Private insurance companies push for 'individual mandate'

[SHRED]

In other words, more corporate welfare handouts.

This is a terrible "option".
Obama and the DINO Democrats will face a huge backlash if they remove public insurance from the table.

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Private insurance companies push for 'individual mandate'
As momentum gains for reforms, insurers hope to turn it to their advantage by supporting a proposal that everyone buy coverage. It would be a boost for the industry, which has seen enrollment decline.

~snippet~

Private health insurance faces a bleak future if the proposal they champion most vigorously -- a requirement that everyone buy medical coverage -- is not adopted.

The customer base for private insurance has slipped since 2000, when soaring premiums began driving people out. The recession has accelerated the problem. But even after the economy recovers, the downward spiral is expected to continue for years as baby boomers become eligible for Medicare -- and stop buying private insurance.

Insurers do not embrace all of the healthcare restructuring proposals. But they are fighting hard for a purchase requirement, sweetened with taxpayer-funded subsidies for customers who can't afford it, and enforced with fines.

Such a so-called individual mandate amounts to a huge booster shot for health insurers, which would serve up millions of new customers almost overnight.

FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fi-healthcare7-2009jun07,0,3229853.story

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[ejpoeta]

1. yeah, because people can't afford the insurance as it is... let's force em to buy it

wth!! how is that 'free market' when you HAVE TO. i just imagine it like my car insurance. I have to pay whatever they want and they can jack up the cost if I have any kind of claim.

[SHRED]

2. here is what I fear...

That they will tax those with current health coverage to pay for those unable to afford a 'mandated' health insurance program.
In other words more tax dollars to corporate insurance via the IRS.

This is what it is shaping up as.

[ejpoeta]

3. It's so stupid!! I mean, people keep saying, how will we pay for it.

what are you talking about!! We already ARE paying for it. We pay for it three times over!! By paying for our own insurance, plus medicaid and medicare, and then we pay for the uninsured because they end up in the ER and wait until it is really bad to do that. Then they can't pay for their bill, so WE pay for it. So, we are already paying for a single payer system, without the coverage. It's insane!!

[cagesoulman]

4. As a free market capitalist, I say EARN YOUR CUSTOMERS, insurance industry!

You don't deserve to be in a capitalist society.

[unblock]

5. it's those damn uninsured people who can't afford health insurance ruining it for the rest of us.

we should levy a punitive tax on them for their selfishness.

:sarcasm:

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. It's not sarcasm for those who really believe that.

:evilgrin:

[unblock]

7. sadly that's true. i can speak only for myself....

[PHIMG]

8. Individual Mandate = Fascism

Instead of the government providing you health coverage paid for by dependable, stable, progressive taxes the government, the government is going to FORCE YOU to buy a defective product from for-profit profiteers where costs rise 4x the cost of inflation, and the poor and the middle class are crushed under the high cost of premiums, co payments and deductibles.

Fascism is the merger of corporate and state power. The individual mandate is a clear case of true fascism.

It's time for Single Payer health care.

The time for letters and faxes is over, it's time for action now. And it's time for the Public Option advocates to wake up and smell the corruption in D.C. Real Healthcare reforms comes from us, the grassroots. Not the sold out Democratic leadership, Andy Stern - SEIU and PHArMA.

http://www.singlepayeraction.org
http://www.healthcare-now.org

[WeDidIt]

9. And then they'll deny coverage and claims

It's all a scam to line their CEO's pockets.

And Congress, having been bought out long ago, is going along with it.

[GeorgeGist]

10. Insuring profits in the name of healthcare.

What couldn't go wrong?