A brief reminder about why a public option in health care is so important:
Insurance companies are in business to make money, or financially profit from their work. The time-honored way of maximizing profit is straightforward: increase income and reduce costs. In terms of health care, this translates into raising the cost of health care to businesses and consumers, and turning away or refusing to pay for as many claims for health care as are legally permitted. In other words, a health care system motivated only by profit is bound to cost more and do less for the population as a whole.
Good things can and do come from private enterprise in health care - in stimulating research and increasing patient choice. A public option won't limit that - it will only offer health care to Americans locked out of the profit-making system, and provide more choices for people who already receive health care.
See also Private, For-Profit Health Care Is Self-Contradictory
2 comments:
Paul: You are ABSOLUTELY correct. Every wealthy country other than the United States guarantees essential care to all its citizens. Read that a second time and let that sad statement really sink in. So Germany and Canada can do health care for all its citizens but we can't (btw, these foreigners do it way-cheaper than us and their outcomes are better than ours). 40 years ago we put a man on the moon and we still can't figure out a national health care system. Can someone please explain that to me? Also, I read a recent poll that indicated that over 65% of Americans support the choice of a public option. There seems to be a major disconnect between Main Street America and Washington Beltway America. Other troubling disclosure: Max Baucus, major cog in supposed health care reform, has reportedly received over $3Million from the health care insurance industry. Max and his bipartisan insurance lobby-friendly Washington Beltwayers remind me of a bunch of roosters who are entrusted with safeguarding the hen houses along Main Street. We all know how this cartoon will turn out. At this point, all that stands in the way of universal health care in America are the greed of the medical health care industry, the bipartisan thirst for easy campaign contributions from said Medical Insurance Industry, the lies of the right-wing propaganda machine, and the gullibility of voters who believe those lies. We have become our own worst enemies. But there is time ... we can stem this tide and petition our elected pols (Dems and Repubs) to listen to what the Real Street, Main and not Wall, wants .... ACCESSIBLE universal health care that every American can AFFORD to enjoy. - jimy_max
"Good things can and do come from private enterprise in health care - in stimulating research and increasing patient choice. A public option won't limit that - it will only offer health care to Americans locked out of the profit-making system, and provide more choices for people who already receive health care."
AGREED.
(In full & entirely)
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