For-Profit Health Insurance: Nothing Short of Murder

When I turned 25 this year, I was kicked off my father’s health insurance policy (they are still charging him the monthly premium even though I am not covered). I live paycheck to paycheck and can no more afford a monthly insurance premium of several hundred dollars than I can a one-time payment of the same amount for medical care.

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/

With all of Obama’s pretty promises, I had high hopes that we would finally establish a Universal healthcare system in the United States – the last industrialized nation in the world to remain in the clutches of a for-profit system.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/29-6

What happened to the America that always strove to be at the forefront of innovation? Sure, the examples we have of so-called “socialized medicine” have their shortcomings, but are we as Americans so frightened of confronting those issues that we would prefer to keep dealing with the same problems over and over?

We should be excited! Here we have an opportunity to turn ourselves around and become the Greatest Nation on Earth once more! Instead of pointing to the problems that other countries experience as reasons not to even try a new direction, we can figure out the solutions to those problems so that America’s new healthcare system will be the best in the world! Then, people from other countries will come to America for treatment – unlike today, where we see hundreds of thousands of people going abroad for surgery and other treatments annually.

http://www.miamiherald.com/539/story/256204.html

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Recently, I was discussing the healthcare issue with a staunch Libertarian – Libertarians being, in essence, Republicans who want to legalize drugs. Key to Libertarianism is the unwavering worship of the free market. Citing isolated examples of free market successes and blithely ignoring all evidence to the contrary, Libertarians maintain that less regulation (preferably NO regulation) unfailingly leads to better service and more innovation.

http://www.lp.org/

http://world.std.com/~mhuben/libindex.html

This particular individual is a highly educated professor at UC Santa Barbara, a man who does ample research and gives much thought to his opinions. He actually had me going for a while, arguing that the reason healthcare is so expensive is because Congress passed legislation requiring insurance companies to cover cancer treatment. Somehow, in his mind, this does not count as evidence that we should implement Universal healthcare. Yet the cost of cancer treatment would not be so much of an issue were it not for the 30% profit margin that allows insurance giants to pay their CEO’s insanely high numbers in annual salary and bonuses. Consider Ron Williams of Aetna, who took home a total compensation package of over $24 million in 2008.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/26/735411/-Health-insurance-industry-CEO-salary-survey,-stay-calm-for-this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5690433

http://blogs.webmd.com/mad-about-medicine/2007/08/ceo-compensation-who-said-healthcare-is.html

Eliminating the profit motive would also eliminate the motivation to pay six-figure bonuses to employees who search the health records of people requesting treatments for any reason to deny care. As heart-wrenchingly illustrated in Michael Moore’s documentary, “Sicko”, people have died because of these practices. That alone should be reason enough to put an end to it.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/index.html

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6145

http://www.theledger.com/article/20090714/NEWS/907145003/1037/EDIT02?Title=Too-Many-Patients-Die-Because-Health-Care-Coverage-Is-Denied

The professor’s next argument was that without a profit motive, there would be an end to innovation. At first, the argument makes sense. Why invest in research and development when there is not even a chance of recouping the money through profitable operations?
What the professor, and others who share this view, fail to consider is that INSURANCE COMPANIES DO NOT MANUFACTURE MEDICINE NOR EQUIPMENT. Furthermore, the issue of financial compensation is easily addressed by offering government grants for research expenses. Besides that, there is absolutely no reason that a private company would not be competitive in offering for sale advanced medical technology from a for-profit position. A single-payer system merely protects the recipients of care from being grossly overcharged for the sake of profit, while ensuring that every person has access to care when needed. Private companies can still remain profitable, they just won’t be able to compensate their CEO’s such egregiously large amounts. As for the argument that those sums are necessary to retain the skills of those CEO’s – and this goes for ALL grossly overpaid CEO’s – I refuse to believe that the world is so starved for intelligent businessmen that $1 to 5 million a year would not attract a perfectly brilliant, innovative and COMPASSIONATE leader.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/02/24/health-buzz-obamas-push-for-healthcare-reform-and-other-health-news/comments/#3708665

Legislation forcing people to purchase overpriced healthcare from for-profit companies is not a solution, and I find it insulting that the concept is even on the table. Eliminating regulations is not a solution. History has proven over and over again that when left to their own devices, for-profit companies rarely choose a path of innovation, honesty and consideration for the value of life. In the sad majority of cases, we see profit-motivated corruption overtake even the best of intentions, replacing innovation with cheap shortcuts, honesty with secrecy, and consideration for life with exploitation.

The healthcare industry is no exception. PROFIT demands the denial of expensive treatments to those who require the treatment to live. GREED motivates CEO’s to create a structure that funnels money out of the pockets of the populous and into the wallets of the wealthy – namely, themselves.

COMPASSION asks that we recognize the worth of each individual life as a piece of God, and treat each other accordingly. Jesus said that as we treat the lowliest among us, we treat Him. I am not a Christian but I do recognize the value of Jesus’ teachings. And what Jesus is saying is that the spark of life IS God, therefore every living person should have our respect as if they WERE God.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_did_Jesus_teach_people_about_how_you_should_treat_your_fellow_humans

Living from that perspective can free us from ALL of our suffering. We don’t HAVE to wait until we die to experience peace and bliss; we just have to accept the responsibility each of us has to truly live a life of love. That’s what Jesus recommended for us. These are my ideals. It’s nuanced, and I certainly don’t live up to it all the time. But I hold in my mind a picture of how it should be, and figure out how to create it as I go.

All great change starts with a mere idea. Our (once) great nation was founded on a grand ideal. Who invented the telephone? An American. Who invented the automobile? An American. Who invented the airplane? The rocket ship? The atom bomb? AMERICANS. Americans can reinvent the world. Young Americans, this is OUR time to shine. This is our time to stand up and create a new reality – create a future where we can ALL THRIVE.

This is OUR WORLD – let’s make it a world that supports EVERYONE.