The REAL Problem with Healthcare in America - Insurance Companies!

The evil-empire in the healthcare world isn’t the Feds. It’s the insurance companies. I’m not trying to say that the government won’t screw-up healthcare. If it’s at all possible, they WILL regardless of which side of the isle you’re on. I AM saying the insurance companies have entirely too much power in the current system with the capability to set prices at both ends – what the insurance companies pay the doctors and what we pay for the privilege of having insurance. The only clear winners are the insurance companies.

Now, I’m all for capitalism. But, healthcare is the wrong place for the capitalistic attitude. Making money on the health issues of the public just seems vulgar. Co-ops on the surface sound good, but I don’t think they can get the economy of scale, due to their smaller size, that the big insurance companies do by bullying the doctors and the patients.

The healthcare debate has been raging on “The Hill” for months now, so I don’t prescribe to the notion that everything is being cobbled together or left unrevealed. The variations on the bills under consideration/consolidation stand as evidence to that fact. You can read them yourself, they’re available on-line. And the nonsense that anything proposed will cost the American taxpayer “out-the-butt” is bogus too. From what I’ve read of the bills, if properly consolidated and executed the largest portion of the costs are covered by simple redistribution of existing expenditures. Long lines resulting from a public plan? I can’t dismiss that. Ever been to an HMO?

Cooler heads need to prevail! If you believe the cost to the taxpayer is going to be astronomical, ok – it might be in the end, we ARE talking about our inept government after all. But, a significant portion of this rhetoric is fueled by the insurance companies. No one is talking about taking away what’s already available. If the insurance companies can’t compete with a government plan or co-ops, then they SHOULD go by way of the DoDo. But, please don’t parrot the diatribe spewed by the insurance companies and getting ugly at public meetings is a bit primitive.

Of course, if you’ve got a better idea, there’s millions of Americans waiting to hear it, please share. I believe it’s better to do something than nothing at all. If that means a public option, let’s give it a try. We can always change it later – everyone remembers how to vote right?