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| Top insurance lobbyist Ignani: August key in health drive |
| 2009-08-10 |
| Another A-Pee article, edited heavily for brevity. Click to RTWT. It is short but dense. The August break has so far seen numerous town hall meetings held by Democratic lawmakers disrupted by boisterous opponents. Democrats have said many of the problems have been instigated by industry-backed groups, but Ignagni said, "None of those people you've seen on TV are ours." But it is in the liberal group-mind. The insurance industry says it favors bipartisan changes in the health system, but is battling a proposal at the core of Democrats' blueprints: Creating an optional, government-run health insurance plan. Democrats say public coverage would push costs down by competing with private insurers. Competing my a$$. You just know the socialists would use accounting techniques that would have made Enron green with envy in order to kill the free market "competition" and then head straight for socializing the medical system. Ignagni, though, said the plan would drive insurance companies, hospitals and doctors into bankruptcy, leaving only the government to provide coverage, often called single payer. Obama and other Democrats say they have no intention of setting up such a system. Deep thought: Why the need for the "single payer" euphemism? "It is a very short step to a single payer, and that's what this whole discussion is about," she said. Despite Democrats' claims that private insurers would continue to compete for business, "the reality is it's never going to work that way," she said. And that's exactly what the socialists are counting on. Finally, an insurance lobbyist I can sort of agree with. The only thing that needs to happen to save the insurance industry is to get rid of things like the pre-existing condition crap, lifetime caps, restricting enrollment, and their "above the law" status on insurance malpractice. The insurance industry fought hard for these conditions for a reason, and believe me they aren't in the interest of anyone's health. And for a bonus, just track where the money goes on a CT scan. How could a ten-minute scan costs possibly cost over $4000 if you don't have insurance, but "only" $2,000 if you do? Solve this "riddle" and you'll bring health care costs into line. Those a-holes have figured out how to have their cake and eat it, too. If you don't have insurance and can't pay, they write off a $4000 expense or get reimbursed for it by the government. If you don't have insurance and pay for it, they make out like fat cats. If you have insurance, they still make way more money than they should be because that CT scanner is a total cash cow that often the prescribing doctor owns, or his buddy does. All the medical system has to do to pull this kind of thing off is to remember to bitch and moan all the time and nobody questions them. And how can the medical system in India perform major surgeries for a fraction of what it costs in the US, and yet still have top-notch results? In too many instances, US insurance companies are reimbursing their subscribers 100% if they go to India to have an operation done. |
| Posted by:gorb |