Jonathan Alter: "I like the status quo on health care in the United States." (sarcasm)

[ProSense]

Jonathan Alter

What’s Not to Like?

Reform? Why do we need health-care reform? Everything is just fine the way it is.

Jul 31, 2009

Go ahead, shoot me. I like the status quo on health care in the United States. I've got health insurance and I don't give a damn about the 47 million suckers who don't. Obama and Congress must be stopped. No bill! I'm better off the way things are.

I'm with that woman who wrote the president complaining about "socialized medicine" and added: "Now keep your hands off my Medicare." That's the spirit!

Why should I be entitled to the same insurance that members of Congress get? Blue Dogs need a lot of medical attention to treat their blueness. I'm just a regular guy and definitely deserve less.

I had cancer a few years ago. I like the fact that if I lose my job, I won't be able to get any insurance because of my illness. It reminds me of my homeowners' insurance, which gets canceled after a break-in. I like the choice I'd face if, God forbid, the cancer recurs—sell my house to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, or die. That's what you call a "post-existing condition."

I like the absence of catastrophic insurance today. It meant that my health-insurance plan (one of the better ones, by the way) only covered about 75 percent of the cost of my cutting-edge treatment. That's as it should be—face cancer and shell out huge amounts of money at the same time. Nice.

I like the "lifetime limits" that many policies have today. Missed the fine print on that one, did you? It means that after you exceed a certain amount of reimbursement, you don't get anything more from the insurance company. That's fair.

Speaking of fair, it seems fair to me that cost-cutting bureaucrats at the insurance companies—not doctors—decide what's reimbursable. After all, the insurance companies know best.

Yes, the insurance company status quo rocks. I learned recently about something called the "loading fees" of insurance companies. That's how much of every health-care dollar gets spent by insurance companies on things other than the medical care—paperwork, marketing, profits, etc. According to a University of Minnesota study, up to 47 percent of all the money going into the health-insurance system is consumed in "loading fees." Even good insurance companies spend close to 30 percent on nonmedical stuff. Sweet.

link

Perfect!

[Hekate]

1. Kick. Just the right length to send to my RW cousin when he sends me more spam...

... regarding health care.
:kick:

Hekate

[Flying Dream Blues]

2. K&R! nt

[rhett o rick]

3. Non-liberals rationalize that the poor are poor because they deserve it.

Therefore, we do not have to worry our heads about their care. In my local paper columnist Star Parker says words to that effect.

They also believe that the rich are rich because they deserve it. Their wealth demonstrates their success.

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. Perfect.

[bluethruandthru]

5. Hopefully the sarcasm won't be missed on the dumbasses!

But, even if they do get it...they'll still be saying "better than socialized medicine", "people in Canada are coming down here in droves cuz we have the best health care", "my neighbor's mother's friend's sister had to wait 8 years to get her gall bladder removed"., etc. etc.