Suzanne, evidently you haven't looked at the nationalized health care plan proposed by Obama closely.  It is basically for children only (which most states already have plans for.)  It does nothing for those between the ages of 21 - 65.  The only thing Obama HOPES for is government regulations imposed on insurance companies forcing them to insure everyone regardless of prior health conditions.  They would still have to pay for insurance.  And imposing government regulations on insurance companies will be a long uphill climb fought by them for years to come. The government won't pay, but yet will decrease taxes for small businesses, etc...  However, in the end, he plans to take 39% of their money when they die to fund his insurance plan for children, which could bankrupt small businesses and discourage good saving behaviour unless people are smart enough to allocate their funds where the government can't get it.   This is sometimes called the death tax, but is formally called the Estate Tax.  His plan is to lower the amount exempted and includes everything probated in an estate (add your home to that.)  So if you work hard, save, own a home and plan to leave your children a legacy, protect it or 39% of what you worked for could go to those who never bother to get a job.  One way, put your home on a survivorship deed.  See, in America, good behaviour is punished, bad behaviour is rewarded.  You don't apply yourself in the same public school system everyone has access to,  you have children with no father, you get to live off the government.  Where is the pride in that?  As a single white woman who has the sense not to get pregnant, I get nothing, therefore I am forced to work.  Not that I wouldn't, I have more pride in myself than to live off the government.  We need to get back to basics.  Those who are able bodied should work and put into the system for those who cannot.  That's what it was put in place for.  We have too many who abuse it.  Stop the abuse and the funds will be available for those who truly need it.  That's a better option.

And if we want to government regulate something, regulate that students have to graduate from high school.  There is no excuse for not doing so when it is free to everyone.  

As a childless woman who plans to stay that way, I'm fed up with the free/near free

maternity coverage.  And why is in-vitro covered?  Having a baby is a choice; an optional privilege.  

Amazing journalism!!!  Quote a feminist about possible gender discrimination!  Thank god insurance companies don't have the ethics of journalist, we'd all be dead!  Why do men pay more for auto insurance?  Because it's only discrimination when its against women.

Ok, here’s the deal. The basic concept of insurance is that the entire group pays for all the claims. So if we have a group of people that have certain similarities, example females, then the rates for that group is based on experience of the entire group, not just one individual. Simply put, assume that you have a group of two people, one healthy and one not healthy. Even though the healthy person has no health problems, they are in the group with the one who does and therefore will pay higher premiums than they would if they were grouped with another healthy individual.

Now, let’s assume that someone here says that they are healthy and it’s not fair for them to be lumped in with others that are unhealthy. Fair question. Assume for a moment that we lumped all the unhealthy people into one group and all the healthy people into another, then only the healthy could afford the insurance. Also, once an individual does have a problem, as most of us will eventually, then that individual would have to be moved into the unhealthy group thereby raising their premiums making it unaffordable.

The total concept is that the risk of claim is spread out amongst the entire group. The real fact here is that women have more health claims and more expensive health claims. Women tend to take better care of them selves through more frequent doctor visits etc. However, women also tend to suffer from chronic problems more frequently than men. Men on the other hand tend to go to the doctor less frequently, and have more critical problems. Translation…women live longer but with non life threatening problems, men live shorter with problems that tend to kill them. I suspect that if men took more time to visit the doctor etc that they would also live longer, but trade the critical problems for chronic problems.

On the flip side since men live shorter lives they are lumped into a group of other men and pay higher life insurance premiums.

The answer that most advocate here is that we should be put in the group that we want, healthy group. But that means that many more people will be without health insurance because they can’t afford it. So the long and short of this is that Mr. Spock had it right…the good of the many outweigh the good of the few. We all share in the burden of the group for insurance purposes and it’s a good thing we do, otherwise it would be much worse than what we currently have.

Ryan, just because you're fit doesn't mean some drunk won't hit you head-on at highway speed...even though you don't smoke, you're diagnosed w/ lung cancer...or that you're immune from *** cancer even though you're a guy.

Rob, that's what you get when you go after the skinny pretty ones.  Stick to your league, and you won't have problems.

Well, I think for the most part, this article has been debunked.  Women, you gotta love em but there is no question that they are more expensive than men.  My wife's $150.00 jeans she bought yesterday and her shoe collection are both good examples.  She sees a doctor if she hiccups.  I try to warn her that this will hurt us if we ever need to buy insurance on our own.  Her reply is always one of disdain and the question, "what do we have insurance for then?"

This country's health insurance is in a crisis, however no one can prove that making a national system works best. Personally I think it is sad that people don't have healthcare, and I for one pay for my individual plan. I am lucky. I'm a young women with no previous health problems. I do pay more for my insurance than a male counterpart, but it's fair. I use birth control pills and see the gyno at least 2 a year for check-ups. I'm of childbearing age so the eventual cost for the the insurance to pay for me for now is a lot higher than that of men. However there is a point when women do become cheaper then men, once women go through menopause. After about 50-60 women become cheaper, because at that point men are more expensive.

I personally think that people need to take responsibility. Many people are covered by employer health plans, and don't realize how expensive their plans actually are. They go and see the doctor when they want b/c they aren't paying for the visit, only a copay. Then they go for expensive tests b/c they feel they need it, and once again they get them done for next to nothing. All of this actually costs a lot of money. Employer groups charge the employee maybe 1/4 if not less than the actual cost. Try and get that same plan on your own, and you're talking 300-400 dollars for a healthy individual.

What people need to start doing is shop around for insurnace, encourage their employers to shop for the best insurance. Stop asking doctors to give you useless tests, and stop seeing the doctor when you have a sniffle. These are the reasons the costs are through the roof. The insurance company has no incentive to pressure the centers to lower the costs of tests if people keep getting them and paying the high rate. It's like the grocery store where I live did (publix). People moaned at the rising food costs so they are lower staple items' prices for a month at a time to something more reasonable. They did it because people stopped paying the higher price.

Health insurance is driven by money, and if people stop using their plans b/c they are too expensive the insurance companies will lower their prices. It's simple economics and supply and demand. Just think about it.

So encourage your group plans to lower their rates, but also do your own part and stop asking your doctor to give you tests you don't need just because you aren't paying for it.

Ok ladies,

You can have birth control covered if I can have condoms covered.

It is time to  start to have a different view of Capitalism. Capitalism used to mean that one had the right to produce a product that people wanted and to get a fair price for it. It has migrated over to mean that one has the right to rip off the consumer, lie about the product, cheat and steal so long as it is "legal" and makes a profit. This is not Capitalism, this is insanity and will eventually cause the complete collapse of the US. The net result is we will end up with socialism, and that is even worse! If we don't start to realize that criminal or unethical conduct has no place in capitalism and start to write the laws to stop it, we will lose this beautiful country to socialism and consequent misery. One merely has to look at the financial industry to see how that behaviour eventually collapses under its own weight. The banks have been operating in an immoral and unethical but "perfectly legal" manner for years and become more and more brazen as nothing was done to make thier acts illegal, e.g. there incredible fees of $35 for approving someones $1 purchase of gum, sure it is currently legal, but is it fair? They were not chastized for that and so they went further and finally they are collapsing and we have to bail them out. The auto industry was another example. They produced shoddy cars because all they cared about was immediate profit. Now we have lost that industry to the Japanese who build cars that lasted and worked better. Short term profit motivations causes long term death and as our industries die of greed and immoral business practices, so will our lovely country. Socialism is not the answer, but ethical business is!