Might want to research the comment on the Koch Pipelines. Don't think any that they have built were the result of government intervention. They bought the land and built the pipeline without government help
It is really strange for us europeans to see and read the polemics of us health problems. It all sounds very much like third world cronyisme '?.... only people who can afford medical care should be covered ..... it's a strange and distorted view of the sacro-saint american view of what the word freedom really means. Health insurance is a universal issue and should be treated as such. You can't just want to get "rich" even if it means killing your neighbour - you take out the word "civilisation" right out of the equation if you are sincerly opting for this view. I don°t think the founding fathers of the u.s.a. ever wanted that type of "freedom"...
I'm posting this article on MY facebook page because I'm sick to death of it, too. Plus, I am sick of the 'run for the cure' fraud, whereby everybody is running, walking, etc. to raise money for non-profit foundations which, by the way, have sitting on their boards none other than high powered pharmaceutical industry execs, there to make damn sure the money gets funnelled into new and more toxic and expensive drugs. There will never be a 'cure' from these people, because there's just too much money in it. Cancer is big business.
I guess I must be a consumer elitist. I actually represent consumers, not insurance companies, not the NAIC, not the healthcare lobby's, I represent consumers.
For the past 20 years, I have watched healthcare companies find ways to increase premiums hooking the consuming public on copay's, seperating common sense and consumerism from the public. Healthcare reform from both the Republicans and Democrats both served the insurance company interests, not the consumer. Half Truths and a corporate viewpoint dominated the debate, and the insurance carriers won on both sides. The only loss for insurers would have been no new regulation.
So here we are 6 months later, and some of the provisions are going into effect. The most important part was the provision guaranteeing access to insurance for any child under age 19. Did that work? A resounding NO! I live and work in Illinois, not a low cost unregulated State. We had age 26 for kids already as did several States. So now, Kids are Guaratee Issue. Here are the results.
1) No more policy's are sold to kids only. If the parent isn't insurable, the kid doesn't get coverage.
2) Costs are skyrocking. Up until Oct 1, if you had Blue Cross and 5 kids, you paid for the first 2 kids, and then each kid after 2 was no additional cost. No more. Your policy for you, the wife and 5 kids is going up 45% because Blue Cross has to charge per kid.
3) If you had a child with chronic Illness, and you were coming off COBRA, the child would have been declined and then you would have been eligible for coverage under the State mandated, insurance company subsidized, CHIP program. Where you would have paid no more than $200 per month for that child, now you can get coverage where you want for as much as $1000 per month for that child. You are no longer eligible for CHIP without a pre-ex clause.
4) Mandated Routine Care - If you mandate $1000 of routine care at no cost to the insured, the insurance company gets to charge you more for it.
Coming soon. Mandatory Maternity coverage. That'll help add more money to the coffers of insurers. Meanwhile, HHS is making exceptions right and left to the laws exempting "important" organizations. (Guessing that they are big contributors, AKA: not consumers). Millions more of the influential will get those exceptions as they come up.
It's no surprise that United Healthcare profits were up. I promsie you that UHC's 80.%+ loss ratios are more than compliant with the new numbers. The righteous healthcare reformers fell for the trap and the consumer lost again. The new rules mandate higher rates and bigger gross margins.
There is only one form of healthcare reform that wont favor insurers, and that is a single payer system. The only way to fund it would be a consumption tax, and you can bet that will never happen. Seniors would NEVER allow it.
Don't be a sucker. The government cannot mandate that dollar bills be sold for quarters. If you want to fix it. Break it.
I posted here a year ago and took abuse as an "insider". Yeah.. Uh huh. I represent consumers.
It is really strange for us europeans to see and read the polemics of us health problems. It all sounds very much like third world cronyisme '?.... only people who can afford medical care should be covered ..... it's a strange and distorted view of the sacro-saint american view of what the word freedom really means. Health insurance is a universal issue and should be treated as such. You can't just want to get "rich" even if it means killing your neighbour - you take out the word "civilisation" right out of the equation if you are sincerly opting for this view. I don°t think the founding fathers of the u.s.a. ever wanted that type of "freedom"...
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