What is the Main Objection to the Public Option in Healthcare Plan?

Surely it's not the idea of government offerring a reasonably priced and fairly administered health insurance contract?



We have seen how corporate America works. From the big banks, to the big credit card companies and mortgage lenders, right. You don't pay these guys at least $10 million per year, they wouldn't even consider showing up for work. Most of them wind up getting $20 Million or $50 million when all parts of their pay and compensation and pension and healthcare and expense account are figured in.



So the idea that corporate America is ludicrously greedy and rapacious is not news to anybody who has actually been on planet Earth for the past 10 years, right.



Now comes government, and says it wants a non-greedy, and non rapacious healtg insurance company. It wants to set one up. It wants a chance to compete with the insanely greedy private companies, maybe offer a better product, or make them offer better products by giving them some honest competion.



Well, if that's all there were to the offer, only a real Chicago School Purist would object.



So, what's the big objection to the Public Option?



Here it is.



Imagine a company that wanted to sell flood insurance. OK so they sell most of their policies in the floodplain areas of the USA.



In order to attract customers they say "We will pay off on these policies even if you buy them after your house has been completely washed away and destroyed utterly by a flood."



Well, of course they sell a lot of policies, particularly after big floods. Everybody whose house has been destroyed buys a policy for $5,000 and then puts in their claim for their destroyed house for $500,000.



Miracle of miracles this company soon finds itself in big financial trouble. Why?



Because $5,000 is a much smaller number than $500,000.



Now come the company executives, and they say, "How were we to know that our business model was faulty?"



We went to Princeton, Harvard, and Yale, we studied speechmaking, and community organizing, and political theory. We have never seen the inside of any business, met any payroll, done any cost accounting, kept any books, or developed any business models.



How were we to know?



Is this really similar to a health insurance company that agrees to insure all persons regardless of pre-existing conditions.



Imagine that the person is like the house.



Imagine that the pre-existing condition, perhaps glioma of the brain, is the house already having gotten washed away in the flood last week.



Imagine that the premium is $5,000 per year.



Imagine that the operation for the glioma costs $500,000.



Now, the rule of arithmetic that we visited earlier

is still true, $5,000 is a smaller number than $500,000.



Who could possibly imagine that such a health insurance company would run into financial trouble, and quite quickly, and quite deeply?



No one in government. They went to Princeton, Harvard and Yale, you know the drill.



The problem is this: The bad flood insurance company only hurts itself, it's policyholders, its employees and it shareholders. It winds up in bankrupcy Court and gets eliminated, within about 6 months.



But the bad (crazy) U.S. Government backed health insurance company, can't go bankrupt. It has the full faith and credit of the Federal government behind it, who can print money, or take the bad debt onto the Fed Balance sheet.



So this becomes the money black hole. It's like a cash whirlpool. The money disappears down it, and never comes back, and it gets bigger and hungrier every day, every hour.



The rathole down which USA disappeared.



So -- the problem is all about the fact that the government has a completely crazy business model for how a health insurance company can operate -- and it's not their fault -- what do they know from insurance? Zilch -- they are community organizers!



So this is an idea in which everybody is a victim, even the ones coming forward with the idea now, they are victims too ''How were they to know?"What is the Main Objection to the Public Option in Healthcare Plan?
This administration hates free enterprise and, since day one, has been trying to destroy it piece by piece. In the past, the anti trust laws would have dealt with enterprises who were deemed "too big to fail". This administration wants one insurance company, Uncle Sam. Everything they are doing right now is meant to lead to that. They don't care how much misery they cause until they get to that point. These people are extremely manipulative and care nothing about the truth.
OK, here's my objection: It's not going to be reasonably priced, AND, it's not going to improve the overall quality of care in the USA - it's actually going to make it worse.



Secondary objection: health care industry comprises 18% of our GNP. The government already controls 30%, between the TARP companies that took bailout money, and GM. Add in health care, and VOILA! We're nearly a socialist company. Look at any of the economies in any socialist companies, and the standard of living for the average person SUCKS.



Fairly administered is a laugh. Ever try getting an answer from the IRS on your taxes? Consumer Reports says, more than half the answers on their own hotline, are WRONG. Guess who pays the fees, if you take them at their word? The poor guy who called - penalties and interest, if you're LUCKY. Jail time if you aren't.



Politicians are ignoring how health insurance companies make money, and clearly, you don't know - so I'll tell you - it's not off the premiums, it's off the reserves. Want to know what THEY are? Do the research, educate yourself.



And as far as flood insurance goes - THAT is a government program, and has been, for about 50 years. So yes, it sucks - BECAUSE IT'S RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT. Gotta laugh out loud, at that example - it's EXACTLY why we shouldn't let government run health insurance. But just to clarify a point - flood insurance doesn't KICK IN, until 30 days AFTER you've bought the policy. So you can't buy a policy retroactively, to cover a flood that's already happened. Of course, it won't work that way with HEALTH CARE, as the insurance companies WILL be required to cover stuff that's already happened.



Oh, and for the other widely used government insurance - try calling your local UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE, and see how easy it is to get a question asked. And after that experience, just think about how you want the same people to run your HEALTH CARE.What is the Main Objection to the Public Option in Healthcare Plan?
But don't you understand, The Public Option will be paid for by cuts in Medicare funding. Oh, but there will be one aspect of Medicare that WILL be increased and that's the so-called 'End of life counseling'.



Do they really think the American public is so stupid that they can't add 2+2?
Wow, you have a lot of time on your hands. This is easy. You said "reasonably priced and fairly administered health insurance contract."



Says who? Medicare is a disaster, so why would you want to expand it. It's expensive barely covers any medication and it's just big government run Amck.



Where does this notion that the insurance companies are greedy? I had a client in a coma and he paid his deductible and nothing else. I had a client with cancer and he paid his deductible and nothing else. I have rarely had a client with any issues that weren't easily fixed. Sure, there are plenty of bad products on the marketplace, but there are plenty of bad cars, bad homebuilders, bad mechanics, etc... it doesn't mean the government can do it better.



Bill Gates put Minesweeper on Windows to give governement workers something to do.



We left Europe for a reason. We don't want to be like Europe. We don't trust that the government can run something better. They don't have the track record. The private sector, though not perfect, has a much better record.What is the Main Objection to the Public Option in Healthcare Plan?
Medical care is NOT an insurance business



The Problem and solution is this:



Everybody is at risk. Not everybody is at the same risk but the differences are small and may change at any time.



the total cost IS paid one way or another, in money or blood (death)



Everybody Must pay something so the total covers the basics



Anybody is free to chose to pay more to by extra



NO sick person can afford the hugh medical costs of catastrophic illness, Unless, they are in the top 1 -5% of the wealthiest people in in America ( the top 1% of wealthy people control over 90% of all the wealth in America)



The basic question is :



IS THERE ANYTHING THAT IS A "HUMAN RIGHT"

if so, is medical care one of those rights?
Some people just don't get the sarcasm.



Your idea is OK, except that flood insurance is a government program, and we all saw what happened with Katrina.



The Health Insurance Deform bill is not about health insurance cost or health care cost, it is about controlling the sheeple and 1/6 of the economy.
Yes.. it certainly is a hydra-headed monster. Once upon a time we had a medical Profession. But for many years now, it has been the medical Industry. 'Health care industry' - but I can actually remember when your doctor would grab his bag %26amp; come to your house (like at night) - and his visit, with pills and maybe a shot.. would cost from $5 to maybe 10 or 12 bucks.. tops.



The vast changes came with Reagan. He was a puppet for corporate America.. just as Bush was. The USA is ashes. We have no route to follow out of the pit we are swallowed up in.



The Fed is a private corporate entity. Many people think it is somehow government controlled.. nada.



Sure, we are victims. We really have no way to get people nominated and elected.. by us. The ones that are picked.. they make many deals behind the scenes %26amp; have enormous amounts of funding to get onto the ticket.. and then it is mostly a choice of Frick or Frack.



What to do..?? We are more like plankton than sheeple.



Btw, I know TMI re: gliomas.. since my wife died of a glioblastoma multiforme.
so your saying that people getting healthcare instead of being denied it is a black hole of cash? i suppose that is true. by that logic, what we really ought to do is outlaw health insurance entirely, have no government plan, and only people who can afford it would go to the doctor. that way the cost of health care would plummet to meet the un-insurance inflated economic reality, the BS drug industry that is leaching insurance would collapse, the system of doctors that do nothing but refer specialists and prescribe medicine would collapse. it would be a lot like the vet, only for people. yes the economy would collapse and many people would die unnecessarily, but at least we would stop wasting money on this black hole of health care.
How about this? You pay for your own health care, and I'll pay for mine. Get your hand out of my wallet, Commie.
Yeah, look how well Medicare and Medicaid are doing. Now raise that by a power of ten. That's what the public plan will become in 20 or 30 years.