Thursday, May 4, 2017

The GOP Healthcare Bill is Designed to Maximize Insurance Company Profits

The GOP healthcare bill has little to do with health. It is a bill designed to maximize insurance company profits. It seems to me that everyone is ignoring the elephant in the room. Every time any of the legislators speak of healthcare issues it all comes back to insurance.

The GOP lament the fleeing of insurance companies from states leaving the people with little choice. They speak of Obamacare being a failure due to raising premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

The Democrats talk about the way the GOP plan will leave people unable to afford coverage, thus leaving people with pre-existing conditions out in the cold. They both go back to the root cause of our woes, and do nothing about it. Instead they both try to make a plan in which insurance companies are still in the loop.

They both want to cover people, but at the same time assure insurance company profits. The insurance companies are the elephant in the room. We need to quit worrying about it if the health insurance companies are profitable. We need to take them out of the picture entirely.

What would the argument look like on capitol hill if there were no health insurance companies? If we took them out of the equation there would be billions of dollars more to use on our people's health. There would be no more talk of raising insurance premiums and deductibles. A legion of health insurance lobbyists would suddenly find they have nothing to do. The part of these premiums that pay for CEO salaries, lobbyists and share holders dividends could be diverted to our people's health maintenance.

We live in a capitalist society who cherishes a free market, and that's okay. The thing is, not everything is amenable to free market forces. When people's lives are on the line, that is where the free market needs to stop. That is why we do not have a free market army, or police force. That is the reason we do not have free market fire departments. Our society tried that many years ago and found it didn't work out so good because people's houses burned down leaving them homeless if they couldn't pay a premium every month. So we all chipped in so everyone is covered by fire and police departments. Now I think it is time for our society to finally recognize that healthcare is the same. It is something that we all need to chip in on so that everyone is covered.

That's the reason I am for the idea of Medicare for all United States citizens from birth to death. We must remove market forces from healthcare, and that means remove insurance company participation. There is enough out there already for the insurance companies to cover like cars, houses and other non human health related things, but not healthcare. Healthcare is the health of our people, and that is the health of our nation. Medicare for all.

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