Mr. Potter,
I applaud your decision to leave the health insurance industry and speak out on our failed health care enterprise. I too am an insider having worked for 25 years as a senior manager and consultant for a variety of regional and national health plans, Blue Cross companies and others. I came to the conclusion 10 or 12 years ago that a single payer, government solution was the only one that can work in health care. I won't belabor why I support this approach, but I would like to suggest respectfully to you that your focus on health insurers misses a big part of the reason that our current system won't work, namely, a fractured and unregulated delivery system.
While it is true that for-profit health insurers (though I would argue non-profits aren't much better) are a big part of the problem in health care, providers are the other, and arguably bigger part of the problem. After all, even if administrative costs in health insurance are 20 percent, we still spend the other 80 on providers. And they are just as protective of the status quo, despite their protests to the contrary.
I'm sure you are familiar with John Wennberg's work at Dartmouth and that of others who have written about the variation in costs throughout the country. Reforming the payer community would certainly go a long way toward solving some of our problems, but the provider world must be reformed as well.
It is because of this twin dilemma that I support national health care--there is no way to rationalize the entire enterprise without changing the fundamentals of both payers and providers. I would be interested in your thoughts on providers and other issues. I have written a 5,000 word essay on this issue that I would share with you if you are interested. I would value your comments and thoughts.
Please accept my genuine support for your courage to speak out.
Steve Williams
1. One question everyone should be asking: Do I want a bureaucrat who is paid based on an increase of medial care provided to determine whether or not I get cared for or do I want a bureaucrat who is paid based on the number of claims denied to determine whether or not I get medial care? Right now, we have the latter.
We should accept that SOMEONE other than ourselves and our doctor will always oversee a medical care program. Stating that a "bureaucrat" will be in charge of our health care is like saying "the sky is blue."
2. Every commentator, pundit, columnist who wants to write about healthcare issues should disclose the following:
- Who is your health insurance company?
- Who is paying for your policy?
- What is your annual contribution?
- What is your annual deductible?
- Can this policy be revoked due to a particular illness or accident?
Then, the reader or listener can determine for him/herself how credible the person is.
More health care opinions: http://www.dogwalkblog.com/2009/06/24/insurance-disclosures/
I agree with you, Mr. Durbin, to a point. Sure, we have way too much obesity in this country which leads to higher cholesterol, more heart attacks and Type II diabetes. Some of this is unavoidable due to the highly processed, preserved, saturated and salted foods many have no choice but to eat. (I think there's an argument here for taxes on super sugary foods and drinks). And smokers are just asking for lung cancer. (Fortunately, we've taxed that to kingdom come and put informative labels on all products and advertising bans to children.)
However, accidents, illness and disease many times come on unexpectedly irregardless of how much you're taking care of yourself. So the crux of the issue comes back to the private insurance industry. The axing of those with pre-existing conditions many of which don't have a culpable cause, is in my view immoral.
Would you rather have a corporate bureaucrat concerned about his or her profit margin make health care decisions for you or a government bureaucrat with no interest in making a profit for him/herself?
I really enjoyed watching your interview with Bill Moyers. Sounds like you had a real life changing experience near where you grew up. Now that you're retired and I'm sure, very well off financially, you are doing the right thing and speaking truth to power. I hope that you have maintained some strong "connections" within the health care insurance industry so that you can continue to give us the inside scoop on what they are up to in order to scuttle REAL reform in health care, preferably with a single-payer system. No legislator should settle for anything less than a very robust public option. Great idea to poke George Will here. He should stick to writing about baseball. He IS out of touch with everyday Americans.
No, Mr. Potter has had many years to reflect on his role. In fact, he should understand just how the system locked himself and others into reality-denial; he was a reality-deflection agent himself. And yet he is still ambivalent and unwilling to address the larger scope.
If those plates had been silver-rimmed, would he have accepted his post-retirement job offer? Really, the public morality of Americans is disgusting. They stoop under the encumbrance of their capitalist armor.
"[E]ven nice people can lose sight of the problems their jobs and careers are causing in society." American's don't "lose sight". They almost never take their blinders off.
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