Seeing the way the Government runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I wouldn't entrust the incompetent @&*%&#s to fold my socks.

Witnessing the mushrooming budget deficits, I don't trust them to to give me change for a dollar in quarters.

Think health care is expensive now? Turn it over to politicians and see how it goes!

Olympia's objective: A government run health care system where pointy-headed bureaucrats decide whether you get that heart bypass or course of chemotherapy based on how much money you contributed to which political party or candidate.

Olympia is not to be trusted, she voted for the bailout. Someone who supports the waste of literally billions of our tax dollars has no business making any financial decisions "for us". Now she thinks government is again the answer for healthcare. This administration has twisted our senators so far out of shape they are ruined.

How would like to health care to be run like the post office....i live on the Canadian border....they ration care....you wait for procedures...coverage but no access...there are other ways to do this.. they fail to mention that the bulk of the problem is the goverment programs don't cover the cost , so the cost shift fees to the private insurers to make up the losses...someday it would be good to see a well researched article on this..As for the nursing union person.. nurses from canada jump on opening in US hosptals on the border like to read about.. she has not talked to nurses in canada..

Let the Insurance Companies create their own REAL competition. That would drive down the cost, increase the level of care, eliminate the need for government beaurucrats, and maybe even be benefical to the fine citizens of Maine - and the US. As for the poorest of the poor who cant afford health care, i think they can - they usually afford smokes, lotto and delux cell-phone packages.

Wow - not much of a range of opinion on the comments on here. First of all, I LOVE the argument that the insurance companies are regulated too heavily, that's rich. So I guess if we just let them do what they want, they will cover more people? Sounds great! Ummm...no, that's like a snake-oil salesman asking for more places to sell his salve or something, then watch him keep the price the same and offer it to people who are not sick.

You can't trust the insurance companies, period. Baldacci even gave them the benefit of the doubt with his Dirigo Health Care program but they still raised premiums and he went with a non-profit company most recently. This is one area I feel the federal government really needs to step up and inject some money into the arm that is the U.S. Healthcare system and fund it totally, also helping with rural and emergency access. If Obama were to be remembered for any one thing, this could be it and he would definitely earn a second term, providing he didn't screw up too bad in the next 4 years. Medicare for all would eliminate the money we pay to insurance companies already. Think of the cost savings throughout the country - small and large businesses no longer have to pay premiums, state employers, and nobody would die an unnecessary death because they couldn't afford treatment.

It was reported in the NYT that physicians are opting out of the Medicare program. Health care, regardless of profit v. not for profit business structure, is all about the bottom line. Education is becoming prohibitively expensive in all areas but particularly in medicine. I can recall a time when health care attracted the altruists among us and house calls were routine in small communities. It would be wonderful if we could build a consensus for health care reform; although, it doesn't seem likely. The very last people I would have faith in during this national discussion are those in the insurance industry-the people who brought us AIG....

Ever watch someone die because they couldn't afford healthcare? Sometimes, such as with a bad cancer, it's relatively fast. Maybe only a matter of a year or less. Sometimes, such as going without long term care for diabetes, it's slow and takes a few years. Those that criticize haven't had it happen to someone they love or care about. Perhaps they have never known want or need. Perhaps they have never learned compassion. These are lessons no one deliberately seeks but when class is being held, when you go hungry so your kid can have an insulin shot or your mother can get chemo for her breast cancer, you learn compassion and know just what need is. It is unfathomable that a country such as ours doesn't provide healthcare for it's citizens. This isn't about socializing America, it's about mans inhumanity to man.

People that have a good insurance either through their work or some other private source can just as easily die or be misdiagnosed or just be plain not be taken seriously and ignored because something doesn't show up on an MRI or other test in our current health care places so that is not a good argument by any means, I have had the chance to talk to a number of people about poor health care in our region and even in my own extended family. Again my 17 yr old daughters story as follows :

Sorry about the length but just another ER situation that ended VERY poorly, much like the one in the Machias area. they are not exclusive in any means in dealing with their issues.

I still wonder to this day what constitutes as an emergency at the EMMC ER, if a 17 yr old girl that is post abdominal surgery that had gone steadily downhill since she was rushed out the door at out patient surgery and CLEARLY showed all the signs of septic shock when brought to the ER doesn't prompt as an emergency, What does??

I could only laugh when I was asked if we had filed a suit against the Dr that had wronged us, okay.....First of all, Hospitals have some of the most blood thirsty lawyers themselves, and it is true that it is NOT easy to sue a Dr or Hospital, Even if you have a good case and the person deserves to be compensated. I know this for a fact because I took my daughter to EMMC for an out patient surgery and her intestines were punctured not once but twice, brought her home as they pretty much shoved us out the door. For the next 2 days I called the out patient surgery center to tell them of her worrying symptoms and pain and they sent me to the store for gas medicine and suppositories never once saying you should bring her in seeings how she is post abdominal surgery patient. The third day, I think it was the third day, have trouble remembering because it turned out to be a very traumatic experience, anyway, My daughter hadn't eaten or drank anything for 2 days and she was gray in color and cold and clammy to the touch, she was also lethargic and not talking , which if you knew my daughter that was extremely unusual. All these symptoms are medical 101 for septic shock and severe sepsis. I took her to the emergency dept and we were kindly escorted to a room at around 6pm well as the hours went by she became worse , her vitals kept bottoming out and setting alarms off on the equipment, they would come in and shut them off and leave again. About the 4th time this happened I grabbed her nurse and told her to do something now because my daughter is dying before my eyes SHE SAID SHE HAD ALREADY ASKED THE DR TO COME IN AND LOOK AT MY DAUGHTER BUT HE DIDN'T FEEL IT WARRANTED, even the nurse recognized something was very wrong. We had only seen the Dr once maybe twice after we first got there and this was now 12 HOURS LATER mind you. So I assured the nurse that if something didn't happen soon that I was going out to the Drs station and make our presence known in a big way. Well! By gosh a Dr appeared very shortly after and took a look at her and said get her to Cat Scan, not long after a trauma surgeon approached me and said I needed to sign a consent that they needed to get her in surgery NOW. In fact they were in such a hurry they were tripping over her IV lines and oxygen hoses trying to prep her for OR. This was the first a NUMBER of mistakes that happened during her care, she made it through the surgery but then they didn't monitor her oxygen levels and the sepsis had effected her lung function so now her lungs were shutting down a few days after after she had finally gotten out of ICU. Back to ICU and she had to be put on life support. The Dr himself told me that they had indeed "dropped the ball" a COUPLE of times in her care . The Dr Hughes we will call her, that Originally caused the damage, she was in a hurry to catch a Christmas holiday flight out that day of the first surgery and she didn't pay attention to me days before when I was concerned about her doing laproscopy through an existing scar where my daughter had a previous Op to remove severe adhesion's from her organs and intestines that were attached to her insides and wall of tummy, in fact she was rude to me when i wasted her time with such worries. She had 2 surgeries that morning the first one was very late because we ended up waiting about an hour and a half after our surgery time was suppose to be , and this is funny, my daughter remembers seeing a suitcase outside the operation room door and the nurse told her that the Dr was catching a flight that morning and put it there because she was running late...............Needless to say she caught her flight and my daughter caught severe sepsis and lung shut down with permanent scaring everywhere. In fact she has had to have a complete hysterectomy in Boston since then and when the 30 yr Specialist at Brigham and Womens came to talk to me after her surgery he just kind of shook his head and said he couldn't believe the mess inside her tummy and offered to write a letter on her behalf to the lawyers if we wanted.

She still has numerous medical issues because of this blunder. Needless to say she has never been compensated for ANYTHING, nor has she ever heard an apology from anyone, if this were your daughter, oh my daughter had to forgo graduating with her class and go back to high school the following year because she was to sick and weak to finish her year out on top of all else. If this was your daughter, and you had not only been witness to but also told by a Boston Dr that she had been very poorly managed health wise would you not think that your child should be compensated for such blatant acts of poor care??? Now I realize truly realize how very one sided the laws are and how Dr's and Hospitals will do anything to cover each others mishaps and how the lawyers seal the envelope for them, how about you?? Not all med negligent cases that are filed are bogus but they might as well be. They don't care what they leave in their wake , how damaged they can leave a person or family, someone should do SOMETHING about this!!!

If it were your only child lying in a hospital fighting for her life all because a Dr wouldn't listen to your concerns about previous med conditions that were severe and should have been a red flag to this Dr and she was actually rude to you for taking her time to hear your child's surgical history before she herself performed surgery then, having only 2 surgeries to perform that day and the first one ran 2 hours overtime and she rushed through your child's surgery so she could go on vacation, how would you feel?

So many times these instances like what happened with my daughter and others get swept under the rug and it should be the public's right to know how hospitals are doing , good AND bad. My daughter is paying the ultimate price because of not just one mistake but a domino effect of mistakes that happened and now she has PTSD, anxiety and depression, blood pressure that drops so low she faints out, and this happens sporadically without warning,not to mention never being able to bear children and suffering from chronic intestinal difficulties, menopause and hot flashes with emtional rollercoastermthat goes with the menopause. If more people came out in the open with their stories it would be a help to the medical community I would think, because then they would at least recognize that changes are needed and begin to work on that INSTEAD OF WORKING SO HARD TO COVER UP THEIR MISTAKES. I still wonder why they have such high insurance when it is next to impossible to bring a case against a Dr or hospital, It must be that the insurance likes the money so much they don't want to lower the malpractice premiums, or is it that their ARE so many cases that are legitimate and have to be paid out on. I realize that there are people out there that just look for any reason to sue to get money but there are just as many that are doing it because they deserve to be compensated. My daughter has tried to hold down a job but has gone through several and unfortunately because of missing work due to her health issues can not do it, which only ads to her depression and feelings of self worth, and any good Dr would say that the stress and worry she feels only makes her abdominal issues worsen. She does see a therapist and they still haven't gotten her medication on track for the severity of her issues, I don't feel that they fully grasp how long and how severely she has been affected by all the poor medical service that has happened in her life, and she has even changed therapist, we just keep hoping that one time we will find the right Dr and the right therapists that can grasp this mess. The original Dr Hughes was very much at fault but even more so the worst offender of all in this drama was the ED or ER and as I stated I had a very good private insurance that ended up paying for this horrid experience!

Our med system is so broken, and by the way, that is a quote from an RN here in Bangor , there needs to be some serious changes.

My daughter payed much more than a monetary price for her visit to the ED/ER as well as I !!! WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD?

The feeling of helplessness in this type of situation is overwhelming, and the long term...well, trust in the medical community is completely broken after suffering a domino effect of blunders that should never have happened.

I agree that opening up the insurance markets here in Maine for competition would be a better choice also the state does need to pay off their mainecare/medicare debts to the health care facilities because it does sound as though some of them are struggling without those backlog of payments due to them, and if the government does take over the health care (make it national) what is going to change? They cant even keep up with the services they provide now accurately. There should be a lot of research done on this, like someone said, see how the other countries are handling the nationalized health care system and not just how the GOVERNMENT is doing with it most important of all how the PATIENTS care is handled in this arena. I am so so sad to think that this research has not already been done, or if it has, have the findings been made public? The research also needs to be fair, balanced and without bias, is that something that is even obtainable if the government is involved, will we get the TRUE facts to all the avenues that could be used in making our health care system work for ALL fellow Americans?? Or is this whole idea to try and get affordable health care for all just a pipe dream...

When the government bureaucrats set all doctors' salries at $75,000, everyone will be able to endure the same substandard of care that your daughter has experienced.

So it is all about the salary they get not the healthcare they give to their fellow human beings?

I commend Sen. Snowe on a number of counts. First, by hosting this healthcare forum and listening to all sides of the debate, she has provided a valuable role model for elected officials across the country. Second, she seems to understand that our healthcare "system" is not sustainable in its present form. Finally, she has the courage to publicly acknowledge that the best solution may be one that puts her at odds with her colleagues in Congress. Bravo, Sen. Snowe! As a single-payer advocate in Pittsburgh, PA, I salute you!

Nattybell,

The 8 plus years of school cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Add 3-6 years of Residency and you're in your 30's before you earn the first nickle back. Work 80 hrs a week for years and lose your first spouse to divorce because there's no time for them. If you want the best people, they have to me compensated for they earn every penny.

Are you nice and cozy there in La La land?

How about the government health care include ALL ELECTED officials....in other words, your health coverage under this government plan, Ms Snow, would be no different than mine! I am assuming the contributions would be adjusted according to an individuals' income. Would the Congress and the House pass such a fair and equitable bill???

Very funny....If you read the earlier story from me on here We ie my daughter and I are in ANYTHING but LA LA land Captainandy. I was not nessesarily agreeing with the idea of caping your salaries but am more interested in finding a way to get the healthcare system that we need. The Drs that worked on my daughter didnt have capped salaries and where did that get us? The story I had is just one of many and I am all for you and anyone else in the medical service area putting their collective heads together to come up with a solution to the troubling trend that is taking place as we speak.

What are your solutions to this problem that we are facing?

I can see that you are very bitter...well so am I, just for different reasons but both involve the medical system and its far reaching tentacles.

If you are that bitter about your work and if you are practicing medicine as a Dr then perhaps you should change professions. I don't see that you could be a compassionate or truly caring physician if you do truly feel this way about your life. I have had more than my share of dealing with uncaring Drs over the span of my daughters life thus far or worst yet the Drs that have the "God" complex and in the end were wrong, only to have their patients end up in emergency surgery.

By the way I have worked jobs that have made my work week 6 even 7 days a week and up to 70 or more hours, and i did it while suffering with osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia and a sick daughter........la la land.....that's almost funny...but NOT

Seems that your loss of your marraige was something that should have been prevented, did she not beleive all the facts about a Drs life and the sacrifices that would be required for the first number of years? Or perhaps she was one of those women that just wanted to say she was a Drs wife and saw $ signs, I think she was the one in La La land....