Calls to Eshoo mostly in favor of health overhaul

Since 70-75% of Ms.Eschoo's district are registered Democrats, it is not surprising that the phone calls are running 2 to 1 in favor--statistically they should be running 3 out of 4. Most of us who disagree with the congressional attempt to pass this historic debacle haven't wasted our time contacting our congresswoman, as we know how she is going to vote. If people think this plan is going to make health care affordable to the middle class, they are sadly misinformed. Instead, this bill will enslave our children and grandchildren with the debts that will be incurred. I am for health reform, just not this massive takeover by the government of one-sixth of our economy.

Eshoo is just another dem hack whose time has come to get out of Washington and get a real job. If anyone can explain to me how the hell government is going to find savings in healthcare when everything else they touch is bloated, failing or corrupted, I would sure like to hear the arguement. When total taxes to the middle class reach 50% of income, I think we will hear some tax revolt grumblings.

jr-
If you are really open to discussing how the federal government can find savings in healthcare, start with the facts that the government operates Medicare on only 3% overhead, whereas for-profit insurers operate with 26% overhead (source: Journal of American Medicine 2007).
Seems to me there's a lot of savings to be rung out of the private health care system. And that 26% overhead statistic is from several years ago - it doesn't include the double-digit premium increases many insurance companies have saddled their customers with in the past few years.
The government has shown for decades that it can run lean & effective health care systems in Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans, and military systems. Why do you have a problem acknowledging your government is actually competent? Why do you hate your government?

jr -
You bring up government bloat and today, by coincidence, Paul Krugman reprises a five-year old editorial he wrote on the need for Health Care Reform in which he provides another perspective on where the bloat and inefficiency is:

"To get effective reform, however, we'll need to shed some preconceptions - in particular, the ideologically driven belief that government is always the problem and market competition is always the solution.
The fact is that in health care, the private sector is often bloated and bureaucratic, while some government agencies - notably the Veterans Administration system - are lean and efficient. In health care, competition and personal choice can and do lead to higher costs and lower quality. The United States has the most privatized, competitive health system in the advanced world; it also has by far the highest costs, and close to the worst results." - Paul Krugman, April 11, 2005