DrTalk:
This is exactly the concept that I'm talking about, moving to a free market approach where the consumer makes the choices and controls how the money is spent. With every other product and service which we consume, a competitive market place gives us choice, access, availability, quality and affordable prices. But it is because we are spending our own money and making our own decisions and choices. Vendors must meet consumers needs and expectations or lose the sale to someone who will.

We aren't going to solve the problems with health care by simply shifting the costs from one pocket to another. And trying to artificially control rising costs leads to rationing where the payer (whether government or private insurance) decides what will be covered and what won't and how long patients wait to receive treatment. Brag all you want about health care in Canada or England, but long waiting lists for procedures are the rule, not the exception there.

WSP,

Actually, you are in the majority. They only polled 507 people. The majority of the people did not get polled. If the Associated Press believed in reporting the news accurately, they would have said something like "The majority of the 507 people we polled support state-run health care." Actually, that is what they said, they just weren't as blunt.

snazzyj1977: "All people should have health care and it should automatically be taken out of wages"

My auto insurance doesn't get taken out of my wages. My house insurance doesn't get taken my wages. Life insurance doesn't get taken out of my wages. Why should health insurance get taken out of my wages? What if someone doesn't have a job? Then there's no wages to be garnished.

Neither the government nor my employer knows the kind of health care that I need. I don't care for the blanket health care coverage that they provide. I want the freedom to choose the health care coverage I want and what I want to pay for it.

Since you felt the need to respond to others opinions and call them names you should not get a free pass.

If you are a poor driver or a high risk driver they have the right to drop you. It cost the company and their customes too much to insure them for their poor choices. You here all the time "thats what insurance is for" as they slam their car door into yours. If one is going to treat thier body like junk then they shold be held responsible, not us because the govenment said so. No one can tell me that if they start paying for everyons health care and see someone 400 pounds sitting at a bar, smoking, eating onion rings and a tripple cheeseburger they won't get a litte upset.

It would be just like the people now having kids when they can't support themselves in the first place. Its ok the state will educate, clothe and feed them. And the best part is they get more money back in taxes then they pay because they have kids and are poor. I agree everyone should live as they want but, they need to know that all of lifes choices have consequences.

Something needs to be done with healh care. I have seen first hand what getting sick can do to your pocket book. $100k bills after insurance paid thier part. I just don't think government run is the way to go.

They didn't poll me. I'm in the minority.

If they want my tax money for health care there will need to be some changes. Outlaw things that are known to cause ill health like smoking, alcohol, high fat foods and such. I don't care what people do to them self now but, you are not going to kill yourself and have me pay for your heart by-pass because you could not put down the fat burger (aka McDonalds).

p.s. I do enjoy many of the things on the list. I don't want you to think I am some kind of health nut.

This will be a problem as long as there's workers willing to work for low pay, and no health insurance. Health insurance wasn't widely popular until WWII. Back then, there was a Federal wage freeze, and to lure more workers, a company would offer incentives, like insurance. Unions also demanded more insurance, and they were more powerful than they are today. It all stemmed from supply and demand. Companies needed more workers than there was a supply for, so compensation went up. One way to reduce loss of insurance in this country is to make workers more valuable. Education is one way for sure. I'm not sure closing our borders would do much, but increasing Mexico's prosperity so it's people stay there would. Ask yourself "why do our northern neighbors have the same standard of living as we do, but our southern neighbors are almost a third world nation?" Of course, there's more to the equation, this is just a little piece.

I wonder how many polls they had to take until they got the numbers they wanted.

The root of the problems with health care in this country is cost and the rate at which the cost is growing -- far faster than wages, taxes, inflation, etc. In other words, faster than our ability to pay for it. More people would have health insurance if it were less expensive.

The reason that the costs are rising so rapidly is that our health care system does not operate according to free market forces. The bills are always paid by someone else so we never ask the price of anything, even though it is, ultimately, our money that is being spent. Going to a single payer system will do nothing to change these faulty underlying dynamics, in fact it will worsen the situation and more and more of our resources will be spent funding it.

We need to remodel health care funding to a market driven system where the consumer of the service controls the decision making. If you want an excellent primer on this concept read some of the work of Regina Herzlinger, a Harvard business professor who has also worked in the health care industry.

First: The sample size of only 507 leaves more room for error. They are correct about the plus or minus 4%; that typical for a sample size of 500. You need to have a sample size of at least 1500 to get a plus or minus 2% margin of error.
Second: We don't know the exact questions that were asked. The questions could have been slanted.
Third: We don't know if the sample was random or if it was a biased sample.
Fourth: I have to disagree with ski1357. I don't think it's the employers responsibility to provide health care and the government should not force employers to provide health care. If I were to quit or lose my job, I don't lose my auto insurance; my auto insurance is portable. Health insurance should be the same way. What we need is complete privatization of health care. The reason this is a big political issue is because health care is partly socialized. We need to remove the health care issue from the political arena.

This is something I have thought about for awhile. Why have we kept on giving healthcare to illeagel immigrants and not charge those governments an appropriate price for this service. Every time a mexican or hmong goes into the clinic , we should charge these governments for these services. We could make up some of this lost money on these people.Its not enough that they take jobs away from our own people but, also clog up our healthcare system also. Next time they need a Doctor, tell to go to the free mexican/hmong/laotian/asian clinc. Oh , thats right,we are in the USA! Just a minute,we will jump through hoops and get someone to speak spanish for you while you americans wait at the back of the line,SI AMIGO

Ski I agree with you. The people voting in favor of this also need to think about how much longer they are going to have to wait in hospital and doctors waiting rooms, or how hard it will be to get an appointment when everyone has health care. The quality of care tends to decline when statewide or nationwide healthcare plans are implemented. Doctors waiges also tend to decline when there is government run health insurance causing them to leave to explore other markets that have private insurance. Why do you think people in Canada come here for surgeries and treatment if they can afford it. In the long run state or nationwide health care usually only ends up benefiting those who do not pay taxes and hurting those of us who do.

This is all well and good, however, has the Democratic party in this state decided how this will be paid for. Our taxes in Wisconsin are already high enough. What needs to be done is the federal government has to come up with a plan that would require all employers to have insurance plans for all employees. Yes, employees would have to pay for part of it, its the only way it can work in the days of high insurance costs. That way, the peeople that do have insurance through their employers wouldn't have to be punished with higher taxes to provide insurance for those who do not receive that benefit from their employer.