies were laying off workers in 2008, but the financial climate was different at that time.

We've had previous exchanges, and you are unable to tell us what is certain with regard to financial obligations for a business. This includes health care, taxes, regulations, etc. If you know in your mind that all these items have a high level of certainty, then start telling the story to business owners. We aren't buying the current story, but maybe you have a different one.

@Roger, I own a company. The cost uncertainty with ACA is no more uncertainty than we've been experiencing the last 20 years with regards to how much insurance carriers decided to raise their rates on our policies and which portion of those cost increases would be passed-on to employees (who at times were in a pay freeze), and what costs would be absorbed by the company to keep the benefits package competitive to aid in employee retention. These unpredictable cost increases were in no way tied to any measurable cost factor to forecast them for any number of years...even one year. Your conjuring economic environments to suit your argument or point-of-view, which is an un-defendable position to take.