healthcare Part 2
ok well you convinced me I was wrong yesterday. But unfortunately i thought of something else that kinda bothers me with single payer healthcare. So here it goes, I hope you can convince me Im wrong again.
Well if we go to single payer we eliminate the insurance companies from heathcare right? Do we think they will just give up there profits and go on? I dont i think what they will do is just raise the prices on all the other insurance we all need so bad. Life Insurance, House Insurance, and most of all Auto Insurance which has we been required to have now.
The big corporations dont give up there money so easy. and unfortunately they have a lot of tools at there disposal including a lot of congresspeople.
I hope you can do as good a job of changing my mind today as you did yesterday.
Hope everyone is having a good day!!!!
Okay, I'll have a go....
Firstly, the health insurance industry is not tied to the auto insurance industry, for starters. That little Liverpuddlian Reptile only pushes Geico, although Geico also pushes rental apartment insurance.
Secondly, the insurance industry is going to be needed in this overhaul and many of their employees will be valuable in the new system, if it were to be so.
The Gubmint would move them over to Gubmint jobs first, before anyone else.
July 20, 2009 10:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
ahh but lisB a lot of the bigger insurance companies handle it all and would lose the healthcare part.
July 20, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Red, first, you may be one of the first people to ever admit anyone changed their mind on TPM. Not that you would be the first to have their mind changed, just admitting to it, so Kudos and you get the pitchfork award for brave blogging.
(I just invented it, you are the first recipient)
Now, auto insurance is legalized graft as we all know, but they are not even remotely in the same universe with healthcare. Greed-wise, I mean.
Home and Life insurance are different beasts entirely.
Thing is, one can live without house, and life insurance is a nice extra. People can even live without cars, but can folks live without healthcare?
It shouldn't be "insurance" at all. It hould be a public utility like water and electricity.
Those are my thoughts, anyway.
July 20, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Many states mandate caps on automobile insurance rates - ie. insurers are not free to charge anything they wish.
July 20, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with Bwak in that we can do without other insurance if push comes to shove. We can still -literally- survive.
Yes, there are companies that provide the entire spectrum of policies - but not from the same carriers. For example: Your insurance company is X. They seem to cover everything to do with your home, your car, even your health if you so choose. Most people don't have such umbrella policies but for the sake of argument let's say you do. You pay one big premium that is then disbursed to several insurance companies, any of which can drop you at any time. In reality, your home is covered by Y but your car by Z. Your health? By A. I know, you're wondering what happened to X. Thing is, they never covered you at all. They're a clearinghouse for other insurers ... which is part of the problem if you have a claim dispute.
Confused yet? Just another reason to take the private insurers out of the equation and let single-payer healthcare cover everyone equally.
July 20, 2009 10:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
thank you barefoot that does explain it better im glad i posted this im not very smart at times and didnt think about it that way now i can back single payer a lot better and feel better about it
July 20, 2009 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're much smarter than you may think, Red. You're willing to ask questions, seek answers and consider the results. It would be nice if more people would do that.
July 20, 2009 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's good to remember, Red, that "insurers" are not in the business of providing coverage. They advertise themselves as though they are, they tell us they are, yet they are not.
They are in the business of raising investment capital.
"Coverage" of the sort they offer they consider part of the cost of doing business. And it's a cost they try to minimize, thus their practices such as dropping insureds for "pre-existing conditions" after claims are filed.
Any time the investment markets are down, your rates will go up - at least somewhat. You get to make up the difference between what they expect to earn on their capital and their actual portfolio's performance.
Yes, they'll scream and cry. Let them.
Leave it up to me and every insurance executive might well end up dispossessed, homeless, and forbidden from holding a job or having a permanent address for life. Insurance companies take multiple billions out of the economy every year and put as little back as they can get away with.
It's not going to be pretty, it's not going to be easy, but if there ever was a fight worth fighting this is the one.
July 20, 2009 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo.
July 21, 2009 12:32 AM | Reply | Permalink