Health Care
Posted on | September 12, 2009 | No Comments
I may be the exception, but it seems like anytime I deal with anything government related (post office, DMV, IRS, student loans etc) I find it to be fairly efficient and competent given its task. Things may not turn out the way I want them to, but I find the offices to be fair, prepared for questions, and helpful. But anytime I deal with any major issue where there are huge corporations involved (health insurance claims, returns/customer service, Verizon, debt collection etc.) I find them to be vicious, heartless, willing to screw me to death for a nickel.
Specifically health insurance, here, because it’s such the issue du jour. I’ve had health insurance through my job for about 4 years and I’ve never gotten anything from tham except fuckups, grief, hours on the phone, huge bills, etc. If there were a public plan, I would skip to it in half a heartbeat. So would a lot of people, I presume. Which is why the Insurance Corporations are fighting it with all their will (and $$$$).
The government, for all its flaws, has shown it can run a health care system. (VA, Medicare). Every other “1st-world” government has some form of public health care. If government plans suck so much, why aren’t there comparatively loud calls in other countries to switch to a US-style system? Talk to Canadians and they would overthrow their government if they tried to install a for-profit system. The for-profit health care system is as outdated an idea as landowner-based voting. It’s not about who you trust more (government vs. corporations), it’s about what HAS to be done. Right now we pay for insurance, we pay for deductibles, we pay for drugs, we pay for what isn’t covered… what exactly is insured?
If the government fucks people over they can always be voted out. if insurance companies fuck people over there is nothing that can be done. In the meantime, it is a private insurer’s job to deny claims, or as much of as many as they can, i.e. to maximize profit.
what is the average salary for a Health Insurance CEO? where is that $ coming from??
LOOK AT THESE FUCKING NUMBERS! It’s pornography. They will fight to the death to preserve their way of life!
http://www.healthreformwatch.com/2009/05/20/health-insurance-ceos-total-compensation-in-2008/
Ins. Co. & CEO With 2007 Total CEO Compensation… Read More
* Aetna Ronald A. Williams: $23,045,834
* Cigna H. Edward Hanway: $25,839,777
* Coventry Dale B. Wolf : $14,869,823
* Health Net Jay M. Gellert: $3,686,230
* Humana Michael McCallister: $10,312,557
* U.Health Grp Stephen J. Hemsley: $13,164,529
* WellPoint Angela Braly (2007): $9,094,271
* WellPoint L. Glasscock (2006): $23,886,169
Ins. Co. & CEO With 2008 Total CEO Compensation
* Aetna, Ronald A. Williams: $24,300,112
* Cigna, H. Edward Hanway: $12,236,740
* Coventry, Dale Wolf: $9,047,469
* Health Net, Jay Gellert: $4,425,355
* Humana, Michael McCallister: $4,764,309
* U. Health Group, Stephen J. Hemsley: $3,241,042
* Wellpoint, Angela Braly: $9,844,212
The public option is the best means of regulating these bastards. It’s an option to force Insurance companies to lower their prices. I wouldn’t mind seeing the entire insurance industry collapse, but this is America, so there will always be morons who want to pay private companies.
If government health care is so bad, why aren’t there movements in other countries to switch to a US style system? Why did the Republicans put single payer in the Iraq constitution?
http://current.com/items/90903072_gop-sponsored-single-payer-guaranteed-health-care-in-iraq-but-not-in-us.htm
Don’t be fooled. there IS no other argument. 77% want a public option. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/new-poll-77-percent-suppo_n_264375.html
All the shouting is coming from rich people and dittoheads and faux libertarians which even when combined are a HUGE minority in this country. Health Care is a right, just like education. we have a “public option” for that, right?
The rich (this includes everyone on cable news, lobbyists, newspaper owners) are shouting because they’re going to pay for it. And damn well they should. Wealth is access in this country. If I had a billion dollars tomorrow, I bet you I could get legislation passed before the end of the year. Become a HUGE donor, attend a few meet and greets, have a meeting in Washington… If you’re going to have that kind of access to a system a poor person could never have you better well damn cough up to support it.
If it costs a trillion dollars, repeal the bush tax cuts. BOOM. 1 trillion dollars.
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