Health is one of those things we're always gambling on. Any day, you could find out you have a health condition -- a very expensive one at that. The solution is to spread the risk by paying into a system. Some of us pay more than we'll ever take out. There is, in short, a need to have health insurance.
Insurance companies in the USA, however, are the spawn of the markets and of a market philosophy. No one should be confused into thinking that a "health insurance" is interested in your health. They are gigantic corporations with an interest in making money.
So when Baucus or anyone sends a bill out of committee that depends on insurance companies to get it right, I think they're just being duped.
I'm not saying that I don't have any faith in the insurance companies. I'm saying that I do have faith in the insurance companies. They can be counted on to look out for themselves. I expect them to be fully selfish and try to game the system. I expect them to work for their success, and if that means our failure, it's not their problem.
If these organizations were individuals, we'd call them sociopaths. Hey, don't blame them. No one ever said a corporation had to have a conscience.
Making the sociopaths play by the rules is the role of government.
I have faith that the insurance companies are, right now, spending as much money as they can to undermine real reform because they like keeping about 22% of every dollar we give them. If they had their way, it would be more than that, not less.
I have faith that the insurance companies are paying clever people to devise loopholes in the current legislation so their bottom line doesn't change much.
I have faith that insurance companies will always try to do "cream skimming." They'll try to insure the healthy and turn away the sick. They're not about paying out money if they can find a way around it.
I have faith that whatever legislation gets passed, the insurance companies are going to go over it with a fine-toothed comb and make long-term strategic plans to game the system, to figure out how they can squeeze every penny of profit within the new rules. I have faith that they'll stretch the rules in every way they can.
I have faith that the insurance companies will keep up their current practice of not paying doctors and hospitals, and not reimbursing their customers whenever they can. They will do it randomly and without explanation. The harder the insurance companies make it for everyone to get reimbursed, the more of us will just decide it's not worth it and let them keep our (did I say our -- I meant their) money.
I have absolute faith that the insurance companies will make a profit from all this when all is said and done.
I'm worried about the rest of us.
I don't believe that healthcare can be fixed with their 22% bottom line and the bureaucratic hoops they make us jump through so we'll give up and let them keep their money.
I'm not against them making a profit, either, but at margins of 1-2% of the money we give them, not 20-25%.
I support a strong public option because a government provided health insurance company will always have a conscience. It will be there to provide competition with the sociopaths. It will SAVE US MONEY.
So you see, I support a strong public option because I have faith that the insurance companies will keep doing exactly what the markets drive them to do. This is not something that can be fixed by the markets.