tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post5890400876337375236..comments2024-03-28T15:17:43.056-04:00Comments on Stayin' Alive: Talk is cheapCervanteshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-54256896568258792782009-02-25T15:49:00.000-05:002009-02-25T15:49:00.000-05:00Insurance industry profits do no good for anybody ...Insurance industry profits do no good for anybody except shareholders and executives. But, they are a powerful vested interest that has the political clout to block reform that gets rid of them.<BR/><BR/>Single payer doesn't have to mean less choice for consumers at all - it means socialized insurance, not health care. In fact it gives you more choice, because you can take it to any doctor or hospital, you don't have to worry about who's in the network.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-22303017025460635622009-02-25T15:14:00.000-05:002009-02-25T15:14:00.000-05:00i was just going to comment along robin's lines.wh...i was just going to comment along robin's lines.<BR/><BR/>what exactly are the benefits of insurance via for-profits? i mean for consumers, who care about access to medical care with low additional costs -- obviously, the shareholders of the for-profits like skimming the profits. <BR/><BR/>there are administrative structures, but these are not in sync nor do they necessarily work to the advantage of patients -- nearly everyone has denial of coverage nightmare stories when something expensive comes up.<BR/><BR/>i guess one of the arguing points is that single-payer might reduce choices. there is a lot of that going around anyway -- hmo's, for example, have a great deal of control over who gets what and who you get to see. the low payments for medicare patients [or patients needing poorly covered specialties, like psychiatry] have made it very difficult for patients to find doctors, and driven a lot of doctors out of practice or away from taking insurance at all.<BR/><BR/>and those are just problems faced by insured people; uninsured people have few or no good choices. the fact so many end up in ER's after their health has gone into crisis is not only bad for them, but a pretty damned expensive way of providing care -- not just in dollars, either.kathy a.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14479337952651746193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-3229264795635495272009-02-25T14:56:00.000-05:002009-02-25T14:56:00.000-05:00Taking the profit out of insurance would be more t...Taking the profit out of insurance would be more than an acceptable start! It's the nut of the whole problem -- it's precisely because the insurance industry is such a powerful vested interest that we can't get real reform. If we can eliminate their profits, we're already past the barrier and we can do whatever we want, as I see it.<BR/><BR/>Alas, that's the hard part. That's why Medicare Part D ended up being so screwed up - because they only way they could get a prescription drug benefit was to put the insurance companies in the middle scooping up profits.Cervanteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11302076828795198187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9263167.post-29613401312575839712009-02-25T14:14:00.000-05:002009-02-25T14:14:00.000-05:00I'm pleased that he's going to try to tackle the p...I'm pleased that he's going to try to tackle the problem, perceiving right off the bat that there is a problem to begin with! What I want and what we're likely to get will probably be worlds apart, but if there's access to reasonably priced insurance, it'll be an acceptable beginning. Taking the profit out of insurance would be a good start.robin andreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13390482190562312928noreply@blogger.com