Bad analogy perhaps to civil rights, Medicare and Medicaid, but you've overlooked imperialism, militarism and war. Terrible enough in themselves, and in the long run they undermine everything good, as we're seeing played out right now.
You said: "I can't help but wonder if this is the kind of thing we can look forward to with a public health plan. I sure hope not."
Why wonder about it???? If it really is that bad, people will OPT for the CHOICE of one of the wonderful plans offered by private insurance companies and make the CHOICE to leave the public plan.
What you are doing is great and courageous. Our whole business financial system has become not a capitalist system of supply and demand, but a system of manipulation and greed. Our health care system is right at the top of that system.
From a consumers aspect, one of the most obvious ways that the health care providers do that is to limit ones knowledge of costs. Let's say I go to the doctor and he wants to perform a needed procedure. My doctor will tell me how much he will bill the insurance company or how much how much he will bill me without insurance. If I then call my insurance company to ask how much their negotiated rate is with the doctor for that procedure, they will not tell me. They say I must have it done first then they will tell me the cost. They take away my ability to make an informed choice of whether or not to use my insurance for that procedure. That is NOT free market, that is manipulation and deception.
BTW, I am 43, and VERY healthy, and have barely ever used my insurance. Anthem raised my rates 40% this year. When I called to ask why, they said that management wasn't telling them why. Then the customer service rep said, "I think it's because we need to buy doctors new equipment." She REALLY said that. I laughed out loud.
One more unrelated point. Being married to a European and having many friends abroad, the only people I hear complaining about a single payer system are people who have never had it. EVERY person I know who has had government sponsored health care has nothing but fine things to say about it. The ONLY complaints I hear from them are minor things about waiting for an appointment... JUST LIKE HERE!
People, stop being manipulated, like a bunch of sheep, by these companies' agendas. WE MUST NOT SIT DOWN AND LET THIS OPPORTUNITY PASS WITH A WATERED DOWN HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL. The compromise IS a public option.
Kudos to you Wendell. It will be through individuals such as yourself where the truth of our healthcare system can be brought into the Light and more and more of us will know the truth of what we have chosen to ignore. We can be the change we wish to see and you and your divine gifts will help us all to BE the ones we've been waiting for.
Blessings of Everlasting Light and Love,
csp
Thank you for all you're doing.
About high deductible health plans tied to HSAs: We have one, and deposited $5606 last year; $6000 this year, and pay $660/mo to Humana for health insurance. It is a fantasy to expect mothers like myself to spend that money on ourselves. That money is an asset of my family, which includes my husband and three children, and I would no more spend that money on myself than the man in the moon. "America's Health Insurers" should think again about whether HDHPs encourage me to better manage my health care dollars to keep myself healthier. In my case, is encourages the opposite--a highly conservative use of those funds which I would never voluntarily use on myself when I have three children who may need braces or who may fall and need urgent care for a broken bone.
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