The private health care market is not free. Keeping the transaction between the doctor and the patient is a fiction. The individual does not have medical training, and can not make an informed choice. The individual can not deal with corporations, which have too much power. That power must be mediated by an entity strong enough to prevent the abuse that is so prevalent. The ONLY entity that can do this is government. The republican who want to shrink government to the size that fits in a bathtub and then drown it can NOT be appeased, which is what bipartisanship has come to mean. Corporations are NOT people, and I have not heard of a "good corporate citizen" in a long time. Democrats need to get a spine and proceed to act in the common good. The public option is a MUST.

We desperately need Health Care for all in the US. It is costing the US far more (over $8000)per person for health care than anywhere in the western world. The high salaries of executives and prominent high employment companies (e.g. automakers) where health care has been a part of the salary package have contributed to the health care problem for all Americans. When those jobs have gone away, they no longer have health care. We need a system that cares for the health care of the nation. With records established that help medical professionals work with patients, health care can be improved nationwide and more preventive measures introduced. This must be a universal care system that covers all citizens and workers in the US.

Single Payer is getting a lot of support from the National Physicians Association to a majority of Americans at 59%. It does not matter what it is called, but the insurance companies have to get out of it. They are taking 30% as their gravy and they serve not other purpose. Can we not migrate displaced workers in the insurance industry to the new single payer system? People are not talking specific numbers as in how many insurance industry employees would be displaced by single payer and how many jobs will a single payer system create? That President Obama has decided to "take single payer off the table" is inappropriate since it has such overwhelming support. We need to be debating this anywhere and everywhere we can or we'll be mandated to buy our health insurance like our car insurance and, remember, the cars need smog checks every two years -- what happens if they don't pass? Leaving insurance companies in the game and forcing us to supply their 30% gravy for our "right to live" is subhuman. Look at the rest of the industrialized world. Are we in the minority on the concept of the right to live?

Does Healthcare Reform include evaluating the Medi-care system to address the health needs of the baby boomers which may be different from our parents due to the environment that we will grow old in and the quality of food that we are eating.

I wish to "uplift" you and Mr. President for your hardwork and foresight in pushing this program for our children and their families.

Single payer is the cost effective solution. Meanwhile, read Shannon Brownlee's "Overtreated".It's long past the time for the USA to join the rest of the industrialized world and move immediately to Universal Health Care for all!

More attention needs to be paid to a single-payer system for everyone like that proposed in HR 676. Profit making corporations (other than professional corporations of doctors) should be banned from health care. That includes insurance companies! Return health care to the world of non-profits.

The White House Health Care Summit is the first step to addressing the health care needs and affordability of related services for all Americans. In the past and at times even now far too many topics of discussion relating to health care is who will front the bill? Who should be eligible and who should not? Or sadly, why should I care if it does not really affect me or my family? Now is the time to find a solution, not bring forth more questions which could utimately lead to more delays. This is a crisis that affects every man, woman and child in America. A crisis that none of us can afford to let continue. In regards to ensuing the importance of health coverage for every child this year and years to come I believe we all need to be advocates for our children. It is actually very simple, we all must do our part to ensure our children have healthy minds and strong bodies that they might one day contribute to the successful governing of this country, this nation, this earth. I applaud our President. I applaud all those who attended the summit. I applaud Marian Wright Edelman, The Children's Defense Fund for the continued advocacy of all children.

I am disappointed that there was no representation of clinicians who are working "in the trenches" of providing health care day-to-day every week actually seeing and treating patients and dealing with the multiplicity of third-party payors. I have practiced medicine since 1971, and I have experienced the military health care system, CHAMPUS, the VA system, the uninsured, the pre-managed care/managed cost system, HMOs, PPOs, all of the MCOs, Medicare, Medicaid, and TennCare. It is unfortunate that none of those invited to particate were people who see 20-30 real live patients every day. Academicians, administrators, executive directors, and think tankers do not have a grasp of the real world and the realities of the uninsured, the underinsured, and those living in low wealth communities. I agree that a national health plan is the only moral, economically feasible alternative to the mismanaged care of for-profit systems.

It is time for National Health Insurance. The burden on businesses to insure employees has become cost prohibitive as well as discouraging to entrepreneurs who want to start their own buisness. I don't think socialized medicine is better than capitalistic medicine; however capitalistic medicine is crisis medicine for those who cannot pay. The poor only use the healthcare system when they are desparate. Many individuals who are currently on Medicare use the Emergency Department for a source of primary care becasue physicians turn patients away who are on Medicare. National Health insurance would allow everyone to receive prevetive care, not just crisis care. It it morally and ethically appropriate for every individual to receive health care and it should be an individual's right.

While I certainly support the effort to get all children covered, we need to get EVERYONE covered. I am deeply saddened that an attempt was made to keep single payer advocates from participating in this summit. The fact that the insurance companies that have caused the enormous problems we face--particularly by driving up costs--are given such deference is inexcusable.

Whenever the illusion called money or profit is included in the essential simple rights of mankind, mankind has lost . To not care for the sick and maintain the health of every person is a anti- life . Those in power do not respect or have a soul -spirit to care and share . History has showed all of us this fact.

It appears that pressing issues out weigh personal agendas.Change for the better has finally arrived

it is so heartening to finally have a president who "Gets" it, as one of those many people who have lost their job and therefor the insurance i know something needs to happen and soon...

Its about time for every one to have healthcare, I sure hope we will see it by the end of this year or next year.

Will the Health care plan cover all American are we suppose to pay for all of the illegals in this country now. With our country in bad finacial condition I do not think our governemnt should allow for this to cover them. When they say all of the children I think this is a mans for our government to give the illegals to get free health care. Though we are already paying for them free health care which is a rip off. They get more free benefits than we do.

It's long past the time for the USA to join the rest of the industrialized world and move immediately to Universal Health Care for all!

I'm afraid our health care system may suffer in the long run expecially when you consider that a number of Canadians including Michael Moore's relatives have come here for health care.

I watched the Health Summit and I was pleased to see you there representing the children of our nation. As a citizen of New Orleans, additional health care services is drastically needed. I pray that with the full cooperation of everyone we can look beyond politics and do the correct thing for millions of americans. Please keep us informed and let us know what ordinary citizens can do to help.

The following examples makes me question what people are doing for Health Care: 1) A friend of mine had Open Heart surgery and his Hospital bill was $114,000, 2) another fried had a knee replacement procedure, cost $50,000, 3)Myself - a 3 day visit for various $15,000. Fortunately, we had some form of Health Insurance! Question? What would we have done without Health Insurance; and what are the millions doing who do not have some form of Health Care? Health Care along with the Economy are two of the Main Issues this New Administration must deal with in order to be considered sucessful. My prayers are with them and the Nation.

Firstly, how can "every dollar deliver value", as Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO suggested, when they are passing those dollars off to investors? Investors need to get out of the system. Their fortune-making off of others misfortunes should not be permitted in the health care system. Secondly, it seemed the General Mills CEO was basically saying --let us businesses be the gatekeepers of health care so we can harness all these people in to work for us -- "we corporations will be "the hand that feeds" -- and then the workers will be afraid to leave us because how else are they going to get adequate care. I do not want Insurance Companies, nor Businesses to be the gatekeepers of health care -- I want a health care system owned fully by the Public. I appreciated what Bryon Dorgan said -- we do not all agree that a for profit system is the most efficient. (I couldn't see the rest of meeting because internet was glitching out on me.)

WE need a single payer system tht will cover all people in the United States. Health Care must be separated from employers to make industry more viable and to enable all people to be covered regardless of employment. Money saved on administration can pay for many of the uninsured. Harriet Feiner hfeiner@nyc,rr,com

The responsibility for a child's welfare and health lies with the family, not with the government as baby-sitter. If more of you would encourage good health, healthy living and eating, exercise, and more activity, and allow less of the types of activity that leads to poor health, visits to the doctor for a runny nose, etc., perhaps health care costs would diminish. I agree reform is necessary, but not by the ineffective hand of government.

You are an arogant fool, if you think YOU know how take care of my health better than I. Please take your marxist ideas to Europe where they belong. I am glad to be away from thier pitiful systems. You are ruining America with your socialist agenda.

First of all I want to comment on the fabulous job our President is doing. He has shown great leadership in his first 50 days in office. He has surrounded himself with hard working committed people and together they have tackled the big issues head on. On the summit, what would we be saying to the world if we could not as a nation come together-across party lines-and address something as vital as the health and well being of our children and their families? This summit made me think about the momentum this current Cabinet and Congress has been making in the last 50 days. They have opened up a dialogue that seemed to have been closed for the last 16 years. Keep the pace and you will win! As a nation we will win in the end. Go President Obama:)

Please, it must be in a form that the GOP cannot simply trash when they are returned to office someday. And, we know that they will. This health care plan must be durable, and not contingent upon re-vote down the road.

Thank you Marianne, Wow to see all the professionals in one room and reach across the table to make health care insurance available for all children. Marianne you are making a dream come true for retired grandparents raising grandchildren. Our fear is that the children would go without insure or could we every retire because we had our little ones on our insurance.

No one represented a single payer point of view. Why wasn'tJohn Conyers there to talk about what we really need. He has had a bill in Congress for years now. With no traction. Why? The people should have what the President and Congress have--real single payer health care.

Here's something that probably wasn't discussed at the Summit - I recently heard Dr. Bernie Siegel (“Love, Medicine and Miracles”) speak and he mentioned an interesting study from Harvard on the power of love. It concluded that 25% of those people who felt loved as a child experienced a major health issue by mid-life. But of those who did not feel loved as a child, 100% of them experienced a major health issue by mid-life. Wow - making sure all children feel loved would cut our health care costs by 75%!

As a sociologist who spent years studing the American health care system, I was disappointed. In an attmpt to please most, I fear the President (who I worked for) will fail. Only by eliminating the role that the for profit insurance industry plays can we dramatically reduce current administrative costs and reap huge savings. We cannot save real money until we do this. Moreover, saving money in a market system, of necessity, will reduce quality and stratify access by shapping the kind of insurance one "choses" to buy. There is a bill that will fix all of these problems and save money, HR 676. But no one is talking abouit it. It has been cast aside without giving it a fair evaluation. For Shame! Sue Fisher

Glad to know that Marianne Wright Edelman is involved in advocating for children and families. I had hoped to hear her comments on the website.

Marion: I was absolutely delighted to see you sitting there right behind President Obama!!! Yes, the summit was very promising but the real work is ahead. I agree with you that we MUST bottom-line universal health care THIS YEAR!!!

RE: Healthcare Reform Plan Dear Mariam, I am a concerned American advocating for healthcare reform. I would like to direct your attention to HEALTHCARE for ALL AMERICANS: Healthcare Crisis USA–A Comprehensive Solution. The book was published in 2007 by Vantage Press, Inc., New York, NY. It was written by a physician who practiced in the different fields of medicine from 1963 till he retired in 2005. This initiative provides a comprehensive universal healthcare coverage that is portable, continuous, easily accessible and user–friendly. It offers the patient the freedom to choose and a provider the independence to practice his/her profession. It is neither a single–payer nor a government take–over. Here is a quote from Bookwatch reviewer Mr. Michael J. Carson: “A close study of the pros and cons of the systems in Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan reveals positive options that America can put together to form a greatly improved system for ensuring that sick people get treated properly. Tactics for implementing this new system are also discussed, in this thoughtful, well–reasoned proposal for a solid solution to America’s healthcare problems.” The basic concept of the proposed healthcare plan is as follows: The federal government collects and consolidates into a single Healthcare Security Fund (HSF) all the moneys EARMARKED for healthcare expenditures from the various branches of the federal government e.g. Medicare, Medicaid, etc.; state government health expenditures for the indigents; employer’s contribution to the health benefits of employees; and the present personal contribution of individual’s/family’s to his/her/their healthcare coverage. The federal government then disburses the HSF fund to all States on a PER CAPITA basis after retaining 5% for administrative cost, medical education and R&D. The HSF fund recipient State also retains 5% of the allocated HSF fund to the State for the same purposes as above; the remaining 95% is used to buy healthcare coverage for all the State citizens from private insurance companies, managed healthcare organizations, etc. using a 2–STEP–BIDDING process. The 2–step–bidding process is conducted at the different counties of the State. The winning health insurance company then provides the healthcare coverage for all the citizens in the county as it is presently handled today. To facilitate efficiency and easy access of the health system citizens are issued a National Health ID Card that is presented to his/her chosen health provider anywhere in the USA . Billing transaction is between the provider and the health insurance although the patient is furnished a copy of the bill immediately after the visit. I will appreciate your and your staff’s taking the time to evaluate its merits, and ultimately, to promote it as the better alternative to the ones currently being proposed by President Obama. Thank you for your consideration. I hope you will help and support this proposed health plan. Respectfully, Nelson A. Paguyo, M.D. PS: I will be glad to email you a more detailed summary of the proposed healthcare plan if you can provide me an email address I can attach documents.

I was struck by the generally positive attitude of the participants. Maybe, just maybe, we shall see a new concensus emerge that will clear up this costly and annoying problem.

All Americans need health care. It can't contunue to be tied to employment. Lost your job, loose your health insurance and you may loose your health or life.

This is not a bipartisan issue-this is an issue of the American people. The continuing concept of "affordable" health care should not even be on the table. We need single payer, no ifs ands or buts. Affordable will, if not mandatory, still leave many out in the cold with no health care or insufficient health care due to issues in insurance. If mandated coverage comes into being ala Massachusetts, we will still have people deciding between health insurance and other life essentials. If we continue to allow insurance companies to be the gatekeepers of our health process, we will remain the losers in this process and will end up right back here in the near future. Why spend the money in this economy for a half way fix? We do not need the insurance companies in our health care process. We do not need to continue confusing health insurance with health care. Who you going to feed? Your family or your health insurance provider?

I disagree with the comment below about having the ins.industry represented. In my position working in a mangaged care dept of a large NY mental health agency dealing with some 25 companies it is clear to me that reform at this level is essential. Someone on the panel noted the need for administrative simplicity. I agree. Until such time that there is someone who can dicate some industry wide uniformity regarding ease of treatment authorization and reimbursement for services rendered, providers will continue to spend inordinate amounts of time on both resulting in the need for increased office staff, loss of income and in many cases a decision to opt out of problematic plans. The end result of this leaves those plan members with the need to find other providers and with fewer quality choices in their provider pool.

wow hopefully it just feel good talk but real action ! only time will tell.

I am deeply appreciative of President Obama's vision and determination to not only initiate collaborative communication betwen major stakeholders but also to publicly introduce them to the American people via the health reform summit. I am equally grateful to and thankful for the steadfast leadership of Marian Wright Edelman and the Children's Defense Fund; especially when the children's health legislation was twice vetoed by the Bush Administration. As a health care provider, it saddens me to know that while there are children in this country who go to school hungry on daily basis and are without access to comprehensive quality health care services, too often the U.S. boasts of its wealth and military might. With health care reform, equitable health care services for everyone can be realized - our children deserve nothing less. It is my prayer that with health care reform we can, perhaps, in the future boast about the strength of our compassion towards humanity and this world. We can do better. This summit is certainly a GIANT step in the right direction. I am deeply appreciative of President Obama's vision and determination to not only initiate collaborative communication betwen major stakeholders but also to publicly introduce them to the American people via the health reform summit. I am equally grateful to and thankful for the steadfast leadership of Marian Wright Edelman and the Children's Defense Fund; especially when the children's health legislation was twice vetoed by the Bush Administration. As a health care provider, it saddens me to know that while there are children in this country who go to school hungry on daily basis and are without access to comprehensive quality health care services, too often the U.S. boasts of its wealth and military might. With health care reform, equitable health care services for everyone can be realized - our children deserve nothing less. It is my prayer that with health care reform we can, perhaps, in the future boast about the strength of our compassion towards humanity and this world. We can do better. This summit is certainly a GIANT step in the right direction.

I watched President Obama summarize the summit that was held last week, and the different stakeholders that were present. I am very impressed with the way that he conducts himself, and how swiftly he is moving on a lot of his promises that he made while on the campaign trail. If Health Care isn't tackled and reformed during his administration, then I am afraid it never will be. I like the fact that he brings everyone to the table. This is long overdue. Not only is he a brillant man, he is also a "Breath of Fresh Air." He motivates me everytime I listen to him. My thoughts and prayers are with President Obama. Although he was left with a mess to clean up, however, I am confident that he will succeed in spite of some people wanting him to fail. How Sad! Keep A Stiff Upper Lip.

It is hard to believe that any adult fails to realize that the children are our future. Healthy children produce more healthy adults able to live productive tax paying lives. Healthier children become better educated more responsible adults. It is so simple it is hard to believe that all do not accept the value of the investment.

The ONLY Healthcare program that is going to cover ALL children and Adults is Single Payer HR676. Please contzct your Representives and ask them to support HR676 HEALTHCARE FOR ALLL!

So GLAD you were able to be there! You've worked so hard for this as have many of us. As a public school nurse, I daily see the desperate need for available, affordable health care for our children and parents too. One question - were there any nurses there??

I am pleased that the President is addressing healthcare costs. My husband had a serious illness and was hopitalized for several weeks. His costs were out of sight. Thank goodness we had insurance or we would be in a world of hurt. I don't know how people survive. Our out of pocket and deductibles have hurt us some but we would never have been able to pay for his care out of our pockets.

I believe this is a firm early step in the right direction. But the journey is long and we must be vigilant!

I too thought the summit was promising. There seemed to be involvement from a broad cross-section of persons related to health issues and health care, and this is important for actually moving reform forward. I was especially pleased that Marian Wright Edelman was involved because I agree so deeply with the emphasis on caring for children as a way of ensuring the health and welfare of the future of the country.

A SINGLE-PAYER system is the only COST-EFFECTIVE and FAIR system that can affort to COVER EVERYONE. It would eliminate health insurance companies entirely, because they rip off 24% of our health dollars but provide no health services. All other modern industrial democracies have SINGLE-PAYER systems -- and they produce better health for their people. The insurance companies make profits by refusing to pay for services that people need, and they waste our money with redundant paperwork, advertising, and high executive salaries. ELIMINATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES ENTIRELY -- AND USE THE SAVINGS TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL COVERAGE IN A SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM. Think of it as "Medicare for Everyone"!

It is unconscionable that single payer health care - the only real solution to our health care crisis - was effectively eliminated from this "summit." The inclusion of two token single payer supporters (in comparison to a multitude of insurance company and HMO representatives) was an afterthought forced by the activism of the progressive community. One only has to look at the "summary" led by the President which did not even mention single payer, but was almost obsequious in its deference to right wing ideologues. I am not encouraged by this summit. I am also not encourgaged by the President's reliance on the adivice of "Zeek" Emanuel, who would get rid of Medicare and Medicaid, instead of giving a highly improved Medicare to every single person in this country, child or adult. Matt Shapiro President New Jersey Tenants Organization

Glad the summit began early in the Obama administration; health care reform and health care for all Americans is truly a requirement of an advanced society. Preventative care for the young and advanced care for all.

Why is the single-payer plan (the only cost-effective, efficient plan) not even represented? Get rid of the insurance companies - they're in the way and unnecessary.

I followed the hearings on CSPAN. I was pleased with so many coming together with a focus an arriving at a consensus for some form of Universal Health care. I feel slightly disturbed that there was on representation for representation for advocates for a Single Payer Plan (even thought ther were individual advocates there.) Many advocacy groups were there ans espoused their interests. Why did President Obama not invite a group that advocates Single Payer? Is he too concerned that such a group would be too "left' leaning?? I was personally disappointed.

I am deeply appreciative of the President Obama's vision and determination to host a health care reform summit that not only fosters collaborative communication but also introduces many of the major stakeholders to the American people. I am equally grateful to and thankful for the leadership provided by Marion Wright Edelman and the Children's Defense Fund; especially when the children health bill was twice vetoed by the previous administration. It is an enormous undertaking to actively fight the war against poverty, which includes, but is not limited to, equal access for everyone to quality health care services. Nonetheless, it is a battle that we must fight if there is to be any hope of providing a better future for our children. As a health care provider, it is disturbing to care for families who are continually left out and isolated from equitable access to health care services in a country that frequently boasts of its wealth and military might. With the possibilty of health care reform becoming a reality, there is also the possibility that the US will, perhaps, one day boast about the strength of their compassion for humanity and the world in which we live. We can do better than we have done before...the summit is certainly a GIANT step in the right direction.

Thank you for beginning the task ahead. Preventive care is the most important part of an excellent health care system. While emergency surgery is more challenging or exciting, much of it would be unnecessary if the patient had been taken care of and educated in her own care ahead of time. Medicare only pays for mammograms once every two years, for example. The Medicare D drug program leaves a gap where a patient, untreated due to the cost of prescriptions, may become seriously ill and have to be hospitalized, which would be much more expensive, or even die. Prevention and routine care, maybe boring, is a major ingredient t we don't have now.

Single payer is the cost effective solution. Meanwhile, read Shannon Brownlee's "Overtreated".

I found it uplifting. In addition, I got a sense that those with various reservations recognise that we have come to a time where, in addition to the popularity of President Obama, there is an upswell of feeling among the American people that we must fix our health care system that they, those with reservations, will resist at their own peril. I do suspect that whatever they devise, it will ultimately lead to a one-payer system.

I didn't get to hear the summit as it was going off and on but my opinion is based on not HealthCare but WellNess of which I think hasn't been addressed at all ? I'm a retired pharmacist of 40 years and a vegetarian for 20 years and the cheapest way to attack illness is with a WellNess attitude as right now we really have a "SickCare" system and waiting for someone to get SICK will be more than 10 times using a preventative approach of nutrition and the education of our children to teach them how to eat healthy foods as it's our "IMMUNE system" that keeps us well and NOT prescription DRUGS but good healthy food and exercise etc. So please President Obama know what we want that would be much less expensive as our pharmaceutical industry is out of wack as they haven't discovered anything in these last 40 years that's CURED anything and all they are interested in is keeping us on more & more prescription medicine to make us feel a little better until we die from either the DRUGS or some other medical mistake as it's a for "PROFIT ONLY" system now as the CEO of Pfizer said on 60 minutes years ago when he was asked why there weren't any NEW antibiotics being researched but answered it takes too long and it's too expensive and there's not enough PROFIT in it AMEN plus get rid of or CHANGE the FDA back to a CONSUMER GROUP that protects US & NOT the industry plus STOP ALL DRUG MEDIA ADVERTISING NOW as they are the BIGGEST LOBBYIST in CONGRESS - SHAME on US !!! Dr. John F. Ingrassia DPh-retired

The only reason health insurance companies have a seat at the table is that congress likes to dance with the elephant in the living room that no one addresses. We need both publicly funded campaigns and heath care.

How can CDF betray its ideals in such a gross manner, by letting companies profit from illness? They should have to have a bake sale to pay their CEO perks! Children's Health Care could be provided to ALL children with money that now only pays for some. Time to move beyond the Insurance companies that benefit from CHIP and go back to the original mission -- give children health care, not health insurance!

I thought that it moved the concern into the lime light. The task will be to formulate something of substance to include all people in the health care system.

Why were the insurance companies at the table? They are the problem--live vampirs--blood suckers. We need a single payer system with limited insurance company involvement such as in Germany. They get maximum of 3 to 5 percent for management of the system. If that is not profitable enough let them find other sources of business. These businesses must bid and compete to manageme the health plan. They are consuming too must of our GNP. Lawmakers/politicians who receive campaign contributions from these companies must not involve themselves in the process--involement is tantamount to a conflict of interest. Single payer relieves employers of the burden of having to maintain health coverage for their employees. This parasitic (sp) industry squanders our health care dollars by paying out millions to gatekeepers to prevent patients from getting the card they need. Saw this in Congressional Hearings about 12--18 months ago. Such practice is disgraceful in our country.

I believe single-payer health care offers the best long-term solution to providing cost-efficient, quality care to all families. And by the way, I am hoping that Marianne Wright Edelman will continue to be heard by the Obama administration on this and other matters related to children and families.

I have a deep sadness in my heart for I feel that insurance companies have already won. Instead of coming to the summit championing Single Payer Universal Health care, Obama came already compromised to acquiesce to keeping insurance companies in the mix. We had to mobilize and force him to allow Conyers to attend along with one other advocate of HR 676. 2 voices for USPHC and 100 voices against. unless we get rid of privately funded healthcare we will still lag behind the rest of the developed world on providing healthcare to its citizens. People before profit. Just say NO to private insurance companies.

I am in favor or a single payer plan for all.

Yes, the summit was promising. As always I appreciate our wonderful new President's clarity on this and other issues. Much aloha to Marian Wright Edelman and her unceasing advocacy for children now and over many years. I am very optimistic that children will be covered universally. I am concerned that single payor health care may not get the hearing that it deserves. If we are truly going to save on costs of health care, the insurance companies incur the cost that can be dropped without sacrificing quality of care. In these times, this MUST be considered, however difficult. Finally, a point of view that many may not be aware of. The CDC study "Adverse Cildhood Experiences" shows fairly conclusively that abuse, neglect and other issues have a life-long impact upon individuals to chronic post traumatic stress, resulting in the most costly chronic diseases which the new Secretary cited as needing to be addressed preventively. Real prevention can only be achieved by preventing child abuse and neglect from the start-pre-natally and at birth. I am concerned that the Administration is considering only a partial approach to this through its proposed early chidhood initiative. Families at the highest risk, those often invovled in substance abuse, domestic violence or mental illness must receive services in order to assure that their children are absue free and that optimal development is promoted. Healthy Families America is designed to do this, but is not included in the child abuse prevention effort. Sincerely, Gail Breakey, Honolulu Healthy Start Program Secretary elect

Thank you for going to the summit and for your ongoing concern about the health of all our citizens. Health care is a very basic need and right. Our family's concern is that everyone needs health insurance, even if they have pre-existing conditions. My daughter has had ulcerative colitis, and she will not be able to get health insurance on her own. She will need to work for an employer who offers good health insurance, and that may not be readily available, especially in our current economy. Please campaign for health insurance for people, young and old, who have chronic illnesses, and through no fault of their own, cannot qualify for individual health insurance. Thank you for all you do! It was a personal delight to see you right behind the President as he delivered his remarks yesterday.

I did see the Health Care Summit at 5 AM on C-Span, but they didn't talk about Mental Illness, Stem Cell Research & Universal Health Care which should have been spoken to the Nations that have it so we could have better than Medicare & Medicaid. It is not so expensive & everyone in the USA could have the special care.

One idea that I didn't hear mentioned was that all of us deserve the same care, regardless of income. If we are ill, all of us can subsidize the care needed by the ill. Yes we can look for efficiencies and less care when that is truly better care, but we must end the levels of care built into our sytem for poor and less poor people. Is is unacceptable that income should determine the quality of your care when you are ill. That's why a single system of payments for all is essential to moving forward on better outcomes - not medicaid, schip, disability. What has protected and sustained the quality of care under Medicare is that is was never a system for poor people. We need Medicare for all. At a 3-6% administrative overhead, we can afford it.

Plse don't neglect this fact: The importance of universal health care to the economy is NOT just the savings for individual Americans and their families, but the absolute necessity of getting health insurance OUT of the labor-employer relationship. It has crippled our economy for years, paralyzed workers in jobs they hate, and fostered the outrages of the health insurance and pharmacy industries. All this and better health, too! It would be wonderful. Thank you. I enjoyed the live streaming video yesterday.

My sister was just diagnosed with terminal CA because they didn't catch it in time. Years ago they would do yearly chest x-rays. I guess the health insurance people decided that this was not necessary. My sister had a total knee done a year ago. If they would have done a chest x-ray they would have caught it possibly. Prevention is the name of the game.

I was distressed to see the people who had been invited to the meeting with President Obama the other day. Again, it was the same old politics to those who make the most money. Money will be saved with prevention, yes. That is not the major factor though. We need to bring down costs. It is not fair to charge a person over $200.00 to have an impacted ear irrigated by a nurses aid. Physicians shouldn't have to make as much money as they do (especially the specialists) Also the CEO's shouldn't be running the hospital if they are making as much as they are. Hospitals that I know say they are having problems meeting bills but many where I live continue to build. I want to see some workers who are bedside nurses come to the table and have a say in this! It is time to make a MAJOR overhaul in regards to our health care system. Many people can't get into their primary physicians because they physicians are booking two patients every 12 minutes. The costs of insurance is going up because the insurance industry has to take a piece of the pie.What about single payers? We don't need duplicate services in the cities. Not every hospital has to have an open heart program. In addition, there needs to be safe nurse patient ratios. Years ago nurses took care of patients that were a mix based on accuity. Now adays there are no stable patients in the hospital usually. Those patients are treated at home. Nurses are getting burned out trying to handle the acuity of their patients and end up leaving the profession too early. Furthermore, it does not take a person to obtain a doctor's degree to teach nursing. How many of these nursing instructors have recent bedside "hands on" nursing experience? Many haven't. Many older nurses would love to teach nursing but they do not have the time or money to go back and obtain a PHD to teach. In addition, many patients who are coming into urgent cares or ER do not need to be seen in ER. Patients are not taking time for their bodies to heal. They are searching for a quick fix- which many times doesn't happen. Many don't heed the advice of staying home, getting plenty or rest and increasing fluids if they are young patients. They want antibiotics so they can get back to work. It is time to get the profit out of health care. I was really disgusted to see the same old fighting for the piece of the pie with the people in the room that the news groups were interviewing. Our economy can't support the high cost of health care. It is way past time to make changes to make health care available for all the US residents. Thank you.

SINGLE PAYER! SINGLE PAYER! SINGLE PAYER! SINGLE PAYER! will we always have children being taken care of by sick and dying parents. WHO TAKES CARE OF THEM WHEN THEIR FOLKS DIE OR ARE IN MISERY. GET REAL FOR GOODNESS SAKES.

I am glad that MARIANNE, you are working for the coverage of every child in America regarding their health insurance. As a tax payer, I want to see that our taxes are spent wisely for the good our our children. BUT I AM STRONGLY AGAINST ANY OF OUR FEDERAL OR STATE TAXES BEING spent for ABORTIONS. I value the life of every unborn child from the day of its conception. PLEASE register my opposition to any reform that in any way, shape or form promotes abortion. Shalom, Rev. Richfield A. Cudal, Th. M.; D.D.

With the White House already talking compromise before the legislation is written and debate begins means there will be no truly effective health care reform in his administration. We have already blown our chances for universal health care.

Thank God we have someone in the White house who listens and who cares, and who is intelligent enough to have people like you there, Ms. Edelman! I hope President Obama listens to you on every issue!!! God bless you and barack Obama. LET"S GET RID OF GREEDY INSURANCE COMPANIES!!!!

I thought the summit was promising....so glad that Marianne Wright Edelman and others were there....know this will not be easy but remain hopeful that all children be insured in this country..

I have been an advocate of the CHIPS program since I was an ED for a multi-purpose non-profit organization in Brooklyn, NY which had 1600 employees, the majority working in the home health industry and most earning a salary at poverty level. After attending a conference in NYC, I introduced CHIPS to my employees and those eligible took advantage of the program. Since that time, I took another ED position at a multi-purpose organization in Baltimore, MD that fed over 600 people a day, including children, and introduced my social services' staff to the CHIPS program which became a regular part of the interviewing process to determine the needs of those who came to our doors for help and their eligibility for the CHIPS program and other services which we offered. I think CHIPS is a wonderful program and the concept ought to include all who live in poverty.

I was touched and so grateful to see you, Marion, right behind the President yesterday. Your lifelong dream and mine is coming to fruition with this great man and all of you standing behind him (us too). Keep leading us so wisely and we know you will let us know how we can continue to help.

The most successful government program ever devised in this country has been Social Security. The same principle must be applied to Health Care. We must remove Insurance companies from the heath care delivery system. Only a single payer (government program) and a health care system administered by heath care professionals will solve our health care crisis.

Why -O Why - do we care what insurance companies think? Why were they at the table??? We need to ouitlaw them not encourage them. Single payer is the only way to do this properly. Greed and profit have NO place in health.

It it true that there was no advocate for a single-payer plan? If so, when does such an advocate have an oppotunity to present a plan on equal footing with other presentations?

I second Ms. Edelman's endorsement of Pres. Obama's proposed public health insurance plan as a non-negotiable component of the coming reform. However, I was disappointed with the lack of equal time allocated at the summit, and to the overall reform dialoque, to a full discussion of the superior merits of a single-payer system, as outlined in HR676 by co-author and sponsor, Rep. John Conyers.

I think President Obama is right on. I am happy with his plans and the summit was especially informative. I appreciate the transparency and the opportunity to comment here. Thanks you.

It is so wonderful to see that you and CDF have been returned to a position of influence and dignity. It has been a long time. We worked together in the 1990's Blessings, Rev. Louise B Higginbotham, pastor emerita

Your timing is good. Monday I learned my friend's nephew had passed away for reasons that were PREVENTABLE because he didn't have access to quality health care. He had switched to generic drugs to manage Wilson's disease, which caused complications and ultimately his liver failed. Visit his family at http://www.remembermichaeltroy.com/ And Wednesday we launched a website to support a Walk-A-Thon to help raise funds for a 15-year-old family friend to go to the National Cancer Institute for a new drug trial. He's covered (through Medicaid I believe; but there's NO FUNDING for his mother to be with him!!!!). What mother's heart doesn't break at the thought of sending her child away, possibly to die, even if in that sending is the last possible recourse to save his life? At a budget of $50/day to cover the Ronald McDonald house and food, over a 2-month stay that's $3,000. This mother has two daughters, one a young adult, the other still in high school, trying to keep the beauty shop open while mom is so often at the hospital, and they'll have to keep things together the 2-months while she's away. These are real, hard-working Americans who believe in God and our country. Visit http://dylancrabb.wordpress.com AND DONATE!!! My heart goes out to Dylan and his family and the many Americans experiencing tragedy at the hands of a failed national health care policy. I want accountability. I want to know the ROI of Medicare, and I want to know the ROI of my private insurer. How many of my monthly premium dollars are being diverted to glass buildings, executive trips and advertising? I believe if we're going to keep a mix of private, public insurers the private insurers need to be accountable to their policy holders for maintaining a standard of care AND a standard of administrative efficiency (i.e., required public financial reporting). I also heard a plenary speaker talk recently about disintermediating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation Do you remember how we lost the tellers to ATMs, and travel agents to the Internet? It's time to disintermediate the insurance industry. We don't need them. And ABSOLUTELY it's time to decouple employers and insurers. It's squelching innovation because innovators can't put their families at risk while they start new businesses; it's creating a glass ceiling for low-income workers who are kept at 32 hours or less so their employers don't have to provide benefits; it's costing large corporations with large HR departments massive amounts in benefit administration. All of this would go away if we decoupled and disintermediated; and yes, we'd have another army of unemployed on the streets, but if we could phase in the changes and retrain the workers... I'm glad to see President Obama brought everybody together. It's time to do the hard work of hammering out a solution.

I continue to be impressed with the gentle yet firm manner in which the president is EXPECTING the people he convened to solve the problems of health care. From the reactions of those who spoke, I am hopeful that there will finally be genuine efforts to take care of this problem that has spiraled out of control, taking with it at least half of the population of the United States.

I care about only ONE thing: That we END the insane privatized health care system we have now and replace it with a single payer health care system. PERIOD. Everything I have learned about how other countries care for their citizens and how much harm OUR healthcare system does leads me to conclude that we MUST end privatized healthcare.

Anything LESS than SINGLE PAYER is a SELLOUT!!! Insurance companies OUT of healthcare!

it's simple. Give all of us the same healthcare Congress gets. if it is good enough for them It is good enough for me.

The solution to the US health care crisis is very simple. Get the for-profit insurance companies out of the system. The remedy is Medicare For All or government-provided health insurance. Everyone must be covered with no one disqualified for any reason. These single payer systems are in effect in every other developed country in the world, including our neighbor to the north.

Summits, conferences, strategy sessions, debates. Enough. It has gone on long enough. Lets get some real health care reform before I die. If the Republicans don't ant to go along leave them behind. They have stymied healthcare reform for over 20 years.

Single payer makes more sense; we've got to get rid of middlemen

What you are promoting here is Socialism Every Dollar your program extracts from the public will no longer available for them to invest in their own familiy. That is why these programs should be limited to the truly needy, not to the cheats who abuse it, as we have seen under the last attempt to expand it. Since I never had such a pleasant experience at the DMV, I can not join in any attempt to expand the reach of bureaucrats.

I believe obama was leaning toward 'singlepayer' which is the only plan that will work, I believe.

Very impressed with President Obama and how wonderfully organized it all was. I would love to see a lot of emphasis on teaching children and parents about nutrition and how to prevent disease - no accent on drugs! Natural foods and alternate medicine can save our country much suffering as well as a lot of money.

I'm excited with the upcoming reform......I have worked in the healthfield all my life and truly need this reform!!