The
fix is in...
Banks, credit unions and money management firms are now quietly positioning themselves to become central players in the business of health care, offering 401(k)-type accounts to cover future medical expenses.
These supercharged checking accounts, which must be linked to a high-deductible health insurance plan, allow consumers to invest their own money for current and future medical expenses and have it grow tax-free.
They are the centerpiece of President Bush's plans on health care, just as private accounts were offered as a Social Security fix.
....
Not since the creation of the individual retirement account in the mid-1970's has such a potentially huge mountain of money landed in the lap of the financial services industry.
"Billions of dollars that used to be written in the form of checks with insurance companies' names on them would instead go to credit unions, banks, and long-term investment houses," said Dan Perrin, the publisher of H.S.A. Insider and executive director of the H.S.A. Coalition, a lobbying group backed by 70 small-business and medical industry groups as well as the American Bankers Association. "You know America: you see a financial opportunity and it sets off a gold rush."
A gold rush indeed. If you ever had any doubt about who would be the beneficiary of Bush's new 'health plan' - a cruel joke on the nation, if there ever were one - you can put it to rest now. And you can see exactly what it will do to our healthcare system - which is to cause costs to balloon. Instead of using all the money spent on medical care on actual care [as is the case with the old Medicare, a single payer system] billions and billions of dollars that could be used for care will be diverted into profits for financial institutions. Brilliant!
Not only that, but employers will cease offering insurance and you will simply have to pay for all your medical expenses yourself. While you're of course paying more for college tuiion [costs of loans going up, grant and scholarships disappearing] and retirement [they still intend to rip the heart out of Social Security and pensions are disappearing]. It's all about the 'ownership society' - you're on your own, suckers. Eat it.
And this is called 'compassionate' conservatism ... and people buy it. Are we the stupidest country on earth, or what?
Crossposted at http://claudialong.com/...
