AMERICAblog: Advice from Krugman: "Don’t trust the insurance industry"
AdmNaismith
· 5 months ago
'So, how is that so many people in positions of power are continually duped by them?'
Not duped; in willing collaboration with powerful lobbies against the consumer. We all know that. 'Here Senator, how about a nice re-election check...'
So long as the Public Option is off the table, we've already lost.
KerrynowCampau
· 5 months ago
Exactly.....
Art Mofo
· 5 months ago
Insurance is bookmaking. There is absolutely no difference. The game is rigged so the companies win, just like the slot machine in Vegas are, and just like the sports books do. It's a con game run by a gang that has figured out how to make it look and sound genteel. The gangsters are raking off a percentage -- and in the case of health insurance, it's a huge percentage. They need to be reined in.
NAVDOC3rdMAR
· 5 months ago
It's criminal that medical bills to private for-profit insurance/medical conglomerates make up 65% of all bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year. The overhead at private for-profit insurance/medical conglomerates is upwards of 35% of the healthcare dollar spent each year in the U.S. This allows the private for-profit insurance/medical corporations to pay themselves huge salaries plus perks and bonuses. All the while milking the hard-working men/women of this great nation of their hard earned money. On the other hand Medicare has an overhead of 2%, Canada's terrible system is 1.5%, Europe's 2.5% on average. The money that could be saved by eliminating the private for-profit insurance/medical giants is estimated at $500 Billion a year. Enough money to help pay for "Health Care For All" in the U.S. every year. MEDICARE FOR ALL NOW! It is morally repugnant to profit off the misery or ill health of Americans. We have to fight back and call, write e-mails, letters-to-editors and to Congress to let them know how America feels about for-profit health care in America. Telephone # for Congress(House/Senate): 1-202-224-3121 Just ask for any Congressperson or Senator and they will connect you to their office. Nothing catches politicians attention like phones ringing off the hook. Just called baucus and grassley's office and left the above message. SEMPER FI!
Dave in ME
· 5 months ago
I am currently in the process of suing Aetna for denying coverage for a procedure my doctor recommended I have in January. They simply ignore the medical articles I send them in the appeals and just say no over and over again, despite the fact that what they are denying is covered explicitly as something that is covered in their contract with my company. Once I get in front of a jury it should be about a 5 minute trial, which is nice, but it will be 6+ months on from when I should have had this done.
mirth
· 5 months ago
Good luck, Dave, but in Maine the chance of your case being presented to a jury is slim to nothing.
The State of Maine has implemented mandatory methods of resolving disputes outside of the courtroom.
The upside is that you would probably be a little richer after the facts and the bargaining are tossed back and forth in arbitration. The downside is that a final judgement will be hidden and never available to anyone searching info about Aetna.
nuthnfiner
· 5 months ago
I seem to remember a similar plan that came from the Airline industry a few years ago. The insurance companies have come to the table with the same basic line..."don't regulate us, and we promise to be good from now on...really we do...no, I mean we really will...we promise."
I think we all know where that got us.
For the life of me I can't understand this thing about not wanting "a government bureaucrat making my healthcare decisions." I'll take that over an insurance company bureaucrat making my healthcare decisions any day. Insurance companies have absolutely no legal obligation to ensure that you get well or stay healthy. Their only legal obligation is to increase shareholder value. That is the message we need to hammer home.
Why we Americans are sitting around allowing the insurance industry to buy the reform package they want, I just don't understand.
nicho
· 5 months ago
I'm not sure what your confusion is. Since 1990, the insurance industry has contributed $315,000,000 to politicians and the health-care industrial complex has donated $461,000,000.
Obama pretended to be running a grass-roots campaign, but 80 percent of his money came from the corporations.
When in doubt, follow the money.
anastasjoy
· 5 months ago
Flat-out incorrect. 80% of his money did NOT come from corporations.
DrWoody
· 5 months ago
FIRE donated something like $69 Million to the Obama campaign.
WhatEVER the percentage, it wasn't chickenfeed.
anastasjoy
· 5 months ago
We've got to do more than watch. We need to call and email all our friends. Do what I've been doing and look up and provide the contact info for their representatives. (The other night I emailed a friend on mine in the Bronx and when I looked up her congressman, a guy I'd never heard of, I got a great laugh: he looks like a little Jewish accountant with a great porn moustache. I don't care as long as he gets on board for REAL health-care reform). Nag them. Make sure they call/email/visit. I've been posting it on my blog every day. (I contribute to a state political blog, Ohio Daily Blog). Call Sherrod and tell him he's right and don't buckle! Call Voinie and tell him since he's not running for re-election he can listen to the people of Ohio and not give a shit what Rush Limbaugh says! Call Dennis/Marcia/Tim/Marcy/Betty/John/Steve /Mary Jo/Steve/Charlie/Zack. If you're in Boehner's, Jordan's, Schmidt's, Austria's, Tiberi's or Latta's districts, my condolences. They're useless weenies.
josebrwn
· 5 months ago
"the President and his advisers need to listen to Krugman. Seriously."
No, they don't. Seriously.
Not that single payer isn't a good idea. It is. It's likely inevitable. But Krugman, with Nobel on sleeve, is just another paid bobblehead, like Rove, Cheney, Limbaugh, Olbermann, Will, Sullivan, Paglia, Malkin, Carville ... the entire crew of pundits that Obama likened to the WWF. Krugman's job is the same as all of theirs - to say stuff, every day. His job is not to make decisions or bear responsibility.
If you like what Krugman has to say, then say so. But you strain the limits of credibility to wag your finger at the administration and join the shrill chorus telling them to heed Krugman every column. Krugman's got that covered already.
PeteWa
· 5 months ago
What a sad joke that you can compare Krugman to the likes of Limbaugh, Rove and Cheney (wtf, apples and oranges much?), Malkin, Carville, Will, Paglia - all of whom make a practice of being wrong on pretty much everything, pretty much every time, basing most of what they say and think on nothing more than whim. The comparing of Krugman to Olberman, Sullivan is also completely ludicrous, as much as I might personally like one or the other... you remain in the land of apples = oranges.
If that is the depth of your thinking, I feel sorry for you.
Gary
· 5 months ago
I also thought this was interesting (and yes related to the post subject:
For whatever reason, the Obama administration seemed to ignore Paul Krugman when it came to saving the economy. Bad idea.
Bad idea, indeed. "Whatever reason?" Because Krugman was (and is) linked to the DFH-wing of the critical Left. Krugman didn't ever hide his contempt for the Bushviks' spurious claims to legitimacy.
condew
· 5 months ago
We need a list of the congressmen in order of how much money they have received from insurance companies and the medical industry. Then whenever a congressman speak out to gut a provision of health care reform like Medicare-for-all, or the government negotiating prices, or otherwise weakening reform, every blog and editorial page has to scream "Well of course Senator so-and-so wants less reform, he is number 3 on the list of Senators who have taken the most industry money, guess that's why he represents Wall Street and not his constituents.".
PariahInMotion
· 5 months ago
Okay ya, people shouldn't completely trust their insurance companies but that sucks considering how Long Term Care, Annuities, Retirement funds and overall healthcare coverage is important to the lives of everyone.
Grondo
· 5 months ago
Duped? More like bribed, I think.
AC
· 5 months ago
The drug and insurance companies have no 'place at the table' in the health care reform discussion. They deserve to go to prison. Forever. An awful prison, like in really old movies.
Mandatory "insurance" feels more like forcible rape than help.
The solution is a National Health Service for the United States, like what they have in the UK. At present, the US wastes about $7200 per person per year on a health care system that is largely illusory. The British NHS spends about $2900 (USD equivalent) per person per year to actually provide medical care (including dental care and vision services).
How to pay for the US National Health Service? Easy: a Federal 15% Value Added Tax. In 2008 consumer expenditures totaled $9953 billion; if 90% of these expenditures were subjected to a 15% VAT, the Federal government would have collected about $1340 billion from the VAT alone.
If this 15% VAT was combined with the elimination of all Federal income taxes on the bottom 95% of incomes, and the top 5% of incomes were subject to a 50% Federal income tax, we would have ended up with about $1693 billion in additional tax revenue in 2008. More than enough to cover the estimated $918 billion dollar cost to fully fund the US National Health Service, and provide an additional $775 billion for other uses.
All Comments
Not duped; in willing collaboration with powerful lobbies against the consumer. We all know that.
'Here Senator, how about a nice re-election check...'
So long as the Public Option is off the table, we've already lost.
On the other hand Medicare has an overhead of 2%, Canada's terrible system is 1.5%, Europe's 2.5% on average. The money that could be saved by eliminating the private for-profit insurance/medical giants is estimated at $500 Billion a year. Enough money to help pay for "Health Care For All" in the U.S. every year.
MEDICARE FOR ALL NOW!
It is morally repugnant to profit off the misery or ill health of Americans. We have to fight back and call, write e-mails, letters-to-editors and to Congress to let them know how America feels about for-profit health care in America.
Telephone # for Congress(House/Senate): 1-202-224-3121
Just ask for any Congressperson or Senator and they will connect you to their office. Nothing catches politicians attention like phones ringing off the hook. Just called baucus and grassley's office and left the above message. SEMPER FI!
The State of Maine has implemented mandatory methods of resolving disputes outside of the courtroom.
The upside is that you would probably be a little richer after the facts and the bargaining are tossed back and forth in arbitration. The downside is that a final judgement will be hidden and never available to anyone searching info about Aetna.
I think we all know where that got us.
For the life of me I can't understand this thing about not wanting "a government bureaucrat making my healthcare decisions." I'll take that over an insurance company bureaucrat making my healthcare decisions any day. Insurance companies have absolutely no legal obligation to ensure that you get well or stay healthy. Their only legal obligation is to increase shareholder value. That is the message we need to hammer home.
Why we Americans are sitting around allowing the insurance industry to buy the reform package they want, I just don't understand.
Obama pretended to be running a grass-roots campaign, but 80 percent of his money came from the corporations.
When in doubt, follow the money.
WhatEVER the percentage, it wasn't chickenfeed.
/Mary Jo/Steve/Charlie/Zack. If you're in Boehner's, Jordan's, Schmidt's, Austria's, Tiberi's or Latta's districts, my condolences. They're useless weenies.
No, they don't. Seriously.
Not that single payer isn't a good idea. It is. It's likely inevitable. But Krugman, with Nobel on sleeve, is just another paid bobblehead, like Rove, Cheney, Limbaugh, Olbermann, Will, Sullivan, Paglia, Malkin, Carville ... the entire crew of pundits that Obama likened to the WWF. Krugman's job is the same as all of theirs - to say stuff, every day. His job is not to make decisions or bear responsibility.
If you like what Krugman has to say, then say so. But you strain the limits of credibility to wag your finger at the administration and join the shrill chorus telling them to heed Krugman every column. Krugman's got that covered already.
The comparing of Krugman to Olberman, Sullivan is also completely ludicrous, as much as I might personally like one or the other... you remain in the land of apples = oranges.
If that is the depth of your thinking, I feel sorry for you.
"Life, health insurers invest big in tobacco"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090604/wl_canada_...
Bad idea, indeed. "Whatever reason?" Because Krugman was (and is) linked to the DFH-wing of the critical Left. Krugman didn't ever hide his contempt for the Bushviks' spurious claims to legitimacy.
Mandatory "insurance" feels more like forcible rape than help.
The solution is a National Health Service for the United States, like what they have in the UK. At present, the US wastes about $7200 per person per year on a health care system that is largely illusory. The British NHS spends about $2900 (USD equivalent) per person per year to actually provide medical care (including dental care and vision services).
How to pay for the US National Health Service? Easy: a Federal 15% Value Added Tax. In 2008 consumer expenditures totaled $9953 billion; if 90% of these expenditures were subjected to a 15% VAT, the Federal government would have collected about $1340 billion from the VAT alone.
If this 15% VAT was combined with the elimination of all Federal income taxes on the bottom 95% of incomes, and the top 5% of incomes were subject to a 50% Federal income tax, we would have ended up with about $1693 billion in additional tax revenue in 2008. More than enough to cover the estimated $918 billion dollar cost to fully fund the US National Health Service, and provide an additional $775 billion for other uses.