I would venture to say that Mrs. Clinton has been running for president, or positioning herself to run, since 2000, when she began her campaign for United States Senator. Quite a number of us were already aware of her aspirations then, but we were conservatives and libertarians. Now the awareness of Mrs. Clinton's eight-year campaign for the Oval Office is penetrating the heads of Democrats...and it makes them more than a little uneasy.

Of course, it doesn't help much that the polls show her to be a probable loser in November, either. The Democrats don't nominate Goldwaters hoping for Reagans sixteen years hence.

This seems so 1994 and something she probably said to meetings at the White House to the staff.

"I am Hillary. I know better. Do not argue with me. Any questions?"

The raw emotion from many politicians is a humble but power hungry vibe.

With Hillary it is an almost medieval royalty where is afraid that the power could be taken from her so she demands absolute subjugation by her lessers.

That is what scares me about Hillary.

I have to take issue with you concerning "the best health care system in the world".

- In December, I was visiting the U.S., had a pain in my foot, and (not having a regular doctor), had no choice other than visiting an emergency room. After listening to a lot of screaming & yelling in the reception, I was eventually received, registered, and treated. It took a few hours.

Unfortunately, I had a recurrence a couple of weeks later, and had to go through the same procedure.

Cost? According to their normal principles, I would have been charged about $600 for the first visit and about $350 for the second, which took less time.

However, due to some administrative screw-ups, I was actually charged a lot less for the first visit (no complaint!); and a bit less for the second. Total: about $550.

Why? Basically, because I had no U.S. insurance, but had purchased travel-insurance in Germany. So I could pay the hospital upfront instead of having them deal with a U.S. insurance company. The fact that I was paying them upfront gave me an automatic reduction (about 20%) in the bill.

The greater reduction in the first case was due to the mistake that, when I told them I had no U.S. insurance, they over-interpreted that to mean that I had no insurance at all - and they gave me a further 40% reduction in the price.

What that tells me is that the "normal patient with insurance" is paying about 50% more, to cover the fact that about 50% of the patients in an emergency-room setting have no insurance.

So, except for those folks who are actually turned away from treatment, everybody's expenses are covered somehow - but not necessarily by their own payments. Kind of sounds like insurance, doesn't it? But not a very transparent one, and not one that includes the right incentives for optimization.

Coming back to Germany, I had a scheduled appointment for a skin problem. I did have to schedule it a month in advance, and I did have to wait an hour to see the doctor. However, once in, I had a thorough treatment, which cost me about $15 in co-payment: This co-payment is good for the next 3 months, so I can see a doctor everyday for the next 3 months without paying for the visits (aside from extra tests, etc.). Prescriptions will of course be extra. I paid the $15 (to be exact, it was 10 euro) upfront, and I will never hear from the insurance company about anything else.

I have normal German health insurance, nothing special, which everyone (even on welfare) gets; people who want special features can get "private" health insurance, which may cost less or may cost more, depending on your age, marital status, etc. It's not cheap, and it's sometimes not fast, but it is a "no worries" approach to health care. For most people, I think it's a far better approach than what is available in the U.S.

Sounds like she's still hoping to get an endorsement from Edwards.

I agree that we have the best health care in the world (I would not go anywhere else for treatment) but I do believe that we have serious problems with the 'system'. The comments by the person from Germany highlight some of these problems.

Treatment facilities often do what was described, namely, overcharging patients who have resources (insurance or personal) to offset costs to treat patients who have none. Parenthetically, many of the indigent patients are illegals who choose to use the very expensive option of emergency facilities for routine matters.

I have personal experience where utterly outrageous charges were presented to Medicare by a hospital and were promptly paid without question. Since this was in Arizona, I suspect these charges covered quite a number of treatment visits by illegals.

In any event, we Americans certainly need a number of improvements in how we administer healthcare. Hilliarycare is not the solution. I dare say Obama's is not either, although his proposal is not as bad as hers. We need to elect a Republican and then we need to look at market mechanisms to improve offerings and performance by health insurers and Medicare. We can do a lot without resorting to the kinds of measures being proposed by Democrats.

Neal

Just curious, but since it wasn't an emergency and you were willing to pay upfront, why didn't you go to urgent care rather than the ER?

Darleen, that is a good question for Neal. I completely overlooked that even though I mentioned illegals inappropriate use of emergency facilities.

I looked at the leaflet closely, and as political leaflets go, it's innocuous. Just run of the mill criticism.

Seriously. Her anger in this matter seems personal, even visceral. As though the ad had awoken some past, suppressed memory that she hasn't quite resolved.

Strange, that...

Darleen & Bob Thomas,

In the neighborhood I was visiting (Oakland, California), there wasn't any difference between "urgent care" and "ER".

I was visiting another local hospital for a happier event (a 0th birthday!), and that was where they suggested I go.

Apparently, there is some difference in facilities or cost or insurance reimbursement in some places; but these are not relevant for Oakland, California.

In Germany, it would have been 10 EUROs out of pocket - total for both visits. Of course, you pay for the insurance, if you have a job; but you don't, if you don't. Everybody is covered. Period.

By the way, just to "rub in the salt":

As I mentioned, the travel insurance company covered 100% of the bills I paid in the U.S.

Now, you should know that everyone in Germany is absolutely paranoid about not being insured, so everybody buys travel insurance for leaving Germany. The result? It's very cheap.

I pay $15 EUROs per year for travel insurance.

So, for 4 years, I got no benefit, so I "wasted" 60 EURO. And the 5th year, I got my U.S. medical bill (about 400 EUROs) paid off.
Negative: 75 EURO. Positive: 400 EURO.

I think I got a pretty good deal.