Interesting! I grow my own organic garden, and when shopping in the market buy organic foods and "no growth hormones or antibiotic treated" meats as often as I can..... why? Because there are many studies that show that the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, growth hormones etc can cause cancer (and a myriad of other potential health issues).
My brother, bless his heart, states that the move towards organic is going to kill millions of people, in that more crops are lost, the growing season is lengthened, the animals can't be sent to slaughter as quickly.... in other words: It's cheaper to use the chemicals. Farmers (subsidized, I might add), the major conglomerate corporate food companies (Green Giant, Bird's Eye, Hormel etc) are making more money by using cheap chemicals, which is making us sicker, which brings us to the doctor more often....... blah blah..... you get the point. Even if we want to take responsibility for our well being, we are sabotaged once again by the ranks.

I hope you don't think the only patients in need of health reform are abusers of the system. Certainly the abusers are doing just fine the way things are. As a self employed individual, I am 100% responsible to pay my over inflated health insurance costs. Why are they over inflated? Because the big companies negotiate contracts with the insurers and get group rates. I don't have that privilege. I pay $249/month for a policy that has a $3000 deductible before they kick in a cent. I do not abuse my right to see a physician; prior to contracting Lyme Disease earlier this spring, I only saw my doctor for an illness maybe once every 3 years. This year to get (so far) 5 months of antibiotics (cheap old one; Doxycycline) I have paid $2988 for insurance which kicked in after I paid $3000. At this point insurance has paid just over $200; I have paid $5988.
I say our health system needs help, and I resent anyone who states it's all fine and dandy just because they aren't in my shoes, or the shoes of millions just like me.

While I'm on my bandwagon, prior to becoming self employed I worked for a major corporate health care system. I saw first hand how the CEO, CFO, Director of Medical Affairs et al turned good doctors into one's that are expected to "produce" (order every test under the sun, make sure they look in your ear when you come in for a sprain etc so they can bill a higher level of service), or they (the docs) don't get decent raises next fiscal year. Their salary is now based on how much money they bill! And the drug companies? Used to be they courted the docs to prescribe their medications; now they spend millions courting us via tv and magazine ads telling us to tell our docs we need " put your tv med here".

My mom suffered from debilitating Rheumatoid Arthritis prior to her death (rest in peace mom, I think about you every day), and there was only one medication that helped her get through the day. Neither Medicare nor her private insurance provider would pay for it, so she paid $1000/month out of pocket to get through her day. She was on Social Security and a small pension from her 40 plus years as a clerical worker.

This is a really big factor in where my vote goes, and I bet you can guess it's not to the trickle down party.

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