Facing down the private insurance industry

[Better Believe It]

Facing down the private insurance industry
By Robert Kuttner
Boston Globe
June 4, 2009

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. His recent book is "Obama's Challenge."

DESPITE BUDGET pressures, President Obama has not backed off his commitment to universal healthcare reform. But the devil is in the details. And if he is not careful he could end up with a reform worse than nothing.

A crucial question is whether the law will include a public, Medicare-style plan. This public plan could be used by people who otherwise lack good insurance, or by employers who conclude that the public plan is a better deal for themselves and their workers.

The public plan would be the gold standard of both good coverage and cost-containment. Without the public option, a system to cover everyone by relying on the existing private insurance industry will realize few cost savings. The result would be increased pressures over time to cut care and shift out-of-pocket costs from insurers to consumers.

Obama, the great conciliator, has chosen to work with the private insurance industry rather than targeting it as the primary obstacle to meaningful health reform. Periodic leaks from the White House suggest that if push came to shove, Obama would ditch the public plan in order to get a bill through Congress.

I would much rather see Obama battling for public health insurance, making it clear to Americans that the obstacle to real reform is the private health insurance industry. That, however, is not the president we have.

We'll see what kind of public plan, if any, survives.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/06/04/facing_down_the_private_insurance_industry/

[izquierdista]

1. Care, the problem is health CARE

Fuck insurance. Insurance is a casino game where the winners get skimmed to pay off the losers. The real problem is health CARE. Its cost is inflated by including insurance paperwork as overhead, not catching things early when the cost to fix is low, and stupidity like the prescription drug fiasco.

Obama would do well to expand the network of free public clinics (known as VA hospitals to those who are eligible) until it covers not just veterans, but their spouses, children, parents, and then extended family and friends. When government provided medical CARE begins to cut into private medical insurance profits, maybe then they won't dictate the terms of the debate.

[Better Believe It]

2. This is the danger

[grantcart]

3. Old news, the NYT is reporting that the President is fully engaged

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/us/politics/07policy.html?_r=2&hp