Wendell, you are a hero. Might I suggest you take some of all that cash you made and support the effort.
Wow, what a day that would be.
Perchance, you may have done this already and I don't know. If so, I'm sorry for suggesting it.
Jimmy, "social services" includes sheltering abused or neglected kids, qualifying for and disbursing childcare and housing and transportation vouchers and food stamps, vocational training, tracking deadbeat parents usually dads, etc. The valid comparison is one you either haven't heard about or choose to ignore: Medicare vs. private insurance, 95-97% of cost directly paid for actual medical services and products under Medicare, vs. 80% and the other 20% to profit and/or mismanagement under private insurance.
There's also the issue of accountability. If your govt leaders run Medicare badly, raising your costs and reducing your access or worsening your outcomes, you can vote out the leaders. Can you honestly fire your private insurer and find competitors of equal price/access when you wish?
A more significant question regarding the tactics of the health care industry, or the tactics of the tobacco industry, seems to be...how do they get away with it?
According to an Internet query I just performed, the FTC is still up and running. The first return on this query says "FTC: Working for U.S. consumer protection and a competitive marketplace." Entering their site, the banner touts: "FTC: Protecting Consumers".
If we are going to continue to fund these various government agencies, when will we expect them to do their jobs? Continuing to add layer after layer of government intervention to cover for their previous mistakes is not going to give us any viable solutions.
I'm almost sure there are respectable businessmen/women out there, if given the chance outside of a monopolistic environment, would be able to serve our economy in a more ethical manner. I'm not a believer of a lot of government intrusion, but history has taught us that greed has no conscience, and a small amount of guidance is unavoidable.
Insurance companies may not be serving the needs of the population, but on the other hand, the government watchdogs have dropped the ball. Why not demand the FTC do their jobs, and give competition a chance--for once. I am not ready to throw in the towel yet, and am sorry to see so many people willing to concede yet another freedom to the U.S. Government.
Are you serious, I mean this is the guy that thought Sicko was truly a documentary. See the interview quote below. He is a shill. Too bad he can't bring credibility to the table rather than contrition...
WENDELL POTTER: Well, frankly, I was very conflicted, because when I saw the movie for the first time, I really felt that—well, I knew it was an honest film. The information that was contained in the film, it truly was a documentary, and certainly a documentary with a point of view, but that’s understandable.
A sporadic employer who makes glorified-temps pay for their own bare-bones insurance isn't doing anyone any favors, good intentions aside. That temp could end up in a commuter accident while rushing from one to the second job probably required to survive, or heading to/from a gym for that matter.
That low-wage temp will never be able to save for a catastrophic accident or illness. You, my dear gym-subscriber, will pay for that accident or illness eventually. The insurance magnates will get rich covering pretty much nothing.
A gym will not protect you from cancer, from accidents, from genetic predisposition to heart attacks, or from an aneurism. As I recall, the father of the jogging movement died of a heart attack - while jogging. If he'd survived, he'd have needed full coverage.
The best solution right now is to make low-wage workers eligible for Medicaid, which covers everything regardless of preexisting conditions - which, btw, the man who spent 15 yrs in Cigna knows full well insurers always manage to find. Latest one I heard of: a woman's adult daughter got denied insurance for seeing a doctor twice for "knee problems" as a teen. No surgeries, no chronic problems. Her knees probably hurt from playing basketball or soccer or jogging - nice, healthy pastime. Good grief.
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