Competition "Hurts Insurers"

[xenologer]

What are some of the objections being handed around to a public insurance option?

"The president feels that having a 'public option' side by side -- same playing field, same rules -- will give Americans choice and will help lower costs for everybody. And that's a good thing," Sebelius told CNN.

"The president does not want to dismantle privately owned plans. He doesn't want the 180 million people who have employer coverage to lose that coverage. He wants to strengthen the marketplace," Sebelius added.

Healthcare costs undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies, drive many families into bankruptcy and eat up a growing portion of state and federal spending.

Versions of healthcare legislation unveiled by senior Democrats in the House and Senate include a new government insurance program. But Republicans are adamantly opposed to the idea, saying it could harm private insurers, and some of Obama's fellow Democrats are against it, too.

Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said there is not enough support in Congress for the "public option" even though proponents offer "very good arguments" for it.

"You've got to attract some Republicans as well as holding virtually all of the Democrats together. And that, I don't believe, is possible with the pure 'public option.' I don't think the votes are there," Conrad said on CNN.

You heard it here. You won't get Republican votes if you're putting their constituents ahead of the interests of private insurance companies. Who is voting for these people again?

Comments

[theglen.livejournal.com]

Want to fix insurance? Remove the regional restrictions on it. It's idiotic to force an insurance to have a dozen different policies for every single state. I worked for an agency that helped people in enroll in their insurance, a good chunk of the cost is just to cover administrative costs for a hundred near identical plans. Let people pick their plans regardless of where they are, instead of just being offered one single plan take it or leave it.

[kingofdoma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, here's my thing...

YOU'RE PUTTING MONEY ABOVE THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF YOUR CITIZENS.

That's what always made me crazy about the US health care system... market forces are SUPPOSED to make health care better, but NOT when it's too expensive for people to afford! It's ridiculous!

Get public health care. Do it. That way, people don't get screwed over because they're not rich. Gyah...

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Evidently, the insurance lobbyists are voting for the Senators they own.

According to this, 30 Senators have holdings in the industry.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204075.html

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

The (surprisingly high number of) people who agree with this kind of claptrap are exactly who is voting Republican. People who have never been through an illness or done without insurance for any length of time, and have no compassion beyond what it takes to talk a scared girl into NOT aborting her fetus.

Across the board

[markdiii.livejournal.com]

I don't think that all politicians are bad. However I think that the ones that actually are trying to look out for us are a minority, and that the higher up you go, the smaller that minority becomes. Regardless of party, most politician's look out for their own interests. Generally this is their own pocket-books first and us somewhere down the line. Cut through the political grandstanding and that's what you're probably going to find. I'd like to stress again, that this is less true on the local levels. I've been acquainted with some local politician's who are upstanding people, but like the saying goes: 'Power corrupts'.

That said, the current insurance system is broken and rapidly deteriorating. When anywhere from 40-80% of a medical bill goes to pay insurance, something is wrong.

I however, don't assume that I know the perfect fix for it. Personally I'm a start again from scratch kind of guy, but that has some very messy ramifications.

It's really a 'lesser of two evils' kind of choice, and no one can even agree on what's evil anymore.