The Folly of Health Insurance Reform

I was just watching Michael Medved on MSNB's "The Ed Show" saying, "Most Americans don't want government healthcare, they want INSURANCE REFORM." In an odd coincidence, I taught Michael's snotty litte brother, Ben, in my first Muir Writing class at UCSD in 1978. Anyway, Michael isn't one of the neo-fascist screamers of the Limbaugh and Savage ilk. He at least couches his words in reason.

The problem with insurance-only reform is that it will merely inflate the Ponzi scheme we've already got. I saw Elizabeth Edwards state on the "Daily Show" that at one time a single insurance company CEO made 1 in every $700 spent on healthcare in this country. ONE CEO!

The type of reform Republicans endorse, eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions and requiring that all be insured, will simply add to all our health insurance costs. Why? Because insurance companies will use the new rules to jack up rates. Their excuse will be that covering the truly sick is expensive, and all these government regulations constitute an onerous burden. Their solution will be increased government subsidies to cover their inflated premiums. They'll make money coming and going.

So-called insurance reform, without a government plan to compete, will merely prolong the agony of our intractible and slowly dying system. For-profit insurance will continue to demand its 30% overhead, and that CEO will continue to aggregate his salary. For insurance companies, "single-payer" means we, the rate payers and taxpayers, will continue to pay singularly exhorbitant salaries to their CEOs.