Rachel just nailed it to the doors of Congress --

[madamesilverspurs]

the health insurance industry is NOT in the business of health care, it IS in the business of making a profit for its investors. Period. There is no altruism. The only motive is money.

Get the transcript, this segment is spot on.

---

[tekisui]

1. I await the youtube.

[BunkerHill24]

15. Not to disregard the bravery Rachel,,,but

gays and straight are also suffering in Gaza....

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I am more and more putting her in the same category as Edward R. Murrow.

She is an incredible journalist.

[madamesilverspurs]

3. There's the irony -

she isn't a journalist (at least, not by training). But she routinely 'outjournalists' those who do claim to be journalists.

---

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Absolutely!!!!

[PatSeg]

16. I think that's why

she 'outjournalists' the rest. She was never part of that group, so she does things with a fresh perspective.

Also I found it interesting that when she started her show, she didn't even own a TV. Could be why she doesn't look like she's imitating everyone else on TV.

[immoderate]

5. Rachel brings it home every night. I'm a fan.

--imm

PS: And a BTHS alum.

[gateley]

6. They are no different than any other for-profit company whose investors

expect a return on their investment. I don't know why/how people just don't see that. They seem to believe insurance companies CARE about our health!

[whattheidonot]

19. correct.

absolutely correct and therein lies the catch. insurers are looking to cover the healthy. the less claims they have the more profit they. the healthy pay more than they should because many young people do not bother with insurance. The sick, unless well off are not covered at all. in order to recoup for caring for the poor sick- hospitals pass these cost on to show up in premiums. Providing care and seeking a profit is dicey business. one should be paid for being healthy. outright pay. if you do not have claims a rebate comes. it is really hard for insurance companies to promote good health. they do not want you to be too healthy.they really do not want you to be sick. if you are sick they do want you at all.

[truedelphi]

20. Unfortunately, many people do not choose whether or not they are healthy.

Kids who grew up in homes where there was second hand smoke are probably not healthy after eighteen years of such exposure.

Ditto all the little kids whose moms have the toluene, benzene and formaldehyde from Glade sprays and candles and dispensers.

One huge irony is that if you google "occupation" + "Risk" you will find that health care workers are among the least healthy because of all the impact that the Lysols, and other disinfectants carry when used continuously.

Our foods contain the unhealthy MSG, an additive that encourages us to binge on the very foods we should avoid. MSG is put even in the Paul Newman supposedly "organic" tomato sauces.

Entire populations are aerially sprayed upon - I developed vitaligo after the 1982 and '83 campaign of spraying malathion above the County in California where I was living. Studies conducted later on showed that babies in utero during those sprayings had abnormal stomach lining cell material - one indication of possible stomach cancer.

The Powers that Be now are insisting on using a brand new pesticide, never before used near people, on entire populations in California in order to stop the brown moth that affects pear and apple crops. (Since everyone who grows apples and pears already sprays their orchards for it, one does wonder why people would need to be aerially sprayed.)

Then there is the issue of radioactive fallout. The amount of radioactive material in the atmosphere is five times higher than it was before the year 1945. This stuff continually falls down upon anyone living on the planet. Oh, and don't forget, much as the government and the authorities now insist that the cell phone non ionizing radiation signals are safe - that same government told the good people of Nevada and Utah that the atomic bomb tests were not harmful.

We have pthlates in our water from the plastic the water is in, we have exhaust chems enshrouding the cities from the automobiles' smog.

It is hard to be healthy in such an environment, and it is little wonder that cancer and immune diseases like MS are now killing off so many people in their thirties, forties and fifties.

[bvar22]

7. Sounds like you begrudge....

Sounds like you begrudge those Health Insurance Industry Execs their MILLIONS.
Look at all the baseball players!
.
.
.
.
Um..Oh Yeah...Its not ME, its the "Free Market".
ALL Hail the great "Invisible Hand"!


I will be 60 this year, and haven't been able to afford Health Insurance for the last 8 years.
I would also be "entitled" to a nice subsidy under the current Plan.

However, I STILL strongly OPPOSE the current plan (The Senate Bill repackaged with Obama's face on the label) because it permanently enshrines the For Profit Health Insurance Industry as the Gateway to Health Care in America.
It legitimizes and codifies a 20 - 30% Profit Rakeoff of every dollar spent on Health Care.

Unlike Obama, I DO begrudge Millions in Profits to an Industry that manufactures NOTHING, and creates NO Wealth (Value Added).
This is NOT the "Free Market", and I don't care how much a baseball player makes.

I begrudge every single Summer Home in Aspen, every single Yacht, every single Million Dollar BONUS to every single executive of an industry that PROFITS from withholding Health Care to sick people!!!

[truedelphi]

21. It is the people over forty five that really understand the issue.

I was willing at the age of 47 to pay $ 700 a month to see myself covered by health insurance. While friends and relatives were bewailing how awful those high premiums would be, I was getting letters from the Health Insurers telling me "Ooops, you cannot be insured. Disregard that quote we sent you. You have pre-existing conditions."

After a medical bankruptcy I now am covered by County Insurance, which is not an option for people in their late fiftiesif they own their home and want to keep it.

This country sucks. Democrats or Republicans.

Good Cop, Bad Cop -- I don't care any more. I want out of the police station and want to live in a land where the citizenry is truly free and not a slave to the Big Corporations.

[bjobotts]

23. Sports players have unique physical abilities and their salaries are no comparison to execs.

[bjobotts]

24. Like actors and musicians and painters have special talents that are unique.

[bjobotts]

25. CEOs and execs are not public icons and are easily replaced.Apples and oranges on salaries

[bjobotts]

26. We don't need HC ins profiteers...just good healthcare.Medicare for all is the answer.

[2Design]

8. This was a great show tonight - reduces my anger at corps because they are doing their job

I just have not been accepting that. They outsourced our jobs because they do not care about this country or the people in it. They are destroying the country. This was so right on. It really made me understand my underlying anger all these years is futile. They are not human. I knew that. I just didn't get it. They are doing their job. Making lots of money for themselves, the shareholders and their friends.

Where do you get the transcript? I need to read this any time I get up in arms and anger. I wondered how she stays so calm. This is how. She breaks it down.

[ChiciB1]

10. Rachel Does Her Homework & Is One Of The BEST!! n/t

[lazarus]

13. she has a podcast

you can get it (I think it's still free) from iTunes or www.rachel.msnbc.com.

[BunkerHill24]

9. Rachel was killed by men with bulldozer

She died with beauty and brave, being someone who can make a difference.


You were brave individual Miss Rachell.....and I thank you.

[tkmorris]

12. Rachel Corrie was indeed a brave individual

I do believe this thread is about Rachel Maddow however. All hail Rachels everywhere!

[BunkerHill24]

14. Rachel of MSNBC will never touch it...of controversy

[Kablooie]

11. They provide benefits to lure customers but disallow benefits to make a profit.

[dmr]

17. Which just goes to show we don't need insurance middlemen

If their job is solely for profits then they interfere with our need for affordable and reliable health care.

Their quest for profits dissolves all trust because none of us knows if we can depend upon them in time of dire need.

[newtothegame]

18. Rachel does a news show from behind a desk to an audience that agrees with her.

CODEPINK speaks truth to power in venues that viciously disagree with them, and are forcibly dragged from rooms.

Why is it that we fawn over KO, Rachel, and John Stewart, whose "bravery" involves making millions while speaking to fans who adore them? Seriously, have you ever watched the Daily Show? John Stewart doesn't even have to speak; he just looks in the camera and the audience goes into hysteric, giddy laughter.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

22. That's the root of the problem in this country. I saw the

Wellpoint CEO on TV. She earns $10,000,000 a year. WTF could anyone do that would be worth $10,000,000 an effin' year ? How about spending some of that money on medical care for subscribers?