Reply #29: Private Insurance No Longer A Viable Solution for Universal HC

[OzarkDem]

After watching the machinations of various health insurance companies at the federal and state level I'm convinced they've already come up with a way to "game the system" for any universal health care plan that includes them.

From pushing legislation to weaken or eliminate many consumer protections at the state and federal level to finding more and more ways to skirt existing consumer protections and avoid paying medical bills for years at a time, its obvious leaders of private insurance companies have spent a great deal of time and money to develop a systemic and multi-facted strategy. They've developed ways to deny more claims and provide less coverage to those who buy their plans and force more of the cost of health care onto health care providers, taxpayers and uninsured patients.

Bottom line, the private insurance industry will soon surpass pharmaceutical companies as the biggest drivers behind skyrocketing health care costs and the combination of the two of them putting such pressure on our health care system will bring it close to collapse very soon.

I used to support including private health insurance coverage in developing a system for universal health care coverage, but in the last few months I've changed my mind.

BTW, Kerry's plan sounds much like the same one he proposed in 2004, not bad overall, but it has a lot of holes in it.