A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Republicans' Obamacare Stance Is 'Height Of Hypocrisy,' House Democrats Say

Thursday, July 12, 2012


'Medical loss ratio' is what you're talking about.

And the insurance industry has already figured out the way around it.  

On Countdown with Keith Olbermann, whistleblower Wendell Potter talks with Lawrence O'Donnell about where the con game (medical loss ratio, the amount of money insurers must spend on health care) is in the legislation, and how it will enable insurance companies to continue to price gauge and keep obscene profits instead of delivering affordable and quality medical care to policy-holders.

The bill was written by the insurance industry.  The regulations were created by the insurance industry and the regulations and legislation is being implemented and overseen by the insurance industry.  Obama put the foxes in charge of this chicken coop (former WellPoint executives Liz Fowler and Steve Larsen) to write both the legislation and the regulations, and enforce the regulations.  

Fowler's most notable actions to date has been issuing waivers to businesses that don't want to have to provide insurance to their employees.  So much for Candidate Obama's pledge on restricting lobbyists from writing our laws.

Why put the insurance industry into the equation of Americans' medical treatment at all?  Insurance adds NOTHING to the medical model. The way that the insurance industry makes its profits is by taking a cut of money that can be spent on medical care.  And in reality the insurance industry profits like Wall Street and all other corporations that have crashed our economy have profited:  By denying claims and preventing treatment (Wall Street and corporations do it by offshoring manufacturing, outsourcing jobs, eliminating jobs in spite of record profits for short term windfalls to shareholders and bonuses for CEOs, etc.).  

The insurance industry is the 'Don Fanucci' (Godfather, Part II) of medical care; the insurance industry is "wetting its beak", letting you get medical care (maybe, if you can afford the deductibles, the co-pays, and if your illness is covered by your policy, but) only if you pay them a gratuity up front.

The controlling meme that has been operational for the past 40 years, the sales pitch for privatizing government services and resources, is that "private industry can do it cheaper".  While Republicans (Nixon) began it, Democrats joined in (Jimmy Carter).  But it's just not true that private industry does it cheaper.  Or even better.  

What the insurance industry has charged anywhere from 12-39 percent for, the US government (Medicare) does spectacularly well for 4 percent.

KEEP READING
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

0 comments:

About This Blog

  © Blogger templates Newspaper by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP