Reply #21: Where did you find that 8% figure?

[Oregone]

I wasn't aware of that.

While the regulations are great, without a fully accessible, affordable, subsidized public insurer that is allowed to negotiate at Medicare rates, there is simply no significant cost-control in the bill. And why isn't that a main concern? How can the US remain competitive, and not bankrupt, if they continue to pay 2X per capita, what other industrialized nations pay?

Most of the cost-control seems very much conjecture to me (keeping people out of the ER, preventative, keeping insurers honest--that 8% may account for some of that). But if you want real numbers, we know that a single-payer program just north of the US saves 15.6% overhead (in 1999) over the US private system. That would be $350-$400 billion a year, instantly (not to mention, universal affordable coverage).

The mandate isn't significant enough in cost saving, and will still result in 37 million uninsured. If the Democrats aren't going to balance it with something significant (Medicare-lite), why bother with it? It could also be disastrous in certain conditions.