So you don’t want some government bureaucrat giving you the runaround about your health care coverage, or choice of doctors and hospitals?  Or wasting taxpayer money with an inefficient bureaucratic nightmare where nothing gets done right or on time?  Nor get caught in this eternal loop of incompetent faceless idiots who keep asking you the same questions over and over again, day after day, while your affliction goes untreated and grows worse with each passing week?

Thank Goodness, you can now have your own private health care insurance Hell.  At no additional cost, Sarah Palin.  And have no choice regarding which company will provide your coverage since your employer is the one who gets to decide who that carrier will be.  Damn!  In hindsight, that public option sure would have been a nice fallback position.

And because a majority of you voters opposed Health Care Reform . . .   

 Welcome to the machine.

P.S.  No bitching, please.  Just remember to say you were wrong when it all goes to Hell in a hand-basket, thank you!

P.S.S.  If you happen to be a glutton for more freakin’ private health insurance nightmares just click here, here, here, and here.    SWEET DREAMS . . .

DECIDE TO BE HEALTHY . . . BUT AT WHAT COST?

On Wednesday the House Republicans finally joined the Democrats in a rare accomplishment of voting together on a bill that would repeal a sixty-five (65) year old law allowing insurance companies to have virtual monopolies (oligopolies) over health care insurance. Known as the McCarran-Ferguson Act of (1945), the former anti-trust legislation was designed to give states the power to determine which insurance companies could operate in their states, and investigate collusion by those companies to fix prices and prevent competition.

The reasoning behind repealing the former law was that proponents of the bill believe it allowed a few companies in each state to work in concert to control health insurance, given that the health insurance industry is now dominated by a handful of major players due to consolidation through mergers.  Those that opposed the bill – including insurance industry companies and their industry associations – claim that the regulatory agencies in the various states that have oversight of insurance companies already limit the amount of premium increases the companies can charge customers.  Of course “limit” is a relative term – particularly when the recent health insurance premiums increases demanded by insurance companies in the various states are projected to rise at alarming rates.

The problem with that argument – that state insurance commissions can adequately regulate the insurance industry – is that there is overwhelming evidence that state insurance regulatory commissions are a revolving door for insurance industry insiders.   Want to guess who’s side they are on?  It’s like asking the fox to guard the chicken coop.

Thus, it makes sense that Republicans went along with the repeal of the previous legislation given that recent spate of news regarding substantial increases in health care premiums.  Republican leaders said that this was a just a political-motivated ploy by the Democrats in a memo circulated to their members just before the vote took place.  The exact language from the memo was ”[for] political calculations, rather than substantive reasons.”  So why did they then turn right around and vote for it if it was a “politically-motivated ploy”?   Will Senate Republicans do the same thing?

Republicans cannot have it both ways.  Maybe their vote is politically-motivated to ensure that they are re-elected in the November 2010 mid-term elections (yes, the one coming up this Fall)?  

What a bunch of hypocrites!

Unless you have a “Cadillac” health insurance policy (and you are absolutely certain your job is really secure), you should read this recent study carefully. 

With each passing year, more and more hard-working Americans are literally being bankrupted by the Health Care “machine”.  If you’re employer quits providing health care coverage because of rising premium costs, or you lose your job (COBRA coverage is virtually unaffordable for most people), or you have an extraordinary medical problem, only then will you suddenly wish this country had a comprehensive Health Care Reform bill which reigned in medical costs and rising health insurance premiums.

It is easy to dismiss Health Care Reform when you have health insurance and a job – “why should I subsidize other people’s misfortunes.” 

Until it happens to you, or someone you know . . .