Give the People What They Want?

By: Ann in AZ

Found a quote by Secretary Sebelius of Health and Human Services in an NPR article that I found really ironic:
Republicans argue that upward of 100 million Americans would opt out of private insurance in favor of a public plan if such a plan were available.

Guess the words "Give the people what they want!" no longer means anything to our politicians, especially when it rubs up against their lucrative partners in big Pharma, the AMA lobbyists, Insurance company lobbyists, etc.

They just don't get the idea that health care for families should not be held hostage to the bottom line on an insurance company's balance sheet. They have no grasp of the concept that a child or a parent with cancer is not just a number on an actuarial table. They only seem to know that not to treat a patient is cheaper than treating that patient; the intrinsic value of human life doesn't even enter into the equation. The only way to teach them is to convince the legislators that votes on this cannot be bought no matter how much campaign money or bribes are offered.

Oh, and just as an aside, for the last three years that I worked as an employee of a large company that offered insurance, my company was forced to change insurance companies each year. Why? Because renegotiating the yearly insurance rate changes were unsuccessful at producing rates that were considered reasonable, and there was always some other company willing to offer a teaser rate to get their business knowing that they would hit the company hard by year two. The powers that be talk about being able to keep the insurance one has if they like it, or to keep their doctors, but even if you work for the same company, that doesn't always happen. This is way more than just a portability problem. It's insanity!