Today was a busy day. I wrote three letters about health care, to the editors today. In the days before the health plan option debate, I probably wrote one letter to the editor a week. The issue is evident. If a government health care option passes, not only would all of the uninsured people (46 million of them) join it, a lot of the privately insured people would choose to switch to it. The private insurers would only attract people who want more extensive coverage than the public choice provides. The insurers would probably continue their "prior condition denial practices," so those patients would have no choice but to join the public health care option. It hasn't a retroactive denial rule.
New York Times June 5th OP-Ed “Keeping Them Honest” gives us two pieces of advice:
1) Don’t trust the insurance industry.
2) Don’t trust the insurance industry.
The issue is, will there be new regulation that allows any American to choose a public plan as an alternative to private insurance. President Obama believes that this would give Americans “a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep the insurance companies honest.”
The health insurance companies are promising to deliver major cost savings so that patients will not choose the pubic option. Fifteen years ago they made the same promise, but it never happened. They will do everything in their power to prevent public choice health legislation.
They could bribe the legislators with “campaign money.” That usually works!
Melvin H Kirschner, MPH, MD
No comments:
Post a Comment