Which Freedoms Lost?

[saveliberty]

Do Democrats even know how universal health care works? It means long waiting lists at public hospitals for operations, some people die before they get treatment. If you get health insurance the whole point is to the avoid the public system so you can get private health care and avoid the bureaucratic mess in the public health-care system (not to mention relieve the pressure on it).

Wow......you paint a pretty bleak picture of universal health care. So you say we may actually have to wait for non-emergency care. Scary stuff

Why is it that the life expectancy in those countries in those countries is higher than ours? Why do the people in those countries shudder at the thought of dumping universal health care in favor of a plan like the US? Why is healthcare so popular in those countries?
Why do they spend significantly less of GDP on healthcare?

Why is it that nobody loses their homes or goes bankrupt because they can't pay medical bills?

Their life expectency is longer due to:

more vacation time reducing stress.
healthier eating habits.
more exercise.

 

[editec]

Living in a civilized place demands a loss of individual liberties.

None of us much like it when those restrictions are imposed on us, since we all believe ourselves to be good people.

But as we also realize that other people may not be such good people, we have agreed to enpower governments to keep those people in check.

The problems are obvious...who gets to decide what laws are in place? And who monitors government?

The problem with government isn't the concept, it's the APPLICATION of the concept.

Government's and businesses aren't bad , BAD governments and BAD businesses are bad.

Duh!

 

[PoliticalChic]

Do Democrats even know how universal health care works? It means long waiting lists at public hospitals for operations, some people die before they get treatment. If you get health insurance the whole point is to the avoid the public system so you can get private health care and avoid the bureaucratic mess in the public health-care system (not to mention relieve the pressure on it).

Wow......you paint a pretty bleak picture of universal health care. So you say we may actually have to wait for non-emergency care. Scary stuff

Why is it that the life expectancy in those countries in those countries is higher than ours? Why do the people in those countries shudder at the thought of dumping universal health care in favor of a plan like the US? Why is healthcare so popular in those countries?
Why do they spend significantly less of GDP on healthcare?

Why is it that nobody loses their homes or goes bankrupt because they can't pay medical bills?

Clearly one can draw incorrect conclusions if one is ideologically driven, i.e. a left winger who cowardly calls oneself a rightwinger...or if one doesn't know the facts:

1. "... a study by Professors Ohsfeldt and Schneider at the University of Iowa, which shows that, if you leave out people who are victims of homicide or who die in automobile accidents, Americans live longer than people in any other Western country."
Medical Care Facts and Fables by Thomas Sowell on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

Only those with a socialized medicine ax to grind would include homicides and auto accidents as an indictment of American healthcare.

2. Wrong about American healthcare:

"Despite the poor showing on the WHO study, the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely a result of a poorly functioning health care system, according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). On the contrary, the United States functions well compared to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of death avoidance:
Mortality reductions from prostate and breast cancers have been exceptionally rapid in the United States relative to a set of peer countries.
These unusually rapid declines are attributable to wider screening and more aggressive treatment of these diseases.
Screening for other cancers also appears unusually extensive, and five-year survival rates from all of the major cancers are very favorable.
Survival rates following heart attack and stroke are also favorable (although one-year survival rates following stroke are only average), and the proportion of people with elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels who are receiving medication is well above European standards."
For text:
http://www.nber.org/digest/dec09/w15213.html


3." When the liberals compare America’s health care costs those of Canada’s, something they don’t figure in is going to the bathroom 12 times a night for 3 years until you can finally be fit in with a government doctor to fix the problem.
In the Province of Quebec, patients suffering from serious incontinence - ie, they have to aller aux toilettes jusqu’� 12 fois par nuit (that’s 12 times a night) - have to wait three years for a half-hour operation. That’s 3 years times 365 nights times 12 trips to the bathroom.
The central point about socialized medicine is that restricting access is the only means of controlling costs."
http://www.kxmc.com/News/Nation/389366.asp

And what a coincidence the the socialist-in-chief appointed Berwick, who champions rationing medical aid to Americans, to front the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:

4. "...his remarks attacking private-sector solutions to health care problems, in support of “rationing with our eyes open”, and expressing his affection for the United Kingdom’s notoriously slow and rationing-plagued National Health Service as “romantic.”
Donald Berwick Appointed Head of CMS - by Benjamin Domenech

One can easily find his vids endorsing rationing healthcare.

 

[saveliberty]

Living in a civilized place demands a loss of individual liberties.

None of us much like it when those restrictions are imposed on us, since we all believe ourselves to be good people.

But as we also realize that other people may not be such good people, we have agreed to enpower governments to keep those people in check.

The problems are obvious...who gets to decide what laws are in place? And who monitors government?

The problem with government isn't the concept, it's the APPLICATION of the concept.

Government's and businesses aren't bad , BAD governments and BAD businesses are bad.

Duh!

In a truly civilized society, respect for individual liberty would be a higher priority.

 

[mattskramer]

the freedom from wory that should I become indigent and in need of medical care, I won’t be ignored by healthcare providers

 

[rightwinger]

Do Democrats even know how universal health care works? It means long waiting lists at public hospitals for operations, some people die before they get treatment. If you get health insurance the whole point is to the avoid the public system so you can get private health care and avoid the bureaucratic mess in the public health-care system (not to mention relieve the pressure on it).

Wow......you paint a pretty bleak picture of universal health care. So you say we may actually have to wait for non-emergency care. Scary stuff

Why is it that the life expectancy in those countries in those countries is higher than ours? Why do the people in those countries shudder at the thought of dumping universal health care in favor of a plan like the US? Why is healthcare so popular in those countries?
Why do they spend significantly less of GDP on healthcare?

Why is it that nobody loses their homes or goes bankrupt because they can't pay medical bills?

Clearly one can draw incorrect conclusions if one is ideologically driven, i.e. a left winger who cowardly calls oneself a rightwinger...or if one doesn't know the facts:

1. "... a study by Professors Ohsfeldt and Schneider at the University of Iowa, which shows that, if you leave out people who are victims of homicide or who die in automobile accidents, Americans live longer than people in any other Western country."
Medical Care Facts and Fables by Thomas Sowell on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

Only those with a socialized medicine ax to grind would include homicides and auto accidents as an indictment of American healthcare.

2. Wrong about American healthcare:

"Despite the poor showing on the WHO study, the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely a result of a poorly functioning health care system, according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). On the contrary, the United States functions well compared to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of death avoidance:
Mortality reductions from prostate and breast cancers have been exceptionally rapid in the United States relative to a set of peer countries.
These unusually rapid declines are attributable to wider screening and more aggressive treatment of these diseases.
Screening for other cancers also appears unusually extensive, and five-year survival rates from all of the major cancers are very favorable.
Survival rates following heart attack and stroke are also favorable (although one-year survival rates following stroke are only average), and the proportion of people with elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels who are receiving medication is well above European standards."
For text:
http://www.nber.org/digest/dec09/w15213.html


3." When the liberals compare America’s health care costs those of Canada’s, something they don’t figure in is going to the bathroom 12 times a night for 3 years until you can finally be fit in with a government doctor to fix the problem.
In the Province of Quebec, patients suffering from serious incontinence - ie, they have to aller aux toilettes jusqu’� 12 fois par nuit (that’s 12 times a night) - have to wait three years for a half-hour operation. That’s 3 years times 365 nights times 12 trips to the bathroom.
The central point about socialized medicine is that restricting access is the only means of controlling costs."
http://www.kxmc.com/News/Nation/389366.asp

And what a coincidence the the socialist-in-chief appointed Berwick, who champions rationing medical aid to Americans, to front the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:

4. "...his remarks attacking private-sector solutions to health care problems, in support of “rationing with our eyes open”, and expressing his affection for the United Kingdom’s notoriously slow and rationing-plagued National Health Service as “romantic.”
Donald Berwick Appointed Head of CMS - by Benjamin Domenech

One can easily find his vids endorsing rationing healthcare.

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

 

[saveliberty]

How many Canadians and Brits quietly died waiting for the system to save them?

 

[mattskramer]

How many Canadians and Brits quietly died waiting for the system to save them?

How many Americans quietly died because they could not afford healthcare?

 

[PoliticalChic]

Wow......you paint a pretty bleak picture of universal health care. So you say we may actually have to wait for non-emergency care. Scary stuff

Why is it that the life expectancy in those countries in those countries is higher than ours? Why do the people in those countries shudder at the thought of dumping universal health care in favor of a plan like the US? Why is healthcare so popular in those countries?
Why do they spend significantly less of GDP on healthcare?

Why is it that nobody loses their homes or goes bankrupt because they can't pay medical bills?

Clearly one can draw incorrect conclusions if one is ideologically driven, i.e. a left winger who cowardly calls oneself a rightwinger...or if one doesn't know the facts:

1. "... a study by Professors Ohsfeldt and Schneider at the University of Iowa, which shows that, if you leave out people who are victims of homicide or who die in automobile accidents, Americans live longer than people in any other Western country."
Medical Care Facts and Fables by Thomas Sowell on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

Only those with a socialized medicine ax to grind would include homicides and auto accidents as an indictment of American healthcare.

2. Wrong about American healthcare:

"Despite the poor showing on the WHO study, the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely a result of a poorly functioning health care system, according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). On the contrary, the United States functions well compared to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of death avoidance:
Mortality reductions from prostate and breast cancers have been exceptionally rapid in the United States relative to a set of peer countries.
These unusually rapid declines are attributable to wider screening and more aggressive treatment of these diseases.
Screening for other cancers also appears unusually extensive, and five-year survival rates from all of the major cancers are very favorable.
Survival rates following heart attack and stroke are also favorable (although one-year survival rates following stroke are only average), and the proportion of people with elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels who are receiving medication is well above European standards."
For text:
http://www.nber.org/digest/dec09/w15213.html


3." When the liberals compare America’s health care costs those of Canada’s, something they don’t figure in is going to the bathroom 12 times a night for 3 years until you can finally be fit in with a government doctor to fix the problem.
In the Province of Quebec, patients suffering from serious incontinence - ie, they have to aller aux toilettes jusqu’� 12 fois par nuit (that’s 12 times a night) - have to wait three years for a half-hour operation. That’s 3 years times 365 nights times 12 trips to the bathroom.
The central point about socialized medicine is that restricting access is the only means of controlling costs."
http://www.kxmc.com/News/Nation/389366.asp

And what a coincidence the the socialist-in-chief appointed Berwick, who champions rationing medical aid to Americans, to front the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:

4. "...his remarks attacking private-sector solutions to health care problems, in support of “rationing with our eyes open”, and expressing his affection for the United Kingdom’s notoriously slow and rationing-plagued National Health Service as “romantic.”
Donald Berwick Appointed Head of CMS - by Benjamin Domenech

One can easily find his vids endorsing rationing healthcare.

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

Your refusal to accept remediation is anti-intellectual, and, in fact...breathtaking.

1. "How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?"
How many Americans are 'rioting in the street' for Obamacare?

"Sixty-one percent (61%) of Likely U.S. Voters now at least somewhat favor repeal of the new national health care law, including 50% who Strongly Favor it. [repeal, that is]."
Health Care Law - Rasmussen Reports

"Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians. When asked about their own health care instead of the “health care system,” more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared with only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent)."[prior to Obamacare]
10 Surprising Facts about American Health Care | Publications | National Center for Policy Analysis | NCPA

Did you learn anything here, or will you continue to imply that Americans wish 'Canadians or Brits' healthcare?
Let me guess....

2. "How many are without healthcare?" I assume you mean of the socialized set...
First, there are zero Americans without healthcare. Zero.
That goes for visitors and even illegal immigrants.
A relative of mine lives in Canada...and as an American, she cannot get their ersatz healthcare without first paying a considerable fee for a permanent resident card.
Did that skewer you point, or will you repeat is?
Let me guess...

3."How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?"
How many ways should I answer this one? Are there other ways one can lose ones home or go bankrupt? Do you have figures for 'Brits and Canadians' who have done so...or how many of them went into debt to support a trip to the US for healthcare?

"Rick Baker helps people, and sometimes even saves lives. He describes a man who had a seizure and received a diagnosis of epilepsy. Dissatisfied with the opinion—he had no family history of epilepsy, but he did have constant headaches and nausea, which aren’t usually seen in the disorder—the man requested an MRI. The government told him that the wait would be four and a half months. So he went to Baker, who arranged to have the MRI done within 24 hours—and who, after the test discovered a brain tumor, arranged surgery within a few weeks.
Baker isn’t a neurosurgeon or even a doctor. He’s a medical broker, one member of a private sector that is rushing in to address the inadequacies of Canada’s government care. Canadians pay him to set up surgical procedures, diagnostic tests, and specialist consultations, privately and quickly. “I don’t have a medical background. I just have some common sense,” he explains. “I don’t need to be a doctor for what I do. I’m just expediting care.”
The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care by David Gratzer, City Journal Summer 2007

What's that, strike three for you?
Let's bend the rules and let you have another swing, you know, the way we do or the youngsters, so they don't lose any self esteem...


4."How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?"

Boooo-gus!
You see, they don't have the option for many of the life-saving drugs that Americans can get, because the socialized medicine scam only works if you deny folks the expensive stuff...

"The only real way to save money on the scale projected is to ration healthcare services. Optimists say that this can be achieved by increased use of preventive care. But the Canadian experience indicates that when government — or its satellite private insurance providers — ration healthcare, they cut preventive care first."
TheHill.com on May 12, 2009

and, surprise:
And and interesting side-light is that Canadians pay a higher percentage of healthcare costs out of pocket than do Americans (before Obamacare).
See Docteur and Oxley "Health-Care Systems: Lessons From the Reform Experience,"
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/53/22364122.pdf


Well, there you are,

wingy...sliced and diced.

But I respect your persistence...ignorant, but persistent at it.​

 

[saveliberty]

How many Canadians and Brits quietly died waiting for the system to save them?

How many Americans quietly died because they could not afford healthcare?

Fail. Life saving care is available to ALL Americans.

 

[PoliticalChic]

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

I see Yank and Rural-Delivery gave you a 'thanks' on that one...

How about you guys stepping up to the plate?

C'mon...don't be bashful.

 

[RDD_1210]

How many Canadians and Brits quietly died waiting for the system to save them?

How many Americans quietly died because they could not afford healthcare?

Fail. Life saving care is available to ALL Americans.

In an ER, not if you have a long-term chronic illness.

 

[Oddball]

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

1) They don't have to...They just need to come to America to get it.

2) Judging by how many leave their countries to get on-demand services, quality and timeliness of care seems to be a big issue with many. I guess you're all about equality of scarcity and mediocrity, huh?

3) How many needlessly suffered or just plain died outright because of treatment delays, which are a product of rationing?

4) I keep hearing that limp yapping point, yet there are places like Wal-Mart with their $5.00 'scrip program and uncounted charitable organizations which get desperately needed medications to the indigent, right here in America....Besides, is that supposed to be some kind of evidence of the success of Medicare D?

 

[RDD_1210]

I see Yank and Rural-Delivery gave you a 'thanks' on that one...

How about you guys stepping up to the plate?

C'mon...don't be bashful.

I'm going to insist you first explain to me what "Rural Delivery" could possibly mean and what it has to do with me. On a site that seems to be based upon name calling, this is one of the most "interesting" names Ive seen yet.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I'm going to insist you first explain to me what "Rural Delivery" could possibly mean and what it has to do with me. On a site that seems to be based upon name calling, this is one of the most "interesting" names Ive seen yet.

So....you will attempt to find any lacunae in my several posts to leftwingy if I explain the 'Rural Delivery' thing?

Is that the deal?

In the words of the sage, I'll 'trust, but verify,' so am I correct in the above?

 

[RDD_1210]

So....you will attempt to find any lacunae in my several posts to leftwingy if I explain the 'Rural Delivery' thing?

Is that the deal?

In the words of the sage, I'll 'trust, but verify,' so am I correct in the above?

Sure, I'll make an attempt to discuss, but I know it won't get anywhere much like most discussions with you.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Sure, I'll make an attempt to discuss, but I know it won't get anywhere much like most discussions with you.

Aw'right...forget the deal...what fun would it be to beat a half-hearted atttempt....

But the answer is strikingly simple: while I eschew the vulgar, I do try to poke folks with little plays on their avatar, or names, etc.

For RDD, the name 'rural delivery dummy'... occurred to me, but I felt it was a bit over the top, so I just referred to you as rural delivery.

Now, if there is some personal, dark, skeleton in your closet that I came close to...I'd LOVE to know it! (And I'd be sure to mention it regularly).

 

[RDD_1210]

Aw'right...forget the deal...what fun would it be to beat a half-hearted atttempt....

But the answer is strikingly simple: while I eschew the vulgar, I do try to poke folks with little plays on their avatar, or names, etc.

For RDD, the name 'rural delivery dummy'... occurred to me, but I felt it was a bit over the top, so I just referred to you as rural delivery.

Now, if there is some personal, dark, skeleton in your closet that I came close to...I'd LOVE to know it! (And I'd be sure to mention it regularly).

LOL, I wish there was some kind of good skeleton I can give you. Unfortunately there really isn't....at least not pertaining to the nickname.

I was just confused by the rural part. I didn't see the connection seeing as my listed location is Chicago and not exactly a rural area.

 

[mattskramer]

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

1) They don't have to...They just need to come to America to get it.

Do Brits get free travel? Wow!

2) Judging by how many leave their countries to get on-demand services, quality and timeliness of care seems to be a big issue with many. I guess you're all about equality of scarcity and mediocrity, huh?

Link to statistics?

3) How many needlessly suffered or just plain died outright because of treatment delays, which are a product of rationing?

How many died out because they could not afford any treatment?

4) I keep hearing that limp yapping point, yet there are places like Wal-Mart with their $5.00 'scrip program and uncounted charitable organizations which get desperately needed medications to the indigent, right here in America....Besides, is that supposed to be some kind of evidence of the success of Medicare D?

There are more needy than there are charities.

 

[RDD_1210]

Clearly one can draw incorrect conclusions if one is ideologically driven, i.e. a left winger who cowardly calls oneself a rightwinger...or if one doesn't know the facts:

1. "... a study by Professors Ohsfeldt and Schneider at the University of Iowa, which shows that, if you leave out people who are victims of homicide or who die in automobile accidents, Americans live longer than people in any other Western country."
Medical Care Facts and Fables by Thomas Sowell on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

Only those with a socialized medicine ax to grind would include homicides and auto accidents as an indictment of American healthcare.

2. Wrong about American healthcare:

"Despite the poor showing on the WHO study, the low longevity ranking of the United States is not likely a result of a poorly functioning health care system, according to researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). On the contrary, the United States functions well compared to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of death avoidance:
Mortality reductions from prostate and breast cancers have been exceptionally rapid in the United States relative to a set of peer countries.
These unusually rapid declines are attributable to wider screening and more aggressive treatment of these diseases.
Screening for other cancers also appears unusually extensive, and five-year survival rates from all of the major cancers are very favorable.
Survival rates following heart attack and stroke are also favorable (although one-year survival rates following stroke are only average), and the proportion of people with elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels who are receiving medication is well above European standards."
For text:
http://www.nber.org/digest/dec09/w15213.html


3." When the liberals compare America’s health care costs those of Canada’s, something they don’t figure in is going to the bathroom 12 times a night for 3 years until you can finally be fit in with a government doctor to fix the problem.
In the Province of Quebec, patients suffering from serious incontinence - ie, they have to aller aux toilettes jusqu’� 12 fois par nuit (that’s 12 times a night) - have to wait three years for a half-hour operation. That’s 3 years times 365 nights times 12 trips to the bathroom.
The central point about socialized medicine is that restricting access is the only means of controlling costs."
http://www.kxmc.com/News/Nation/389366.asp

And what a coincidence the the socialist-in-chief appointed Berwick, who champions rationing medical aid to Americans, to front the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services:

4. "...his remarks attacking private-sector solutions to health care problems, in support of “rationing with our eyes open”, and expressing his affection for the United Kingdom’s notoriously slow and rationing-plagued National Health Service as “romantic.”
Donald Berwick Appointed Head of CMS - by Benjamin Domenech

One can easily find his vids endorsing rationing healthcare.

How many Canadians or Brits are rioting in the streets to get an American style Healthcare system?
How many are without healthcare?
How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?
How many have to choose between prescriptions because they can't afford to pay for them all?

3."How many lost their homes or went bankrupt because of overwhelming medical bills?"
How many ways should I answer this one? Are there other ways one can lose ones home or go bankrupt? Do you have figures for 'Brits and Canadians' who have done so...or how many of them went into debt to support a trip to the US for healthcare?

"Rick Baker helps people, and sometimes even saves lives. He describes a man who had a seizure and received a diagnosis of epilepsy. Dissatisfied with the opinion—he had no family history of epilepsy, but he did have constant headaches and nausea, which aren’t usually seen in the disorder—the man requested an MRI. The government told him that the wait would be four and a half months. So he went to Baker, who arranged to have the MRI done within 24 hours—and who, after the test discovered a brain tumor, arranged surgery within a few weeks.
Baker isn’t a neurosurgeon or even a doctor. He’s a medical broker, one member of a private sector that is rushing in to address the inadequacies of Canada’s government care. Canadians pay him to set up surgical procedures, diagnostic tests, and specialist consultations, privately and quickly. “I don’t have a medical background. I just have some common sense,” he explains. “I don’t need to be a doctor for what I do. I’m just expediting care.”
The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care by David Gratzer, City Journal Summer 2007

What's that, strike three for you?
Let's bend the rules and let you have another swing, you know, the way we do or the youngsters, so they don't lose any self esteem...

Ok, fair is fair. I picked one of your points to discuss further. Let's go with #3 and the notion of bankruptcy as it pertains to medical bills. Now I could be wrong, but I don't think the OP was claiming that there isn't medical bankruptcy in Britain or Canada, I think his point was that it's an overwhelming problem in our country.

According to a Harvard study...
"Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid. "
Study Links Medical Costs and Personal Bankruptcy - BusinessWeek

The point being is that health care is a tremendous problem in our country for MANY people, even those with insurance. This is what prompted important measures in the bill such as the prevention of lifetime coverage caps and the removal of denial based upon pre-existing conditions.

The fact is that this healthcare bill is FAAAAAAR from perfect, but that doesn't change the fact that insurance companies were failing to "insure" many people who paid thousands and thousands of dollars in to the system.
The healthcare bill is flawed but that doesn't diminish the importance of the portions of this bill that do help alleviate some of the issues that face millions of Americans.