First, it is not Obamacare, it is the Affordable Health Care Act. It is not the bill presented by the Administration, but one thet reflects a multitude of major compromises with Republicans, even if they chose not to vote in favor.

I am in favor of the Act in preference to what we have now because it would include more people and more conditions within insurance coverage, which is to the benefit of us all. And with some luck, it will reduce costs down the road. My preference, however, would be for a single payer system.

For. I don't understand why the Republicans want the majority of the country to suffer. The Democrats need to take Bob McDonnell to the Supreme Court to fight his terrible new abortion laws in Virginia also.

Handing over one sixth of our economy to the Obama Government in sheer insanity. Having bureaucrats determine the type and amount of health care treatment to be awarded to each citizen, based on age, and who knows what else , may successfully imitate the Canadian model - that's why Canadians are flocking to our shores to get medical treatment.

Over-reaching Government and usurping power, step by step, was the process employed by the Weimar Republic. Obamacare is just another nail in the coffin of our American way of life and our liberty.

Question: If, by some manipulation and abuse of executive powers, Obamacare will stay with us, who will pay the costs? The "evil rich"?

As someone who has to purchase insurance on the individual market (and sees 30% increases in premiums each year)....YES to the Affordable Health Care Act (or Obamacare). All those who oppose seem to have employer sponsered health care. They just don't realize they are one layoff away from having to see the MANY benefits of the this law that are really for the public good.

The Republicans stopped Americans from having a Public Option, which is the best way to make the private insurance companies provide fairly priced services. Until we get a Public Option, I am thrilled that President Obama and the Democrats, through the Affordable Care Act, have prevented private insurance companies from taking away our insurance under false pretexts right when we need it. It’s unconscionable what these companies have done for years!

against OBAMA CARE it has made my health insurance go up $400.00 per month
the only people who benefit are the insurance Companies this bill gave them a license to steal the CEO for United health Care made $122m last year

The "Affordable Health Care Act" is just the beginning. Do you want to have to grovel to politicians 25 years from now, begging them to not cut your precious benefits? Like voting for the candidate who promises the most "free" stuff? The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples' money. If you are old, you don't have to worry about this (unless you have kids or grandkids that you care about), but if you are young, then think about whether you want to be jumping on a 2-year waiting list for that knee surgery, or whether you want your life to be in the hands of some bureaucrat when you get cancer someday.

The only way to make healthcare more affordable is through true competition. (Perhaps start by requiring states to recognize insurance policies from other states?) If we head down the path of Obamacare, then the next step is the "public option". Folks say "hey, doesn't that mean more competition?" No, no it doesn't. It means that the federal government -- which doesn't have to turn a profit -- will undercut private insurers until it drives them completely out of business (which is the ultimate goal of this law). Once private insurers are out of business, then the federal government will have a complete monopoly on the most personal and important service in existence. And once they have that, they have YOU.

Decide whether you want to be a citizen or a groveling subject.

Definitely a no. The government is too big, is growing too fast, and has shown than any program it runs is grossly mismanaged, overpriced, and inefficient. Whether I agree with some sort of government-run healthcare is irrelevant...I just wouldn't hire our government to do it. I will agree to Act when we pay off the national debt and stop spending more than we bring in.

For the sake of argument here are the salient parts of AHCA:

Guaranteed issue and partial community rating will require insurers to offer the same premium to all applicants of the same age and geographical location without regard to most pre-existing conditions (excluding tobacco use).[18]

A shared responsibility requirement, commonly called an individual mandate,[19] requires that all persons not covered by an employer sponsored health plan, Medicaid, Medicare or other public insurance programs, purchase and comply with an approved private insurance policy or pay a penalty, unless the applicable individual is a member of a recognized religious sect exempted by the Internal Revenue Service, or waived in cases of financial hardship.[20]

Medicaid eligibility is expanded to include all individuals and families with incomes up to 133% of the poverty level along with a simplified CHIP enrollment process.[21][22]

Health insurance exchanges will commence operation in each state, offering a marketplace where individuals and small businesses can compare policies and premiums, and buy insurance (with a government subsidy if eligible).[23]

Pt2:
Low income persons and families above the Medicaid level and up to 400% of the federal poverty level will receive federal subsidies[24] on a sliding scale if they choose to purchase insurance via an exchange (persons at 150% of the poverty level would be subsidized such that their premium cost would be of 2% of income or $50 a month for a family of 4).[25]

Minimum standards for health insurance policies are to be established and annual and lifetime coverage caps will be banned.[26]

Firms employing 50 or more people but not offering health insurance will also pay a shared responsibility requirement if the government has had to subsidize an employee's health care.[27]

Very small businesses will be able to get subsidies if they purchase insurance through an exchange.[28]

Co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles are to be eliminated for select health care insurance benefits considered to be part of an "essential benefits package"[29] for Level A or Level B preventive care.[30]

Changes are enacted that allow a restructuring of Medicare reimbursement from "fee-for-service" to "bundled payments."

Additional support is provided for medical research and the National Institutes of Health.

Against - I've not seen any one denied medical care because they could not pay for it - I HAVE had my insurance deny coverage for treatments they deemed "unnecessary" or "educational". My coverage continues to shrink and my premiums continue to increase far faster than my doctor's rates have. RJ, your analysis was succinct - but what's in the OTHER 2,000-some-odd-pages that no one has read? I personally think if they want to improve life, the government should cap attorney and insurance fees

Thank you, RJ, for your post for the sake of reason and facts. I don't understand why opponents fear that the govt will have control of our health care. The Act is about accessible and affordable health insurance, not about care. Women in particular will benefit from this Act as they will no longer be subjected to discrimination by insurance companies who now make them pay higher premiums. And particularly for those in Virginia, who oppose the Act but support Gov McDonald's ultra sound bill, there is no more intrusive govt control of your care than in that bill.

As a tax paying citizen, I am for the plan the President is on. The plan the congress is on. If this new Health Care plan is the “bomb” then why do we need waivers for some companies. Either it is good enough for all of us or none of us.

Given the track record to date of government programs in general, I have no desire what-so-ever to let some bureaucrat run my healthcare. This isn’t to say the present system doesn’t have problems that need to be addressed and some reforms would be welcomed.

But I shutter when I hear someone say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Totally For. Healthcare is a minimum for everyone.

The Affordable Care Act is just the first step we need to take. There are too many people who fall bankruptcy because of a medical crisis. A simple car accident can easily lead to costs starting at $30k, which would wipe most people out.

If a person does not have access to group insurance plan, the minimum cost is $500/mo, and that is with a very high deductible. Most people in the Washington area have health insurance through employers, and are completely unaware that employer-sponsored health insurance is very low in many pockets of the country overall.

totally against. They shouldn't be able to force anyone to buy anything.

The U.S. ranks 37th in the world in quality of health care and 34th in infant mortality yet per capita costs are by far the highest. Opponents of the Affordable Health Care Act always point to the worst European example of universal health care - the U.K., as the evil poster child of socialized medicine. However, Switzerland, with a cost of living more than 40% higher than the U.S., has per capita health care costs 1/3 lower than the U.S. yet the Swiss have a health care system similar to "Obamacare," with obligatory health insurance provided by private insurers. With the possible exception of the U.K., every Western European country has better and more affordable health care than the U.S. - all with universal coverage. Universal health care in the U.S. is inevitable even if the Supreme Court votes down this version. It may have to take a different form.

having been a really poor person I know the advantages of poverty in this country. I have not been denied health care except by doctors who feel they won't be paid enough by Medicaid, (That is all the nurologists except one in 50 mile redius of my home. I will receive care, but not by just any doctor. They can refuse me. If they force people to buy Obamacare what will the doctor's fee be? Will the doctor be forced to accept patients who have this type of coverage? Will they be forced to see patients with lower payment ceilings? Will they still be able to refuse poor people? Whe medical profession is forced into this position. They have this highest incomes around, but also high insurance fees to pay against law suites etc.

I am against it.

The issue is not whether or not our country needs healthcare reform, but whether or not this will deliver all that Pelosi, Obama and Reid promised. Unfortunately it will not. We have been sold a bill of goods. The true cost was camouflaged by Congressional budget trickery. One-half trillion dollars was taken from Medicare which is already broke. Implementation of many features were delayed until AFTER the 2012 election to hide the true cost. Do you realize that it will be cheaper for many companies to drop their health insurance program, pay an employee bonus and pay the fine instead of maintaining their current insurance coverage? So much for the promise to "keep your present doctor and keep your present insurance".
The post office, Medicare, Social Security, etc., are all bankrupt and the Federal Govt. runs massive deficits EVERY year. Is there anything that the Feds run effectively and efficiently? Why does anyone believe that this 1100 plus page monstrosity will be any different? A massive, overly expensive, Federal bureaucratic sink-hole is being created instead of a streamlined health care delivery system that we can all understand and pay for.

GOD BLESS THE USA

Bob

Why is it that people who have made personal choices all the way back to when they were inschool about how hard they chose to study, when to have children how to spend their money. attitudes at work, etc. etc etc. now want to say they are enitiled to healthcare. If they would make better choices about how they run their life they would be more able to afford healthcare. that also includes not runnig to the doctor everytime you have a runny nose. This causes your premiums to rise just like not taking care of your health by diest and exercise does. Then they want the cgovernment to step in and bail them out becasue thir own choices didn't work out. That is not the goverments responsiblility. The only parts of this bill that make any sense are the pre-existing conitions when you transfer from company to company. It should not help with pre-existing conditions because you chose not to have insurance before you are diagnosed with a problem. Insurance is for people who planned ahead to "insure" against potential problems. Also the ability for parents to cover their children on their policies is a good thing. It actually should not have a limit. If people are willing to pay the premiums let them. We need to get back to being a country of making people take some personal responsibiltiy for their actions from early in life. Instead we are a coountry of everyone playing the victim whe most of their problems are due to their owb choices

I'm against 'ObamaCare'. It was hurriedly put together and forces all of us to purchase health care. It has so much stuff in it, 'The Press' couldn't even say what was in it. A bad law enacted for a noble cause. None the less, in the end, it is still a bad law.

I'm very much against this plan.
It interferes with our most intimate, personal decision of how we will be permitted to take care of the health of ourselves and our families.
President Obama and his Democrat party cronies, are poised to soon have a very rude awakening. He and the Democratic party have seriously underestimated the intelligence, and will, of the majority of Americans who see this as a major league infingement of our rights. Our entire country was founded upon the principle of Liberty.
We are now engaged in an historic internal struggle to combat an unconsitutional attempt to errode our liberties, by chipping away the individual right of every American, to have freedom of choice.
Not to forced to participate in any program that we do not wish to be a party to.

Yet, this boldly written legislation has given the U.S. Government unprecedented power and the authority to do just, exactly, that.
It is not a stretch of anyone's conscience to admit that It the fundemental right of every American right to think for ourselves, and above all, to have the ability to say "no"...and mean it....particularly when our Government plainly oversteps their bounds by intruding into our deeply personal lives by creating this "must-have" mandate that gives them the exclusive right to close the door on our ability to "opt-out", without penalty.

Communism :(

@J.R.
I think the intimate decision has to do with death panels. Remember death panels.
That's what Michelle Bachman and others told us about Obamacare.
But the real death panels were within the insurance companies. Perhaps you recall the huge issue over recissions. That's a technical term in contracts, and you free marketeers believe in contracts.
Recissions are used by insurers to drop you from their insurance plan even though you've paid your premiums for many years. They pull up some pretext, such as the fact that you were treated for acne as a kid decades earlier, to say you really never qualified for their insurance plan.
Look it up.
If we had single-payer, society-wide health insurance then we and the business community could get on with work.
I'm sure you have a pat answer as to why France pays about half what we do on health care and covers most of its citizens. Please don't respond with clap-trap about "freedom fries." They get good medical care. WE DON'T, at least not most of us.
The insurance companies are HUGE, HUGE unnecessary middlemen. Ask any doctor's office about dealing with so many of them and all their odd rules and requirements.

Considering what the entitlement mentality has done to Greece, Germany, France , Europe in general; why would we want to follow a failed philosophy?

Where do we draw the line. Following the same logic...we should outlaw vehicles. They kill tens of thousands in this country each year, not to mention all the major and minor injuries associated with collisions. Its all for the collective good, right?

I think that Donald Trump summed it up the best...

Here is some of what he told America....it should make you stand up and
tremble...or, at least..think hard about this Obama Heathcare plan...

(Let me get this straight . . .
We're going to be "gifted" with a health care
plan we are forced to purchase and
fined if we don't,
Which purportedly covers at least
ten million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,
written by a committee whose chairman
says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that didn't read it but
exempted themselves from it,
and signed by a Dumbo President who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who
didn't pay his taxes,
for which we'll be taxed for four years before any
benefits take effect,
by a government which has
already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general
who is obese,
and financed by a country that's broke!!!!!

'What the hell could possibly go wrong?')

Thank you Mr. Trump for telling it like it is!