In all the healthcare hubbub...
With all the screaming and yelling go on at these town halls, and the fantastically heavy coverage given these "real american" "protectors of the republic", its amazing how much non discussion of healthcare is happening...at the town halls, on the news..even the debate on the net is now centered on the "outrage" and increasingly on the violent behavior and sentiments expressed by the protesters...
...and it seems to me that this discussion is being hijacked by those who have the least to gain and the most to lose, and they are using those who have the MOST to gain and the LEAST to lose to make their point.
It seems pretty evident that the health insurance industry doesn't like ANY discussion of a public option. Even having a conversation about it is a bad idea, because once you have even an inefficiently run not for profit health insurance option, it will in almost have to provide better service for its participants...why?
Because health insurance is a business where capitalism and the free market work AGAINST the consumer. By its very nature, a for profit health insurance company manages the company for the benefit of its shareholders, which means it is always looking to:
Grow revenues (increase the gross number of policies, look for investment opportunities for its cash, etc, etc)
Reduce costs : Manage its business efficiently..and...pay out only what it MUST in benefits.
By doing these two things well, profits increase..and profits go to...shareholders.
In short, a health insurance company, like any insurance company, makes more money by not paying.
The moment you have a not for profit insurance company all that margin that was being used to provide value to shareholders becomes available to the health consumer. There is no longer any incentive to make it difficult to file a claim, because not paying claims no longer makes sense....
but I'm not setting out today to argue my opinion on what we should do about healthcare.
I'm simply saying that there should be a real discussion about it..and that if we all had a real conversation about it, my bet would be that most of us would prefer a system that covered all of us, and that cost less, while still doing a great job taking care of our health as a country and a society.
I'm also pretty sure that system wouldn't be the one we have today.
So as you watch the tea bagger/birther crowd..who are helped to organize by special interest funded groups...(I wonder which ones?)....
get disproportionate (and sympathetic) coverage on certain news outlets (FOX)....just remember what we're NOT discussing...and then go tweet: #WeWantHealthCareReform
Oh, and if you don't buy my statements on how health insurance companies with a profit motive behave, give this a read: Ira Glass on "pre existing conditions"
