Reply #19: It's Also About Power And Control... [View All]

[KharmaTrain]

One reason I'm not very big on single payer is that it would replace one gatekeeper with another. Instead of going to a sanctioned PPO, you'd end up with a government monopoly instead and I don't trust the politicians any more than I trust the insurance companies. I favor public option cause it would force the two to compete...keeping them honest, but this government isn't ready for competition.

I've had experiences with the insurance companies...assisting in my late father's medical practice and having to deal with various famiy situations. It's easy to pick on the profits...and rightly so, but that's the tip of a very expensive iceburg. It's a system that is in dire need of tort reform as frivolous lawsuits drove up the price of malpractice insurance that began the sharp rise in healthcare costs that the insurance companies have attempted to counter by limiting their risks and liabilities and taking control of the entire system. It's the vast money big pharma makes in bringing new drugs to market and then trying to make as much as they can until their patents expire. It's the high costs of education that will cost someone going for an MD anywhere from $100-250gs for all the years of school (and debt). In short its a systemic failure that this legislation doesn't even go near. And these expenses would have remained and grow no matter if the bill had single payer.

It's easy to point fingers only at the insurance industry...and trust me, I'm no friend of theirs after seeing the ham-handed way they dealt with my father...but they were just one of many problems that need reforming.