health insurance corps terrifed 1/3 will dump them if there's a public option

[yurbud]

19 Million Americans Must Be Wrong

By Robert Parry
June 5, 2009

As the health insurance industry and its defenders in Congress lay out their case against permitting a public option in a reform bill, perhaps their most curious argument is that some 119 million Americans are ready to dump their private plans and jump to something more like Medicare – and that’s why the choice can’t be permitted.

In other words, the industry and its backers are acknowledging that more than one-third of the American people are so dissatisfied with their private health insurance that they trust the U.S. government to give them a fairer shake on health care. The industry says its allies in Congress must prevent that.

The peculiar argument that 119 million Americans must be denied the public option that they prefer has been made most notably by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which is one of two panels that has jurisdiction over the health insurance bill.

“As many as 119 million Americans would shift from private coverage to the government plan,” Grassley wrote in a column for Politico.com. That migration, Grassley said, would “put America on the path toward a completely government-run health care system. … Eventually, the government plan would overtake the entire market.”

Grassley’s logic is that so many Americans would prefer a government-run plan that the private health insurance industry would collapse or become a shadow of its current self. That, in turn, would lead even more Americans entering the government plan, making private insurance even less viable.


http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/060509.html|FULL TEXT>

[Gormy Cuss]

1. They don't give people enough credit. I'd guess that 2/3s would dump them

and be happier with their costs & coverage.

[Teaser]

2. Dunno...I don't think the government plan will match my current coverage

which is superb. I am an exception, of course, but I think your 2/3 number is a bit high.

[jody]

3. Will your insurance cost go up if enough people transfer to a govt. program? n/t

[Teaser]

15. possibly. but doubtful, given the job I do

.

[maryf]

4. Are full dental and vision covered? nt

[Teaser]

14. yeah.

it's a sweet deal. But I'm a university professor, and we have it far too good in my line of work.

[maryf]

16. Well it wouldn't be much different

no copays, no deductible, choice of doctor/facility, no limits, and no preexisting conditions...PLUS, if you lose your job you don't have to get Cobra, coverage remains...

[glinda]

24. Yeah, enjoy it now cuz later they will put the screws to you. I know....

[DaLittle Kitty]

25. Saving The Horse And Buggy Was No REason To NOT Build Automobiles Was It?

The insurance bunch can find a new line of work if they cannot hold market share.

Here is my favored analysis on Single Payer by someone who knows what he's talking about.

http://www.johnrussellforcongress.com/page.asp?PageId=35

[Gormy Cuss]

6. The question is, how many people have superb coverage now?

We have what is considered a great employer-provided plan yet each year the costs and co-pays increase dramatically and the coverage decreases either directly or indirectly through pre-approval review processes plus it's tied to employment. We'd switch to a public plan in a heartbeat and so would many of our similarly covered friends simply because it would no longer be tied to employment and the guidelines for covered events wouldn't be subject to the whims of the insurer to the degree that they are now. If enough people left private plans the insurance companies would market supplemental plans similar to those offered for Medicare.

[Uncle Joe]

20. I imagine this figure doesn't count children which probably make up 70 million,

and of course all the seniors on Medicare.

I don't imagine too many people out of the 300 million would keep for profit private "health" insurance, except the Congress.. oh yeah I forgot the government covers their health insurance.

[Mythsaje]

5. And what, exactly, does that say about the industry?

That it's FUCKED?

[rurallib]

7. jeez - they will get treated just like they treated their 'customers'

do unto to other as they did it to you.

[cabluedem]

23. Dump them on the side of the road like they did us. nt

[kenny blankenship]

8. We must have health care being delivered by private insurers and nothing may alter that

-no matter how many people it kills.

p0wnership society and all that.

[Blue Meany]

9. I think the real problem is that insurance companies will

cherrypick the healthy people and offer them really cheap insurance, and the government will be stuck insuring those who are not in the best of health. Then it will look like the govt can't do it as efficiently: kind of like the comparsion between the post office and Fedex.

[thelordofhell]

10. I think your example could be better

try "kind of like the comparison between public and private schools"

[zeos3]

12. This is a valid concern

It's long been a strategy of the GOP to under fund and sabotage government programs to make it look like the only way to get something done is through the private sector. That's why we have to be careful with how the public option is designed, to avoid these types of shenanigans. They always try to play games with Medicare now. They try to de-fund it, they try to decrease the doctor's pay, etc.

If done properly, the government option would (hopefully) mean an end to private insurance as we know it today. If they remain as supplemental insurance or as an option to those that want it, that's fine but the current system must be done away with.

[yurbud]

13. we should cherry pick some insurance execs and prosecute them for murder

[Enthusiast]

22. Right on, yurbud!

:fistbump:

[Iwillnevergiveup]

27. They already have

by singling out "pre-existing conditions." The very folks who neeed health care the most.

[The Magistrate]

11. In Other Words, Sir, Most Americans Want out Of The Private Health Insurance Racket

And make no mistake, it is a racket. the only people who say they are satisfied with their health insurance are people who have never had to file a major claim....

[NorthCarolina]

17. 1/3 sounds like a conservative estimate to me

depending on the *public plan* offered.

[Froward69]

18. "making private insurance even less viable."

thats a nice way of saying, "making private insurance even less Valuable." not that it is worth its current cost by any means. but the market would have to readjust to real competition. The Insurance company's would be forced to either reduce the profit margin. or reduce bounouses to those that would deny payment for care.

[yurbud]

21. that's the best reason TO do it.

[tavalon]

19. Relax, it won't be 1/3, it will be much closer to 3/4

Relax because if we can, we will destroy you just as you have tried to destroy us you bloodsucking bastards.

[DaLittle Kitty]

26. So What Is Wrong With That?

The insurance industry has had it toooo good for tooo long , unobstructed and damn near un-regulated. Fuck 'em!

[yurbud]

28. I would like to, but I'd get a disease.

[underpants]

29. "Let the market decide" ...right?

no apparently not.