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Name:
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MartiniMan
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Subject:
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Don't Get Sick
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Date:
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9/8/2009 1:30:16 PM
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"This is another issue I don't think should break down along party lines --insurance reform. I can't understand why only dems are supposed to be for it, while most repubs are suppose to be against it. this should be a bipartisan issue."
You are mistaken if you think only Dems favor some reforms to address potential abuses by private insurers. But I would counter with why is it only Republicans want tort reform (yes, I already know the answer)? But government takeover of health care and insurance is a more frightening than abuses by insurance companies where market forces can at least exert some influence versus the court of last resort (i.e., the federal government where you need their permission to even sue them).
"Good capitalism should have the following core principle: produce a good product/service and make a reasonable profit. DO that and you'll continue getting customers, making your product, growing your wealth and teh wealth of your workers, etc.
-The dark shadow of capitalism is the human failing called greed which can lead to exploitation of workers and customers."
As Winston Churchill said, "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." We cannot allow imperfections in the system of capitalism to be used as support for the devastation that will be caused by socializing our health care system. That is the intent of an article like this that ignores the millions of people who get the care they need from private insurance or how else would 85% of those polled indicated they like their health care insurance?
"-Now enter teh insurance companies. The focus of insurance companies should be to produce a good product/service and make a reasonable profit. However, in some insurance companies the focus has been to make big profits and provide a promised product that no one gets to look at until some time in the distant future. Too often when the product actually arrives on our door step its not what was promised. Now enter the government which does have a role here to protect the consumer. A valid governemnt role is to prevent/punish crime, whether it be a mugging in the street or a mugging from the board room."
You obviously have little faith in the markets to self correct. The proper role of government should be to prevent abuse and collusion. That does not mean to take over what is being provided very well, albeit imperfectly, by the private insurance system. I can assure you when we had problems with Humana, and I heard about it aplenty, we switched to BC/BS even though they were more expensive. Now the complaints are minor and the market corrected itself.
"-We need insurance company reform. A lot of insurance companies are good, Unfortunately alot aren't. I believe government regulation --and enforcement--are necessary here for such things as carryovers of insurance from job to job, pre-existing condition acceptance, no drops once a person gets sick, etc. The health insurance companies are not here to make profits, they are here to provide a good product/service for us that makes a honest profit for them."
I don't get the last sentence as it seems to be a contradiction. If an insurance company provides a product that companies will buy they have every right to make a profit. I think you are saying that insurance companies should make a certain profit but not "too much". Well who decides what is too much, the government?!?! I hope you are not advocating government control of profit because that is never going to work and it never has.
"-Effective health care reform requires progress on many fronts; insurance company reform is one of them. Others are doing away with waste, preventing fraud, tort reform, increase in doctor/nursing schools, preventing special interest support to political races, etc
-Fixing teh health care system should be less about party politics and more about good management practices."
What exactly constitutes "insurance company reform"? If you mean government control or government mandates we all saw how well that worked with Fannie and Freddie, the Post Office, Amtrak and so on. Government does very little well and is infinitely less effective than the markets in correcting excess. If you want to talk politics explain to me why Republicans in Congress have been totally excluded from the creation of the Obamacare health plan?
I agree that government has a role to play in addressing excesses and abuses but I would argue that it is limited and it certainly is far from the role being proposed under Obamacare. Some sensible and very cost effective reforms like tort reform could have a significant impact on costs but Dems will never agree to that because they are in the pocket of the trial attorneys. Making portability is really only a first step in getting employers out of the insurance business (after all we don't have to provide your life insurance, car insurance, etc.). Right now the only choice my employees have are choices I provide. Imagine if they had access to hundreds of potential health insurance options? Eliminating denials for pre-existing conditions would increase overall costs for everyone but I think most Americans see this as an issue they will be prepared to pay the extra freight.
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