Best Healthcare System Ever

Posted on 03/05/2010 at 7:32 pm by Bob Cesca

Sam Stein reports today:

The market concentration for health insurance is so monopolized in some areas that insurance companies are willing to raise prices and lose customers in an effort to improve their bottom line, a leading insurance broker told Wall Street analysts on Wednesday.

But we should listen to the Republicans. Vote for more Republicans, in fact, who want to preserve this status quo.

Pass this damn bill! But know that we won’t be fully satisfied until these bastards are run out of business.

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  • Bull Schmitt

    Agreed, absolutely.That said, I just watched Rep. Weiner make a f-ckwit of himself on Countdown. I love the guy, but there are 35 Senators on that letter for the Public Option. 35 is not 50. It’s not even 48, where perhaps you could add the leadership on to get over the top.Weiner was going on about ‘negotiating against ourselves’, and asking why did we give up the popular Public Option, for no Republican votes?(This is the point where I said to myself: They gave up the Public Option to get Joe Lieberman to cast the 60th vote to break the filibuster on the Senate bill, not to get Republican votes – you f-ckwit!)I imagine.. I hope.. I trust.. that all of this is disingenuous opposition to get the best deal possible in the end, but it drives me up the wall the way the far left plays brinksmanship with the Blue Dogs, and the Republican noise machine plays both sides against the public.In the short term, this is *killing popular support for the biggest game-changer since Medicare. Understand that the Public Option will have to come eventually. If insurance companies are constrained to take no more than 20% off the top, their only way to increase profits will be to provide more expensive treatments – which means more expensive premiums they can take their cut out of.The effect this bad behavior will have on the federal budget will leave a public option looking more and more popular, and eventually the only way out. It’s just a matter of time and pressure.

  • alopecia

    In my nastiest, darkest, most cynical moments, I actually think the best thing that could happen is for health care reform to fail.Everything I have read leads to the conclusion that the health insurance industry has an unsustainable business model (and knows it) and, if nothing changes, collapses in a few years (depending on whom you care to believe, somewhere between 2013 and 2020). Then we’d have a reasonable chance of passing single-payer insurance.Then, when I shake my misanthropic mood, I realize that people will unnecessarily suffer and die if something isn’t done. Plus, even with public subsidies, the health insurance industry is still likely to implode within a couple of decades, which could be fun to watch.So, yeah. Pass the damn bill and work on improving it.

  • Matt_mc_d

    Here’s an argument I don’t see anyone making: whatever is bad for the health insurance industry is better for every other industry. Including health care providers. Since opponents obviously don’t care about, you know, human life, at least let them defend how incredibly bad for business the current system is.

  • JL

    Unfortunately, the public option will not be included in any bill so it will not happen. I’m not a fan of incrementalism, but the bills that have passed the Houses of Congress will make a huge, huge difference for millions of uninsured under-insured Americans (and there are very, very few of us who don’t fall into those categories).Even the public option falls way short of the real solution – SINGLE PAYER. It’s going to have to happen state by state. Many states are making amazing progress to that end. California is making it happen and a huge ad campaign starring Hollywood stars, key politicians, medical professionals and more began this week.Watch the ads and learn more at http://www.californiaonecare.orgBlogs like this and its readers need to spread the word. Pass the federal bill, even without a public option and then work for single payer in the states.