If you are the CEO of an insurance company and you make 20 to 30 million a year, do you really want to see the government step in and knock your salary down to a million?
Who can live on that?
And imagine if they also tell you that you have to insure actual sick people? Good gumdrops, how are you going to pay for that extra villa in Milan?
How about this absurd proposal that you would be unable to cancel someone’s coverage because they committed the unpardonable sin of actually using their policy? How are you supposed to make a profit for your shareholders, pay exorbitant bonuses to your agents, AND keep your salary at a living wage if the government sticks their paws in your business?
The best thing you can do is to spread millions of bucks around to crank out propaganda against any of these kinds of shenanigans. First, you make sure that the policy-makers that you have been supporting for lo these many years actually REMEMBER who pays their bills.
Then you make sure that the folks in the media know that THEIR bread has been buttered by you as well. If you can get these guys to bend facts a bit, even maybe tell a few outright lies, maybe, just maybe, folks will believe that it is in their own best interests to keep you insanely rich.
If you think about it, what is going to happen to the bottom line of the insurance companies if anything resembling a government run, or even strongly regulated, health care system comes about?
So then why would anyone assume that the folks whose own best interests would be served by killing any such measure are going to tell us the truth about said measures?
My mother-in-law, God love her, was convinced (because of a right-wing radio propaganda show run by a former Republican senator) that, as a Medicare recipient, she would be required to get counseling every 5 years that would, in essence, encourage her to "do right by society and end your life". Something like 10 seconds of extensive and painstaking research on my part came up with plenty of refutations of this absurd notion. Unfortunately, most people won’t do that kind of in-depth, labor-intensive brainwork.
This kind of fear-mongering is why we have never been able to get any kind of medical reform.
Basically, folks, you can either sit back and let other people do your thinking for you, or you can actually use your computer to search. The solitaire game will still be there in 20 seconds.
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As an intelligent person (some would debate that fact, but for purposes here, we'll assume that to be the case) I can see that the health care system needs to be fixed. What I disagree with, is the notion that the only solution is for the government (who has done such an excellent job with Medicare, social security, etc.) is the best choice for guaranteeing and managing insurance for everyone. I agree, that the government could just say "we're giving everyone free health care. Now, you rich people pay up!"
ReplyDeleteIn reality that will never work and I'll tell you why:
1. There AREN'T enough rich people to pay for everyone else. If you try to tax just the rich to pay for everyone, it would mean that they would be paying roughly 85-90 percent of their wealth to pay for it. I don't know about you, but I'd move out of the country rather than lose billions. If you want to drive the wealthy out of the country (who, as wealthy people, are the most able to move, as well as the most desirable for other countries to accept) then by all means, do so. Just remember, they'll take their businesses with them.
2. If you think that only 45 million (a figure the Democrats have put out there, but independent economists have said is artificially inflated, but we'll use for now) need to be covered, think again. If businesses can pass off the insurance costs of their employees to the government, they'll dump their private health care packages in a heartbeat. Bye Bye private insurance. (Oh, but don't think as an employee you'll get those savings. It stays with the company and increases their profit.) As the number of government insured people skyrockets as a result, the cost to the government skyrockets as well.
Don't worry though; we all know how efficiently the government can run big programs.
3. As the number of baby boomers retires, the number of people working and paying taxes is going to decrease rapidly. Tax revenues are going to go down, and the budget deficit (not to be confused with the national debt which is already bordering on insurmountable) will skyrocket as well. China, who is by far the largest supplier of money to the United States by buying up all of those loans, has already said they are going to stop doing so. What happens when the government runs out of ways to borrow money? The United States government will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did.
So, now that you're all scared, and justifiably so, what do I propose as a solution?
ReplyDeleteFirst, we need tort reform. This is key. You want to know why medical costs are skyrocketing? It's because doctors are going broke paying for malpractice insurance, and ordering unnecessary tests just to avoid being sued. It's hard to break even, no less turn a profit like that. What causes this? It's because doctors are able to be sued for anything, regardless of forseeability, or fault. I personally believe that only in cases of gross negligence should a doctor be able to be sued. Stuff happens sometimes. Doctors aren't omniscient. It doesn't mean everyone deserves a multi-million dollar payday. No more multi-million dollar punitive settlements. If the doctor is that bad, they lose their license. Insurance companies just pass the costs of these judgments on to all of their customers, so it's YOU who pays for these settlements. As a side effect, this means that a lot of ambulance chasers might actually have to go out and get a real job.
Second, Rather than forcing everyone into government insurance, it would be cheaper to give those low income people a $4000-$5000 tax break, and let them get their own insurance. There could even be cooperatives for these people to join, which would negotiate with insurance companies as a group, just like a company would. Let free enterprise, and market forces allow the insurance companies to compete for these dollars by offering the best deals. I can promise you, it would be more efficient than a government run program.
Third, you can't expect insurance companies to knowingly take on someone who has a chronic, expensive medical condition knowing they're going to lose a bundle on them, so they won't have to. Now, don't get mad, keep reading first. Since we have these cooperatives that have allowed people to be insured, when someone comes down with a condition, say cancer or something, the insurance company who was their insurance company at the time of diagnosis is on the hook for the cost of treating the condition, even if the insurance company cancels the person. They can't shirk their responsibility by canceling the policy. Now, if the person changes insurance companies willingly, and the new insurance company is willing to accept them condition and all, then, and only then, is the old insurance company absolved of that responsibility.