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  • TUESDAY JUNE 30 2009 9:30 AM

Democrats Blowing It On Health Care

It’s really quite interesting to watch the Democrats throw it all away. This time, they seem to think blowing the chance at decent health care reform will aid them in future elections. Or perhaps they have taken so much money from the health care industry that they don’t give a shit. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Fixing health care is the biggest problem facing our country. If we don’t do something drastic, it will completely destroy our economy in the years to come. As it is, we’re in bad shape. Democrats, specifically Senate Democrats, have decided to help the poor insurance industry out as much as possible. Es no bueno.

Most of the debate is over the dreaded “public option.” Oh, dear no. We can’t have a public option. That’s socialized medicine! Americans must be able to choose! And by that I mean they can’t choose a public option! They have to be able to choose between private monopolies! This is fucking America! We demand to be fucked over by private companies as much as possible!

And make no mistake about it; those against the “public option” want to continue with monopolies.

But the notion that most American consumers enjoy anything like a competitive marketplace for health care is flatly false. And a study issued last month by a pro-reform group makes that strikingly clear.

The report, released by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), uses data compiled by the American Medical Association to show that 94 percent of the country's insurance markets are defined as "highly concentrated," according to Justice Department guidelines. Predictably, that's led to skyrocketing costs for patients, and monster profits for the big health insurers. Premiums have gone up over the past six years by more than 87 percent, on average, while profits at ten of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007.



So, that's what the "free market" kids are fighting for. Monopolies. Yay!

A public option would guarantee the possibility of lower cost, reliable coverage. It will bring cost control by reforming how we pay for medical care. It will create competition between private insurers that simply does not exist today. It will also force private insurers to perform better, something they are not doing today.

To those who say the public option would drive the private companies out of business; I thought everything government did sucked? Is government bad or highly efficient? Please stick to one talking point, no matter the subject. Secondly, the private insurance companies have had their chance and to say they fucked it up would be an understatement. They deserve no protection. I have no interest in keeping pedophiles in business, either. Their time has come and gone. They could have kept costs lower, kept people from dying, insured anyone with preconditions, but they decided to go for the biggest profits possible and now they are on the deserving end of what’s coming. They only compete to insure the well and reject the sick. Then they employ adjusters to get the company out of paying for health care services when the well become sick. Welcome to the world of failure. They made their bed, now they have to lie in it.

If any of you loud mouthed, utopian, not living in the real world Libertarians bring up regulation, feel free to explain the exact regulation that makes health care so expensive. If you can’t detail these so called regulations, shut your face and stick your broad stroke arguments up your ass. Your simplicity has grown tiresome. This current debate is for adults and what you want will never be, so stay out of it or act like an adult and accept that what you want ain’t going to happen.

As far as the public plan, Democrats are right now working on a way to water it down until it is completely ineffective. Senator Jay Rockefeller, who is a son of a bitch because of his FISA legislation, has come up with a good public health care plan. His plan would partner a public plan with Medicare for more bargaining power and access to provider networks. According the non-partisan Lewin Group and the Commonwealth Foundation, Rockefeller’s plan would drop premiums 20 to 30 percent. Can’t have that, now can we?

Rockefeller’s plan would force private insurance companies to be more honest. They would have to cut their bullshit administrative costs and fire quite a few of those adjusters whose job is to find ways to not pay for care. Right now, you have no choice. You can choose between one horrible private insurance company or another. There really isn’t much difference. The idea is to force them to become insurers instead of profiteers.

Other Democrats are working on plans that would do almost nothing. Senator Chuck Schumer has a “level playing field” public plan that won’t save much at all. It will just create a plan that will allow private companies to dump old, sick and high-risk patients onto the public plan. This is considered a compromise. It will be awesome because by doing it halfway, they will create exactly what the right wing claims will happen. It will be a terribly ineffective, expensive plan. It would not use low rates that Medicare sets or use taxpayer subsidies. It wouldn’t force its way into networks. It would just be like any other insurer, except for the fact that it would be a dumping ground for private insurers to unload their expensive patients. It’s one of those genius “Democrats compromise and create a pile of shit plans.”

Finally, there’s Ben Nelson’s “Trigger Plan.” You know it’s good because Nelson has taken millions and millions of dollars from insurance companies. The Trigger Plan would be like a big, invisible, scary fist looming over the insurance industry. If the private market didn’t offer cost control or enough options, the public plan would come into existence - but it would be at the state level. It’s a regional Trigger. Some states might have a public plan and others would not. It’s basically set up as a way for private companies to game the system. Ben Nelson doesn’t seem to realize the trigger should have been pulled 8 years ago. If he wants to set the threshold where costs are now, it’s a big lose. Go Blue Dogs!

Those are the public plan options. Now which one do you think Democrats in the Senate will choose? I’d bet big money on the “Level playing field” plan because it doesn’t actually threaten the private insurance market. It actually helps them in their quest to be the biggest douche bags on Earth.

Prepare for failure.

FearTheReaper is a writer, actor and stand up comedian. Check back each Tuesday and Friday for more from FearTheReaper You may also enjoy his blog, Stop All Monsters.

 

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Comments
Pip

Pip

Framingham, MA
OLD SKOOL

JUL 14, 2009 06:59 PM

SergeantPsycho said:
It's possible. Of course it's possible I could shit gold bricks. It's far more likely, however, that the problems haunting Medicare will be propagated to public insurance. If you have reason to believe otherwise, then by all means let's hear it.



Medicare has problems, but compare those problems to what the Health Insurance system we have now. Honestly, which is worse?

FearTheReaper

FearTheReaper

NEWSWIRE

I'm lost

JUL 14, 2009 09:45 PM

SergeantPsycho said:
Of course it's possible I could shit gold bricks. .



Actually, that is not at all possible.

SergeantPsycho

SergeantPsycho

USA
January 2007

JUL 15, 2009 02:47 AM

FearTheReaper said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Of course it's possible I could shit gold bricks. .



Actually, that is not at all possible.



If I swallowed some gold nuggets, it could happen...

Pip said:

SergeantPsycho said:
It's possible. Of course it's possible I could shit gold bricks. It's far more likely, however, that the problems haunting Medicare will be propagated to public insurance. If you have reason to believe otherwise, then by all means let's hear it.



Medicare has problems, but compare those problems to what the Health Insurance system we have now. Honestly, which is worse?



Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.

TheFuckOffKid

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

JUL 15, 2009 03:06 AM

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?

SergeantPsycho

SergeantPsycho

USA
January 2007

JUL 15, 2009 03:31 AM

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?



Yeah, but you pay for the roads you do use, right? You're using the road system.

TheFuckOffKid

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

JUL 15, 2009 03:43 AM

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?



Yeah, but you pay for the roads you do use, right? You're using the road system.


If you were smarter, you would have gotten my point. Oh well.

SergeantPsycho

SergeantPsycho

USA
January 2007

JUL 15, 2009 04:31 AM

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?



Yeah, but you pay for the roads you do use, right? You're using the road system.


If you were smarter, you would have gotten my point. Oh well.



Gotcha, so since I wasn't able to decode your cleverly obfuscated point, it must be the result of some mental failing of mine. How about coming out and saying it for this confused, blundering idiot?

TheFuckOffKid

TheFuckOffKid

NEWSWIRE

Australia

JUL 15, 2009 04:57 AM

It's basic cost-benefit analysis under economies of scale.

I contribute taxes which pay for national roads, most of which I don't use. An alternative system that somehow tried to get me simply to contribute only to roads that I use would not yield significant benefits to me relative to the costs of implementing such a system. It's simply more efficient -- in terms of the ends trying to be achieved -- to collect taxes to fund the road system as an overall asset.

There are failry compelling reasons to argue that it becomes more efficient -- in terms of the ends trying to be achieved -- to fund an overall health system that covers the basic services. Individuals in large numbers cannot afford their (expected) health expenses on an up-front basis, so the only private alternative is insurance, which leads to the domination of the health system by insurance companies, with all the principal-agent problems that this implies.

It's an efficiency-based argument. I would have thought that was obvious.

Pip

Pip

Framingham, MA
OLD SKOOL

JUL 15, 2009 05:26 AM

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?



Yeah, but you pay for the roads you do use, right? You're using the road system.


If you were smarter, you would have gotten my point. Oh well.



Gotcha, so since I wasn't able to decode your cleverly obfuscated point, it must be the result of some mental failing of mine. How about coming out and saying it for this confused, blundering idiot?



YOU PAY FOR ALL OF THE ROADS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH ROADS YOU MAY END UP USING!

In my town the locals avoid a certain through way like the plague. Since living here for 6 years I have done the same. I recently found out that road is the fastest way to get my wife to work. I used to work at the same building. So for 3 years I was taking the long way to work because I was dumb and stubborn. I am glad I was paying for that road. I am also glad I stopped being dumb and stubborn.

Someday you'll be glad to have stopped being dumb and stubborn.


TFOK: I know you were making a different point, but I thought spinning it in the way I did would make more sense to Sarge.

RudieCantFail

RudieCantFail

Baton Rouge, LA
January 2006

JUL 15, 2009 06:41 AM

Pip said:

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:

TheFuckOffKid said:

SergeantPsycho said:
Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


Oddly enough, I end up paying for a bunch of roads that I never use. How about you?



Yeah, but you pay for the roads you do use, right? You're using the road system.


If you were smarter, you would have gotten my point. Oh well.



Gotcha, so since I wasn't able to decode your cleverly obfuscated point, it must be the result of some mental failing of mine. How about coming out and saying it for this confused, blundering idiot?



YOU PAY FOR ALL OF THE ROADS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH ROADS YOU MAY END UP USING!

In my town the locals avoid a certain through way like the plague. Since living here for 6 years I have done the same. I recently found out that road is the fastest way to get my wife to work. I used to work at the same building. So for 3 years I was taking the long way to work because I was dumb and stubborn. I am glad I was paying for that road. I am also glad I stopped being dumb and stubborn.

Someday you'll be glad to have stopped being dumb and stubborn.


TFOK: I know you were making a different point, but I thought spinning it in the way I did would make more sense to Sarge.



You honestly don't think he would listen to something like reason do you?

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUL 15, 2009 11:53 AM

SergeantPsycho said:

Pip said:
Medicare has problems, but compare those problems to what the Health Insurance system we have now. Honestly, which is worse?



Medicare, because while we can opt of health insurance, or choose a different policy, we're forced to pay for Medicare whether we use it or not in the form of taxes.


I think you're misrepresenting the amount of "choice" we have with regard to private health insurance. As we've mentioned before in this thread, many, many people throughout the country have only one option for insurance providers. If they don't like the policies of their provider, they can't pick something else unless they want to go entirely uninsured, which is a terrifying prospect for many. Furthermore, even in places where people have multiple options for private insurance, if cruel trickery and diabolical behavior is endemic to the private health insurance industry, as people who would know suggest, all that "choice" becomes irrelevant.

You have two options: give money to the people who really don't want to have to actually cover your costs, or avoid all health care (including preventative care) until you have to be rushed to the emergency room. If you're aware of what the insurance companies actually do to people who get really sick, then either way you're just hoping with every ounce of your being that you don't get really sick.

Given that choice, I'd rather go with Medicare, even with its problems.

That said, we're not talking about Medicare here. The public plan is not Medicare. Just because you don't know the specifics of the plan yet doesn't mean you get to make shit up and criticize that.

SergeantPsycho

SergeantPsycho

USA
January 2007

JUL 15, 2009 03:13 PM

bean said:
That said, we're not talking about Medicare here. The public plan is not Medicare. Just because you don't know the specifics of the plan yet doesn't mean you get to make shit up and criticize that.



Of course not knowing the specifics means you DO get praise the plan to high heaven.

I think perhaps I should offer an alternative solution to high health care costs. Obama sort of got it right when he said this country needs to produce more doctors. Unfortunatly doctors are trained, not built, but he was right there's a supply problem. Here's my solution:

Import more Doctors! Think about it. There a lot of smart people just waiting to get into the US. Why not find out which ones are in the medical profession and fast track them in the country? Also, find some way of incentivizing foriegn doctors to come to the US. That way you increase the supply of medical professional, lowering costs.

Coyotemike

Coyotemike

USA
May 2006

JUL 15, 2009 03:26 PM

SergeantPsycho said:

bean said:
That said, we're not talking about Medicare here. The public plan is not Medicare. Just because you don't know the specifics of the plan yet doesn't mean you get to make shit up and criticize that.



Of course not knowing the specifics means you DO get praise the plan to high heaven.

I think perhaps I should offer an alternative solution to high health care costs. Obama sort of got it right when he said this country needs to produce more doctors. Unfortunatly doctors are trained, not built, but he was right there's a supply problem. Here's my solution:

Import more Doctors! Think about it. There a lot of smart people just waiting to get into the US. Why not find out which ones are in the medical profession and fast track them in the country? Also, find some way of incentivizing foriegn doctors to come to the US. That way you increase the supply of medical professional, lowering costs.



Yes, then we'll have even more doctors running around that people who can't afford health insurance aren't going to go see.

Maybe you don't get this. People don't skip health insurance for something stupid like political disagreements. We (yes, I am one) don't get insurance because we can't afford it. Let me repeat: We cannot afford it.

Now, I know your next answer will be "Go get a different job". Which would be great if there were jobs to be had.

Health insurance companies have proven that they cannot be trusted. They overcharge, then pull insurance when a high cost comes up. We need an alternative way to get insurance. Not some goal-shifting bullshit about importing doctors from around the world.

SergeantPsycho

SergeantPsycho

USA
January 2007

JUL 15, 2009 03:44 PM

Coyotemike said:

SergeantPsycho said:

bean said:
That said, we're not talking about Medicare here. The public plan is not Medicare. Just because you don't know the specifics of the plan yet doesn't mean you get to make shit up and criticize that.



Of course not knowing the specifics means you DO get praise the plan to high heaven.

I think perhaps I should offer an alternative solution to high health care costs. Obama sort of got it right when he said this country needs to produce more doctors. Unfortunatly doctors are trained, not built, but he was right there's a supply problem. Here's my solution:

Import more Doctors! Think about it. There a lot of smart people just waiting to get into the US. Why not find out which ones are in the medical profession and fast track them in the country? Also, find some way of incentivizing foriegn doctors to come to the US. That way you increase the supply of medical professional, lowering costs.



Yes, then we'll have even more doctors running around that people who can't afford health insurance aren't going to go see.

Maybe you don't get this. People don't skip health insurance for something stupid like political disagreements. We (yes, I am one) don't get insurance because we can't afford it. Let me repeat: We cannot afford it.

Now, I know your next answer will be "Go get a different job". Which would be great if there were jobs to be had.

Health insurance companies have proven that they cannot be trusted. They overcharge, then pull insurance when a high cost comes up. We need an alternative way to get insurance. Not some goal-shifting bullshit about importing doctors from around the world.



I'm not inclined to play the "Get a different job" card this time, for the reasons you just described (and I've been socked some high health care costs since the last time I weighed in on this, leaving me more empathetic), but if we have more doctors, the price of health care WILL go down, by extension, so will Health Insurance Premiums (if not, at least your ability to pay out of pocket will improve significantly). There's notihng about a public option that will increase the over all supply of health care, and it'll be just like the 1970's when we enacted price controls in response to OPEC's oil embargo, where people where waiting for gas. Except this time, the wait could cost you your life.

Stiles

Stiles

Oakland, CA
November 2002

JUL 15, 2009 04:05 PM

SergeantPsycho said:
if we have more doctors, the price of health care WILL go down, by extension, so will Health Insurance Premiums (if not, at least your ability to pay out of pocket will improve significantly).



No, and no. What, exactly, makes you believe such things? Increasing the number of sellers of a good or service does not necessarily mean the price of those goods or services will fall. Other factors typically play in to a much larger extent. You are mistaken in your dramatic oversimplification, as usual.



There's notihng about a public option that will increase the over all supply of health care, and it'll be just like the 1970's when we enacted price controls in response to OPEC's oil embargo, where people where waiting for gas. Except this time, the wait could cost you your life.



Aaaaand, no. Public option is just that, an option.

You are also conflating elastic demand for a service undergoing constant and gradual modification to the comparatively inelastic demand for a product affected by a sudden, short term event (nationwide removal of supply).


In other words, apples to bulldozers - and again a failure of dramatic oversimplification and not understanding the basics of reality.

Try again. Or, better, don't.

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