Reply
Wed 27 Dec, 2006 10:22 am
News For Democrats: Health Insurance Companies WILL Oppose Your Plan Anyway
by Dave Johnson
12/27/06
With a Democratic Congress coming in January, obviously several health care plans are going to be introduced. Here is some free advice to legislators. Don't even bother including private insurance companies in your plans.
Conventional Wisdom thinking is that you have to include private insurance companies in any plan, or they'll put so much money and effort into opposing your plan - and you - that nothing can pass.
In the 90's the Clinton administration offered a comprehensive health care plan that involved private insurers instead of a "Medicare-For-All"-style national health plan, hoping to ward off industry opposition. This was an example of what I call the "Afraid Rush Will Say Something Bad About You" syndrome - the point being that Rush will say something bad about you anyway, no matter what you do. And of course the private insurance companies did oppose the Clinton plan anyway, putting so much money into opposing it that it never even came up for a vote. The effort went beyond just opposing the plan and became personal, with smears and take-no-prisoners tactics directed against anyone involved in trying to bring health care to the public. So much of that money and venom was left over that it helped bring in a Republican congress the following year.
So here is some news for Democrats who are offering health care plans that offer tribute to private insurance companies: They are going to oppose your plan.
Do you think that it is more efficient to use a private insurance company to provide health insurance? Then take a look at what the big corporations do when offering health insurance to large numbers of employees. The big companies "self-insure." They set up their own little internal national-health-care plans for their employees and administer them themselves rather than use private insurance companies because private insurance companies cost too much. Face it: Medicare-For-All is the only plan that will work. These days the private insurance companies are designed to deliver profits and enormous CEO salaries, while delivering the absolute minimum benefit to the public that they can get away with without personally being put in jail -- fines and civil judgments being already factored in.
Do I have a low opinion of insurance companies? You bet. Am I alone?
Quote:Medicare-For-All is the only plan that will work.
Medicare is starting to run out of money. What then?
What about physicians? There are plenty who won't take Medicare patients, because the pay from the Gov is so poor.
What's universal health care worth, if there aren't enough board-certified physicians to take care of patients?
Miller wrote:Quote:Medicare-For-All is the only plan that will work.
Medicare is starting to run out of money. What then?
What about physicians? There are plenty who won't take Medicare patients, because the pay from the Gov is so poor.
What's universal health care worth, if there aren't enough board-certified physicians to take care of patients?
& you think the gov't would pay faster if they control health care?
Phoenix32890 wrote:
One of my big concerns about universal coverage, is that medicine will no longer attract the best and the brightest. The other is that exceptional service will be hard to come by, like it is in Canada, where patients have to wait interminably for certain procedures and operations.[/color][/b]
If there is universal health coverage, the only people who'll continue to receive excellent care, are those who can afford excellent health insurance ( outside of the Gov contribution )
and who are willing to pay the extra charge of about $2000/year to their PCP ( who restricts his/her practice to a limited number of patients who don't rely strictly on insurance to pay their health care bills ).
Your article is nothing more than an opinion piece. Granted Think Progress is a left wing blog, the article I posted has links to back up their statements, yours does not.
revel wrote:
Your article is nothing more than an opinion piece. Granted Think Progress is a left wing blog, the article I posted has links to back up their statements, yours does not.
Tell me one person you know of that has been refused medical care when needed. It is against the law in this country for a person to be refused care in any ER in this country. Many of the 47,000,000 so called uninsured are young people that choose not to purchase health care insurance.
BTW-Would you pay for my car & house insurance? I'd appreciate it, thanks.
LoneStarMadam wrote:revel wrote:
Your article is nothing more than an opinion piece. Granted Think Progress is a left wing blog, the article I posted has links to back up their statements, yours does not.
Tell me one person you know of that has been refused medical care when needed. It is against the law in this country for a person to be refused care in any ER in this country. Many of the 47,000,000 so called uninsured are young people that choose not to purchase health care insurance.
BTW-Would you pay for my car & house insurance? I'd appreciate it, thanks.
Read the article carefully next time, it says nothing about anyone being refused health in ER's.
They may choose not purchase health insurance because they can't afford it or they can afford very little. So many people just put off going to doctors until an emergency thereby creating more expense on something that may well have been preventable if caught earlier. If they can't afford insurance, chances are they won't be able to pay off their ER or hospital bill either which further drains the economy.
revel wrote:LoneStarMadam wrote:revel wrote:
Your article is nothing more than an opinion piece. Granted Think Progress is a left wing blog, the article I posted has links to back up their statements, yours does not.
Tell me one person you know of that has been refused medical care when needed. It is against the law in this country for a person to be refused care in any ER in this country. Many of the 47,000,000 so called uninsured are young people that choose not to purchase health care insurance.
BTW-Would you pay for my car & house insurance? I'd appreciate it, thanks.
Read the article carefully next time, it says nothing about anyone being refused health in ER's.
They may choose not purchase health insurance because they can't afford it or they can afford very little. So many people just put off going to doctors until an emergency thereby creating more expense on something that may well have been preventable if caught earlier. If they can't afford insurance, chances are they won't be able to pay off their ER or hospital bill either which further drains the economy.
& we need universal health care taxpayer paid....why?
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace