Squeeking Wheels
oiling the wheels on the goal posts
Wasn’t it just a couple of weeks ago that this debate mob action was about “Health Care Reform” which was going to be accomplished “before the end of August?” How did it happen that this is now all about “Health Insurance Reform” to be accomplished “by the end of the year?”
President Obama is planning an “August offensive against the insurance industry."It is “a campaign of increasingly harsh rhetoric against the insurance industry” that is “intended to drive home the message that revamping the health care system will protect consumers by ending unpopular insurance industry practices, like refusing patients with pre-existing conditions.”
That part about pre-existing conditions gives the game away. Health insurance companies refuse to cover pre-existing conditions for the same reason that you can’t insure your automobile after you crash it. Insurance is a form of financing for the unexpected and unpredictable. It is not a mechanism to force somebody else to pick up the tab for expenses you have already incurred.
Do the Democrats even understand what insurance is?
Well, no. But they also don’t understand what the First Amendment is; what “fishy” is; what Freedom is; what logic is; what reason is; what personal accountability is; what “taxes” is; what the free market is; what facts are; what “smart” is; what national defense is; what eugenics is; what statism is; what recourse is; .... but I could go on. for daze.
Pre-existing conditions… Coincidentally, a day or so ago Consumerist had a post…
Individual insurance and pregnancy. Employer-subsidised insurance covers it, largely because most States mandate it. But buy your own, and something happens. It is considered a “pre-existing” condition and not covered, even if it happens years after buying the policy.Posted by on 08/06/09 at 12:12 PMYep, teqjack—that’s just plain stupid.
How about this restructure: make health insurance like car insurance? We pay for major collision insurance but not for rotating tires, oil changes and other normal maintenance stuff.
Health insurance ought to cover stuff like getting hit by a bus, major dread diseases and the like. Regular stuff like Pregnancy and normal aches and pains ought to be like the lasix and plastic surgery medical stuff. Market forces keep costs down and folks can shop the best price vs the care they want.
If the gubbmint is in charge, they will be doing the “cost cutting” measures like that weaselly “pregnancy as pre-existing condition” gambit.
At least insurance companies have to be somewhat responsive, cuz you can always quit ‘em and go to their competition. Not an option with a gubbmint system. Can’t even go to Canada… India, maybe.
And how can adding a ginormous layer of gubbmint bureaucracy to the system do anything but add to the cost?
Posted by Claire on 08/08/09 at 07:23 AM
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