Things to keep you up nights...

[archanglrobriel]

I was going to post this on Saturday, but then I thought "nobody reads LJ on the weekends" so I waited to post about this until Monday, because I feel that this is too important to get overlooked by a weekend posting.

The full article on this can be found over at Daily Kos but I'll just provide a quick summary here anyway

Comments

[elegantelbow]

Originally, all insurance agencies were non-profits. I still don't understand why people aren't forming them now.

[worldmage]

Why form a non-profit when you can screw people over and make billions?

[elegantelbow]

For all the same reasons that anyone forms any non-profit. Why create the red cross as a non-profit? Why have non-profit research institutes? Why have non-profit homeless shelters?

I'm not asking "why do profit-driven capitalists seek profit?". That's pretty obvious. Instead, I'm asking, "why do people who care about health care not start non-profit entities to provide health care in some sane way?".

I think there's plenty of them. And, if they could make the health care affordable, they could out-compete the for-profit health insurance / HMO companies.

[worldmage]

Because these days damn near all of the people who have the know-how to do such a thing are profit-driven capitalists. Starting a competitive non-profit health insurance company (any kind of insurance, really, though health insurance is especially bad) is a LOT more complicated--not to mention more expensive--than setting up a research foundation or homeless shelter.

The reason the public option is so important is that the government is the only entity with the resources necessary to create a non-profit system that could truly compete with for-profit insurance on an equal footing.

[magicwoman]

Thanks for sharing this information...

[d2leddy]

"nobody reads LJ on the weekends"

I often do.

"Dear American People,

Fuck off and die.

No Love,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Health Insurance Corporate Overlords"

I've wondered why they even bother with insurance. Why not just lobby until they have the legal right to remove money from US citizen bank accounts at will? It would cut down on paper work, and staff, too.

[archanglrobriel]

Exactly. If the whole thing is a racket, why don't they just dispense with the cover story about providing health care coverage and just figure some legal way to rob us blind? Oh wait, could it be because we'd refuse to sit still for such an obvious pimp slap? I'm thinkin' they've about messed their nest with regard to this whole "health care" boondoggle they've been using to fleece us so completely. Everyone I know has had at least one person in their circle of acquaintance who have had big problems with insurance companies screwing over someone who was seriously ill or dying. We're onto them now. Whether we can actually force our (eye roll) duly elected representatives to DO anything bout it (in between catered luncheons sponsored by the lobbyists) remains to be seen, but for the most part I think people are getting really sick of their shell game.

[archanglrobriel]

*nod* The way the system runs now it's so clearly rigged to make it all but impossible to win. If you do have insurance, it's only temporary and you have to jump through whatever hoops they're forcing you to jump through - dictated by statisticians, not doctors - to keep it. You have to hope you don't get sick enough to need it, either. If, God forbid, you lose your job then you're totally screwed. When Soren lost his job there was no way in hell we could afford Cobra. Likewise, if you're someone like me who will probably not be associated with a single corporate employer, you have to either figure out how to pay prohibitively expensive health insurance or do without. And that's IF they will take you on, which many won't do if you're say...diabetic, like I am. Or if you have any sort of pre-existing condition, like being born with any sort of non-standard body type. I was appalled when I found out that little people - who can have staggering medical bills - are very often deemed "uninsurable" because of it. So not only are you a

[archanglrobriel]

I was so naive before Soren got laid off. When he got laid off and he was freaking out about insurance, I was very blithe about "Oh well, we'll just get Cobra coverage." Then we found out how much it was. Who can lose their job and then afford to pay that??? And what about people who have conditions that require them to stay on their medications? Should this be a country where getting fired can mean a death sentence because you can no longer afford your anti-HIV meds? Or that you'll have to endure seizures because you can't afford your anti-epileptics? I had to cancel my mail order Diabetes supplies when Soren lost his job and the woman asked me why I was discontinuing service. I said "I can't afford to test my blood anymore, my partner just lost his job." And the woman sighed and said "I'm so sorry. We're hearing that a lot these days."
Test strips without insurance $130. Test strips with insurance $15.
Gaaaaaah! The whole thing makes me SO STABBITY!!!

[richie73]

This is such an unbelievable outrage. The very idea of for-profit health insurance is just such an abomination and it predictably produces this kind of behavior, at least in the absence of strong competition from a public system.

[randomcub]

*nod* Amen to that.

[archanglrobriel]

An abomination - yes, that's exactly the term. I loathe them like the plague bearing rats that they are.