Insurance, by it's very nature, distorts the vaunted "Free Market" and so

[WCGreen]

it is, if truth be told, harmful to our so-called free market enterprise system of capitalism.

This is especially true when Health is what is being insured. Add that most Health Insurance in the US is dependent on an employer/employee relationship and you have something so far removed from the free market that it would, dare I say it, upset Ayn Rand.

How many different ways does our current system fly in the face of Free enterprise. Here are just a few.

1) Employee's are bound to a company and not free to move about and offer their services in the free market if one of the reasons they stay at their place of employment is health coverage.

2) How about this little nugget. Having a relationship with a doctor who has been treating your ill child for years and you are looking for a job. You find h ideal fit where you can shine, the company can benefit from your skills and actually streamline and save money for the company. One hitch, that doctor is out of the Insurance companies provider list.

3) You are a doctor and have to check the insurance coverage of your patient to determine what form of treatment is covered and may not be what treatment is best. Some Free Market, huh.

4) Say you have this great idea for a new product but you can't strike out on your own because your own coverage for insurance would be cost prohibitive.

5) You own a small business and can't afford to offer health care to your employees. That really restricts your mobility in the free market.


Health Insurance is not like other type of Insurance. You can't just go out and shop for the best deal. You really have to take what is out there and then you are basically locked into that provider.

Of course Obama wants to address these problems in his promised sweeping health care reforms. But I am certain that as long as there is an Insurance company standing between the patient and the doctor, the free market is being distorted.

Well, I have been through the health care mill more than one time. I have been lucky, I guess, having only had to shell out about $90,000 of my own money. It could have been much worse. But I do know one thing. I have had to go to the mat with insurance companies in order to get them to pay what their agreement states. Many hours on the phone just to get them to pay what they are obligated to pay.

So President Obama, please reconsider your decision to pretty much leave an extra profit center in the mix by still subsidizing Insurance Companies. We know how well that worked with AIG now don't we.

Oh, and by the way, the people will stand behind you. You do know you can take out Mitch McConnell and John Boner. Just keep mentioning AIG. Or maybe that is what we should be doing, bringing up AIG throughout the whole task force process.

[w4rma]

1. U.S. private health insurance system stymies new businesses and innovation. It doesn't work. (nt)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. You have definitely said it like it is...

Only $90,000?:scared: That sounds excessive to me...

K&R

[WCGreen]

3. The insurance companies paid out about 300k

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. Have you seen "The Rainmaker"?

The movie was adapted from a John Grisham novel involving a truly evil insurance company.

The good guys include Matt Damon and Danny DeVito.

After watching this movie, I wonder just how much the fictional company (headed up by Roy Scheider) differs from some real insurance companies.

[WCGreen]

5. Yes, I remember the movie...

It was very enlightening...

[SeattleGirl]

6. Kickety kick, 'cause insurance companies piss me off to no end.

And I really hate the strawman argument in "defense" of the current system, where those defending it say, well, we have the best healthcare in the world.

Well, mayhaps we do.

But what we DON'T have is access to it for every single American.

THAT is the problem.

And that problem is perpetrated by the fucking insurance companies.

[bridgit]

7. Absolutely! For profit health care is the most corrosive scheme republicans have...

come up with yet, it drags every other component of a civil republic into the gutter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TqxdsIb_6M

[eridani]

8. Not having a choice of doctors is the worst.

Regular employee insurance covered my doctor of 25 years, but retiree insurance for some reason does not. When my COBRA runs out, I'll be forced to change. My husband is old enough for that evil single payer Medicare, so he won't have to switch.

[tavalon]

9. That is the best explanation of the wrongness of employer based health insurance

I have ever heard. The fact that most of these companies are also blood sucking leeches is really secondary to this well phrased discussion. Thank you and I've rec'd this.

[unblock]

10. it's a complex problem. insurance exists for a reason

the bottom line is that risk exists and needs to be managed. insurance distributes risk in manageable portions and so, the core product has legitimate value. you do point out a few problems, though.

the free marketeers are always so concerned about the distruption of natural incentives when it comes to taxes, but don't seem bothered by the disruption of natural incentives when it comes to insurance.

they rail against slightly higher taxes because that takes away some of the incentive to work (as if anyone would refuse a million dollar job because a 33% marginal tax rate if fine by 39.6% is not) but they don't complain about homeowners insurance, which takes away some of the incentive to keep your house from burning down.


one point about #4, if you can't afford insurance for a new product, that might be a good thing, if the price of insurance accurately reflects the risks of your product. those anti-lawsuit people always complain about the price of a ladder being mostly insurance, but i wouldn't want someone inventing a slipshod new type of ladder that leads to major injuries. in any event, if the new product does cause injuries, i would want to make sure they could pay the damages.

imagine a really "free" market where companies can put out untested new products, cause injuries, and then avoid paying for all the damage they cause because their little experimental subsidiary ran out of money. with insurance, i as a consumer know that someone is able to pay.

which bring up another point, bankruptcy laws distort the free market as well, and corporations know very well how to take advantage of this. witness donald trump, who now has one of his hundreds of companies in bankruptcy. that company won't fully repay its debts, meanwhile the donald and his other companies are protected from this risk. is that the free market at work?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Kicking it, cause this needs to be seen some more.

:kick: