Private Insurance Companies Have No Place in the Social Contract

[Bonobo]

I have wanted to post this thought for a long time and I will keep it simple so as not to dilute my point.

It seems to me that in the "Social Contract" that exists between a government and its citizens, both the government and the citizens have a shared and vested interest in keeping the people healthy. After all, in addition to saving costs, it means improved productivity, competition vs. other countries, etc.

Strong people means a strong country, right? Pretty simple arithmetic, I believe. So both sides of the social contract have an incentive to stay healthy/keep the people healthy.

But where is the advantage for the private insurance companies? Clearly it is to their economic advantage to deny and ration health care because the remaining money is pure profit. Insure healthy people only, deny the sick, and make sure even the healthy ones don't waste too much money on preventative care. The only argument I can even CONCEIVE of wrt the incentive would be so that consumers can stay alive and continue to pay premiums, but that reminds me of the idiotic argument that tobacco companies wouldn't lie about smoking being harmful because it is in their vested interests to keep smokers alive (LOL).

Why are we unable to even discuss so obvious a question as this even amongst all the "debate" about the issue?

[Warpy]

1. Their need for profit

depends on violating the social contract whenever they can get away with it.

[Odin2005]

6. +1

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. In a country in which removing one's shoes at the airport has replaced "an educated citizenry"

as our best defense against threats from abroad... your words - though they are utterly correct - have such a small audience, you might as well write it on a matchbook cover and flush it down the toilet and then take a ballpeen hammer to your forehead.

[BlooInBloo]

3. I wonder if people have actually read Rousseau, or do they just like pretty-sounding phrases.

[Bonobo]

4. Do you mean me?

I read it in High School. Do you have a point?

[BlooInBloo]

8. Nah - just in general - I see that phrase/concept egregiously misapplied a lot...

Not this particular OP, though - just a general wonder.

[nightrain]

5. knr. I agree, insur corps have no place. Moral questions like this are

difficult for some.

I think the provision of healthcare should be a right and is good public policy, and a moral obligation for a nation.

[Odin2005]

7. Healthcare should be a basic human right, not a commodity.