Protecting Health Care Monopolies
By John Amato Tuesday Jun 23, 2009 3:06pmPaul Krugman picked up on a Digby post about Blanche Lincoln called Monopoly Money and came to this realization:
The truth is that the notion of beneficial competition in the insurance industry is all wrong in the first place: insurers mainly compete by engaging in “risk selection” — that is, the most successful companies are those that do the best job of denying coverage to those who need it most. But in any case, Arkansas is in effect a one-insurer monopoly state, with no competition at all — unless a public plan is created.
In fact, I may have a new hypothesis about the political economy of the health care fight. One thing that’s obvious, if you look at the balking Democrats I chided in today’s column, is that almost all of them come from states with small population. These are also, by and large, states in which one or at most two private insurers dominate the market. So here’s a suggestion: while the opponents of a private plan say that they’re trying to defend market competition, what they’re actually doing is defending lucrative local monopolies.
Why are these few Senator's being allowed to hijack the debate on a public option?
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even though it's red. Our pols aren't about to piss off our mega-provider.
These states are going to end up the launching pad for a single payer system. Assuming that a state's private insurers lose in competition to a public option, all that's going to be left is the public option. And if a public option can serve the needs of all citizens in a particular states, its going to become apparent to those in other states that private insurance really can't cut it and that there's nothing to fear from a nationwide single-payer system.
The Health Care situation in this country is beyond obscene.
Americans are losing their homes and dying because of the current system.
The senators that are trying to protect this amoral and insidiously evil system are genuine traitors to the United States of America.
Congress have a gold plated, diamond encrusted health care program.
We pay for it.
Congress does not want Americans to have affordable, humane health care.
Rescind the Congressional Health Care program until Americans have an equivalent program!
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In Texas two companies control the majority of healthcare policies written. This is true for many of the major markets across the country. When you couple lack of competition, recission of policies for insured policyholder with a major disease diagnosis (Cancer etc.)and exclusion of people with prior conditions you have a recipe for uncontrolled premiums and poor service.
that the world's greatest nation, denies it's citizens so many rights. It's unimaginable. And yet people still wave the flag and proclaim how great it is. Any nation that has this many layers of government denying it's citizens so many basic rights, really has absolutely no right to talk about any other nation on the globe. The political elites are so far removed from the average citizen, that it's beyond sad.
Why are these few Senator's being allowed to hijack the debate on a public option?
Cause the Senate is about...who's going to be the whore and who's going to be the John today.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article2...
Please take note, since you copied and pasted from Krugman apparently without reading it carefully. This goes to show that even Nobel Laureates can write ass backward sentences, though I do credit him with leaving the strikeout.
He now has this (the strikeout is his, the emphasis is mine):
US Senators almost to a person could be counted on supporting PRIVATE plans. That is what the Corporations pay them for.
It is anything in the PUBLIC interest that they have a problem with.
Otherwise you are on to something here.
I was going to make the same comment about a possible typo. The statement didn't make sense otherwise. With the correction intact, Krugman is again on the spot.
are nothing but pimps for the mega corporations. And yet people just keep voting for them over and over again. You'd think that we'd eventually catch on, eh?
The pols are the whores... the corps are the pimps.
...by and large are the ones still standing at the end of any campaign, leaving us with the "lesser of two evils" in the average election, even if we don't know it or consciously hold our nose and vote for some blue dog Dem. It makes me ill to think of how many votes are turned by craptacular, inaccurate teevee and radio ads.
So, how are our brave congressfolk bearing up under THEIR undoubtedly horrendous public health care system?
What brave little soldiers, taking one for the team by putting up with all that "socialized" medicine...and "socialized" airline travel...and "socialized" retirement savings...and "socialized" franking privileges...
(I paraphrase here) He said that many politicians do not really believe that people will think that they are more concerned with protecting the insurance companies than with protecting citizens.
Talk about heads up asses.
Bypass Congress et al and set this up as a national referendum and let the PEOPLE vote on it? Since it's going to be us using and paying for it.
Oh, I'm sorry...that's INSANE.
because I support Single Payer and am opposed to forcing Americans to buy insurance. (This friend considers himself a liberal Democrat.) I said that the majority of Americans want Medicare for all- or a public option of some sort, and the Dems have control, so what's the problem? I was told it's too "radical" of an idea-- and what's wrong with insurance for everyone, if the government provides a subsidy to those (like myself) who can't afford to purchase insurance... I said I objected to the government subsidizing an industry, and that the insurance companies would still hold the power, telling doctors what procedures and drugs they could prescribe and refusing treatments and coverage. "Well, there must be some loss to them if they oppose it," I was told.
If supporting Single Payer is a radical notion, I am proud to call myself a radical.
Put these damned money sucking, health care denying, none caring, corrupt, sham health care providing insurance companies
our of business and give us a US Government efficiently run single payer Health Care System. The resnublicans keep screaming let the
private sector be involved. How lucky would you be if your lifetime Social Security Contributions were invested in the stock market, as Bushco wanted and you were retiring next month. Man you sure would be living LOW on the hog.
You selfish DEMOCRATIC Senators and Congressmen join together and give us a Government run Single Payer Medical Insurance Plan. Let the efficiently run Medicare System be your guide.
Please don't miss the opportunity to do the right thing!
Sometimes its the House that scares me. So many wackos (like Minn's Michelle Bachmann), other times, I just really really hate the whole concept of the Senate - how so few people can absolutely control, dominate, and derail the legislative process.
Makes sense. Good info. They're also states where the anti-government message tends to resonate.
Can we start our own health insurance company? The board would be people who have lost loved ones from the not health insurance companies. We could raise money like we did for the Obama campaign and each person who puts money in to help start the company up could become a part owner, thus this could also help people who arent well off earn money. The price for joining could be made so cheap that the other companies would become obsolete.
Can we do this?
Capitalism works if there is enough government oversight. The hard part is having a moral government. Even though our government is not good enough, capitalism generally has worked well for the USA for over two hundred years. Our present financial crisis is all about lack of oversight and run away greed. So, capitalism can and does work for the most part. Where it falls short is in relation to those commodities that are essential to survival that don't have enough competition. The driving force behind the genius of capitalism is the competition between providers that keep the costs down. The reason healthcare, legal advice, and pharmaceuticals are so expensive is that we don't have competition, we have extortion. Increase the competition and the prices fall, but the powers that be have successfully fixed the game so there is virtually no competition.
A politician telling his constituents the exact opposite of the truth? Sadly, probably better than even I'd say.
You should use your podium to fight for what is the best solution, not what your Messiah is blessing as policy.
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