"The problem with health care is the insurance companies"

[HarveyDarkey]

Will anyone in the M$M or government ever say that?

Please discuss.

[polichick]

1. Nancy Pelosi said it last week. nt

[HarveyDarkey]

5. When did she say that?

Link please...

[polichick]

6. "It's almost immoral what they are doing"...

Pelosi said to reporters, referring to insurance companies. "Of course they've been immoral all along in how they have treated the people that they insure," she said, adding, "They are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way. They are doing everything in their power to stop a public option from happening."

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE56T4CZ20090730

[HarveyDarkey]

7. Thanks. I missed that

Now let's see if there's more than rhetoric there and she actually supports single payer. I'm not holding my breath.

[orwell]

2. I wish I could agree...

...but the problem is far more complex than that.

[HarveyDarkey]

4. The insurance companies have followed Nancy Reagan's dictum

"Just say No", that's how they make their money. Please explain these other complexities.

[orwell]

8. If we are addressing the issues of total costs in the system...

...health insurers are not the main culprit. For example, the aggregate profit margins in the health insurers are exceedingly small. They look large on an absolute basis because the total dollar volume of sales is very large. If we are discussing profit margins, the pharmaceutical companies run far higher margins than the insurers, both on a gross margin and net margin basis.

A lot of the costs in the system come from the use of drugs and procedures where the costs far outweigh the benefits. I have seen studies where the cost of adding one year to the average statin user's life is approximately $150,000 per year of life benefit. This is because cholesterol lowering drugs are not that effective in lowering the cases of heart disease. They are effective at lowering cholesterol levels.

The administration costs at health insurers are far higher than those of a single payer system like Medicare. But as a percentage of total costs SG&A at the health insurers is in the 10% range, so you still not looking at the type of savings which would justify the US paying almost twice as much for health care as the next major industrialized economy with far poorer outcomes.

I agree with you that at the very least health insurers need to be controlled on the issues of portability, rescission, and pre-existing conditions. In fact, I believe that the profit motive in health care probably works against long term solutions to this difficult problem. I would also favor that if we mandate that the uninsured get insurance they should be brought into the existing Medicare system over a 5 year period, unless they decide on another insurance option.

I am not being an apologist for the health insurers. I believe in some form of single payer. But even if we went to the single payer model overnight for everyone, the overall cost per capita problem would largely remain.

If I could design a payment system from scratch I would base it on a tax based single payer model similar to England or Canada.

This is an extremely complex multifaceted problem that we all do a great dis-service to by over simplification.

[Orsino]

3. Well, the insurance companies...

...and the big money that runs them and the media and Congress. And a complacent citizenry ready to believe when told that insurance middlemen are somehow necessary.

[SmileyRose]

9. congress is not blameless

It's painfully obvious if an insurance company screwed someone it's because our government allowed itself to be corrupted by insurance money and quit being a government of the people, by the people and for the people.