The health insurance industry has agreed to support a national healthcare plan that would require them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing conditions, in exchange for a mandate that everyone would have to buy coverage. However, President-elect O’Bama’s proposal has opposed an individual mandate for adults to buy insurance. Rather, his plan would offer customers the choice of a government administered plan or private plans whose insurers have agreed to accept all customers in exchange for receipt of government subsidies, making it easier for more people to buy coverage. Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, stressed the importance of having everyone part of the system, saying past experience with states’ efforts to guarantee coverage backfired because insurers had to raise premiums to meet the expense of covering all applicants, making it impossible for some people to afford insurance. Do you think that everyone should be required to buy health insurance?

Do you think newspapers are facing extinction?

“No. I find it ironic that Rupert Murdoch talks about “news that readers can trust” when he owns Fox News.”
—IG

“Rupert Murdoch is right! Newspaper journalists are treading in quicksand and newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. Once upon a time we actually had reporters writing the news. Now all we receive are the personal opinions, spin and biases of these selfproclaimed elitists. This even extends to TV news reporting. At least with TV you can change the channel. The downside is if newspapers go out of business, where am I going to find good bird cage liners?”
—VEY

“Why would I want to buy a paper, or watch the news on TV for that matter, when I can get a wider variety of information online? I do believe that newspapers are facing extinction. Newspapers sensationalize so many stories these days that it has become quite difficult to weed through the garbage just to get the information I want. I am a ravenous reader and I want as much information as possible, not just what the editor and reporters think I should read. I can make that decision myself, thank you very much. I think the ultimate issue here is a bad case of "sibling rivalry" between the newspapers and the rag paper you can buy at the grocery store with "Bigfoot has Alien Child" on the cover.”
—Free Thinker

“There’s no denying that they have some pretty fierce competition, but it’s more accurate to say that they face a radical transformation. After all, some of the best online news sources are owned by the papers. The day may come when the printing press becomes obsolete, but there will always be a consumer news market to adapt to.”
—PS