FRC has deliberately take a destructive approach for political, not medical reasons.

What is the basis for saying that “…in situations like cancer patients and heart disease unfortunately the patient will not get the treatment until it is to late in many cases.” ?

My middle-aged friend Walter collapsed during a visit with a co-author in Vancouver in late April 2007. He was rushed to an emergency room and that is when scans revealed a large brain tumour. He had surgery in early May in his home city of Montreal and went immediately on aggressive radiation and chemo therapy. Once he was well enough to travel, he flew to Australia to visit my husband and me at our current home That was in September 2007. Walter looked great. Obviously depressed because with glial cell cancer his life expectancy was really low. He just visited again in late 2009. His great health care has kept him alive and remarkably there are no more tumours. Realistically, he is not going to live to an old age (the chemo can’t continue without damaging his bone marrow and liver and once the chemo is curtailed more tumours will grow) but the space of years rather than months has meant he has been able to further his research, work on books, travel, enjoy life. Without health insurance, he would be dead. The Canadian system saved his life.

Do you also believe that the health insurance CEOs have the health and well being of people as a key performance indicator to do you suppose they are focused on increasing share holder value (keeping costs low) which just coincidentally lines their own pockets? Don’t you think incentives influence they way people behave? Is your title of doctor refer to a PhD or a medical degree? If the latter, you should be familiar with US birthweight statistics an infant mortality — many counties in the US are comparable to third world countries; many health statistics are below the OECD averages. Why do you think being third-rate in health care is okay for the USA?

I believe direct observations having lived substantial amounts of time outside of the US in Canada, Europe, and Australia. The US can do better than it is currently with health care.

The AMA said the Senate bill would make it easier for Americans to buy affordable health insurance, prevent insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and provide doctors and patients with information about which treatments work best.

“This bill advances many of our priority issues for achieving the vision of a health system that works for patients and physicians,” AMA President-Elect Cecil Wilson said.