Portion of an article in todays paper by a clinical psychologist. AS FOLLOWS:As both a provider and consumer of health care for more than 20 years, I've seen the insurance companies play variations on this game of raising premiums outrageously while blaming factors other than their own greed for fattening their profits. Companies currently take about 33 cents out of every health care dollar,for which they return nothing of value. Yet they have the power to limit which doctors you can see,which medications you can take, which medically recommended procedures they'll pay for. A public alternative that would force insurance companies to compete rather than colluding to make providers and their patients their victims rather than their partners,resulting in providers and patients providing subsidies to the tune of billions of dollars--is dead,and with it any hope for real change in a broken system. Health care companies do have their own costs,of course. Studies show that since 1998 health care related companies have spent 1.8 billion dollars in lobbying. That money is not for campaign comtributions,just lobbying costs. Perhaps worst of all the Republicans are sure to point to exhorbitant premium increases (17.4 to 20.7 %) as proof of their warnings that passing health care reform would increase consumer costs dramatically. The GOP will ignore that the vast majority of these increased costs are pure company profit,using reform as a whipping boy for another rip-off of consumers. The more things change,the more they remain the same. (The author of this article states that his managed health care provider has notified him of a 30%! rise in his rates,despite the fact that he has had no claims for years.)
Sounds like a temper tantrum to me, or retribution for electing enough leaders who would finally stand up to them. That 1.8 billion they spent on lobbying would have helped so many of their customers who they so callously canceled for having the gall to get sick. These corporations exist for only one purpose, to make every dollar in profit they can in any way they can. This is why I was so hoping for the Public Option, their mandate would be to provide quality health care for the citizens of our nation, for at least 33 cents on the dollar less. One way to look at the Public Option is this: You can pay $100 a week to an insurance company who is likely to cancel your policy when you get sick, or $66 a week in taxes for coverage that will never be canceled. The big problem is the educational level of the TeaBaggers, they can't do simple math or follow simple logic; that's why they need Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin to tell them what they think. .
You really know how to pick them scratcho this is a serious can of worms. In my view insurance is an enormous scam that presents a false sense of security against an enemy that does not exist. Insurance does not make a person whole after an unseemly demise. Insurance premiums are like gambling your money away and the only way you can recoup is if you meet some kind of misfortune and that is a jackpot I would rather do without. It is a system that preys upon fearful thoughts. Insurance salesmen are much like Jehovahs witnesses in that they remind you of doom and then offer a remedy. Insurance does not prevent misfortune. As a way of managing health care costs, it is rediculously incentivized. Health care is for wellness, not for profit. Beyond the insurance system is the medical establishment itself. Doctors use the impression that they have privileged insight to command high prices for their services when the vast majority of the time, treatment is symptomatic and disease self limiting.
"treatment is symptomatic". There's a real problem. Once a person sees a chart on the nerves emerging from the spinal chord BETWEEN the vertabae and how symptoms arise from displaced vertabre compressing nerves ,one can also see the eficacy of chiropractic treatment and understand what you meant. Chiropratic was said to be useless when I was young,even by the AMA.
my opinion: insurance is basically a form of gambling by buying insurance you are betting that something bad will happen to you now why would anyone do that?
An IT is called a Professional. A Doctor is called a Practitioner, we pay them to practice and experiment on us, "Take 2 of these every 4 hours and let's see what happens." .
Do away with insurance and let government mandate that everyone deposit a fixed amount or percentage of their income into an account to cover any medical costs that arise. Why should we allow government to force us to do anything at all against our will, especially when it is for the benefit of another or others who we don't even know, and as these forums appear to display, those who are filled with envy, resentment and hatred toward those who are the source of their demands?
