America’s Health Insurance Plans, a lobbying organization for the health insurance industry, has blasted President Obama’s proposal to create a government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers. In a press release, the organization stated that “A government-run plan would dismantle employer-based coverage…”
By George, I think they’ve got it.
Our system of employer-based coverage is nothing more than the result of a historical accident, an end-run made by businesses to get around wage freezes imposed by the Roosevelt administration during World War II. The fatal flaw in employer-based coverage ought to obvious to anyone who thinks about it for ten seconds: if you get really sick, you’re not going to be able to continue working, and then you’re going to lose your insurance. In an era in which job security is but a distant memory, employer-based health insurance is a preposterous anachronism.
We’re already paying enough in taxes to indemnify every man, woman, and child in the United States. 58% of all health care expenses in this country are paid directly by the taxpayer. That’s more than total spending on health care in all but three other countries. It’s time we started demanding some bang for our buck.
We may as well get on with it and switch to single-payer. What other choice do we have? The insurance industry’s counter-proposal -- to force millions of uninsured to buy their product -- is a gigantic windfall for the industry, and a really lousy deal for everyone else. Forcing people to buy insurance is not the same thing as covering them when they get sick. All the industry blather about the “free market” will never change that.
If you think about it for a moment, it ought to be obvious this is the sort of thing the free market cannot effectively regulate. If you don’t like the service you get at McDonald’s, you can always take your business to Burger King. But if you buy health insurance, and pay your premiums in good faith for years and years, and then suffer a serious illness, well, if you don’t like the service you get from your health insurance company, it’s not going to do you any good to take your business someplace else. They’ve already made their money off you. From this point on, you’re nothing but a liability to them, and they’re going to do everything they can to get out of paying. Fighting a multibillion-dollar corporation is difficult under any circumstances, but especially if you’re sick. The insurance industry even has an adorable little name for this practice – they call it"starving them out."
And it couldn’t be otherwise. A corporation’s responsibility is to its shareholders, period. If the people running the corporation don’t do whatever they have to do to maximize profits, the shareholders will fire them and get someone else in there who will. 62% of people who file for bankruptcy in the United States have unpaid medical bills, and of those, 78% had health insurance. The health insurance companies have failed spectacularly in their stated mission – to protect people from financial ruin in the event of serious illness. We don’t need ‘em.
Between 1996 and 2002, the percentage of private-sector employees enrolled in company health insurance plans fell from 69% to 62%. Employer-based health insurance is dying a well-deserved death. We need to accelerate that process. It’s time for a little euthanasia.
We’ll know President Obama has a good health care plan when America’s Health Insurance Plans targets him for defeat in 2012. Then it’ll be up to the rest of us to let him know we’re standing behind him.
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Dr. Evan Levine
old new lefty
Unbreakable
vilgessuola
mypsyche
Rutilus Extraho
Salon.com
Comments
--Medicare
--Medicaid
--VA
--Tricare
--your employer
--an individual policy (if you are lucky)
--or you go without
Who would dream up that shit?
Now for my contribution to the discussion: There can be no serious reform of health care in this country until "profit" and "the profit motive" are effectively removed from the equation.
No one should be permitted to profit from the pain, suffering and misery caused by illness or injury, and no one should be allowed to exploit the natural human fear of death for personal financial gain. We can do much, much better than to put a positive cash flow investors ahead of a positive prognosis for patients. The guiding principl for those who would provide/deliver health care services MUST be : "First, do no harm." ; Not: Make a buck first.
Top Notch
Thanks for your comments.
Thanks for your comments.
I would be careful about total nationalization however, because the U.S. health care system is not all bad, it is mainly financed in a bizarre way.
I copied this comment posted yesterday at Salon. I thought this person made very points about the current approach to provide health care.
The Medical Industrial Complex
As a Professor at a large research medical school, I know full well the power and money behind the medical establishment. Pure and simple, health care is a business that is for profit and which has powerful forces aligned to keep the status quo. The AMA is out of touch with the average doctor, many of whom do not belong to the AMA. They and the insurance industry see nothing wrong with bankrupting the American economy, so long as they get their share first. Free markets can never work in health care because: 1- the consumer has no accurate pricing information, 2- the consumer is forced to purchase, i.e. you cannot put off that heart bypass, 3- the consumer has no real measure of quality or cost efficiency available. Under these conditions, free markets cannot operate and are rife for abuse by providers.
Nothing would restore America's competitiveness with the rest of the world faster than a national single payer health plan. For those who think the government can't run a system should examine all the private military contracts that have costs us billions in overruns. besides, we already have socialized medicine in the USA; a vast system in which the government owns all the facilities and pays the doctors. It is called the VA and we reserve it exclusively for our soldiers and families. Just ask a vet if they are willing to forgo this system for a private plan.
-- groland
[Read groland's other letters]Permalink Flag Friday, June 12, 2009 11:09 AM
As you may know, I discussed various aspects related health care systems here and in Canada in recent posts.
Many American's have been swayed by ads from Hillary's failed attempt. Ads that scared people (the usual tactic, because its easy and effective) into thinking the government was out to screw them, not the good hardworking people in the health insurance industry...we've got your back, just make sure you don't injure it, cause then we don't got your back.
From a medical point of view it makes no sense to be established with the same physician for years, and then have to change physicians merely because you change jobs.
Check out the June 1 issues of the New Yorker in which surgeon/author Dr. Atul Gawande details some of the absurdities of our present health care system, such as Medicare reimbursing physicians for referring patients to diagnostic centers owned by the same physicians who made the referrals in the first place.
Thanks for your comments.
Thanks for your comment.
The problem is: small employers have been dropping plans consistently for the last ten years, employers who keep coverage have been cutting back, raising deductibles, etc and if you are laid off, COBRA premiums are incredibly high.
I think that people are 'satisfied' because they are just happy they have a job and happy that job provides a plan.
And as I pointed out in my essay "Blaming the uninsured," the reason companies are able to pay for health insurance for their "benefits-eligible" employees is because they are being kept profitable by an army of temps, contractors, consultants, free-lancers, and day laborers. Not to mention the "part-timers" who often work longer hours than the "full-timers."
Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
I agree with all your points except for one. I do not accept that universal health care must require higher taxes. There is so much waste in our health care system that if we cut it out, we could indemnify every single person in the country and save billions. For more info, see my latest post.
Thansk for your comments.