Health care reform

If no less the 70% are against it and yet nobody knows what is in it I'd say the insurance lobby that have spent hundreds of millions to fight it have spent their money, or is it our premium money, very well.

After the failure of the Clintons' national health care plan back in the 90's, I was appointed to serve on my employer's insurance committee. Serving on that committee I observed first hand the annual double digit premium increases for 10 years while every year there were concessions on the benefits in the form of increased co-pays, reduction in benefits, etc. At least one of those years the annual premium increase was over 20%

If the Republicans have an alternative other than runaway healthcare costs for the masses, why haven't they presented it to the American people?

Instead they continue their constant negative attacks, often in the form of untruths such as Sarah Palin's reference to nonexistent "death panels". The Republican habit of making up a lie and presenting it as truth is a tired gimmick the American electorate would be well to reject outright. The untruths in Palin's fiction are well documented as were the fictional recollections of veterans committed to discrediting Kerry at any cost in the Swift Book Veteran's for Truth fiction compiled by a federal employee while working in the White House.

The argument calling any government mandates a step toward socialized medicine are naive. Hospitals already treat the indigent and we the taxpayers already foot the bill. It is much more cost effective to provide preventive care than paying for trips to the emergency room because one doesn't have health insurance.

Unchecked, the insurance companies and the medical establishment will continue to bankrupt this country.

We pay the highest for our health care costs at present yet we rank 17th among industrialized countries in the health care treatment given. Proof positive that our present medical establishment is cost bloated and care starved.

That is immoral. Double digit premium increases year after year are immoral. Lying about the contents of the health care reform package is immoral. (Yes, I prefer dealing with a president who gets a little on the side then lies about that--it wasn't any of our business in the first place, simply a republican't diversion because they have no workable alternatives left. And that is sad considering the rich, honorable heritage the GOP has.)

I notice the left coast neglected to mention all the sweetheart deals in the present Senate bill. Like all Liberals there has to be a parting shot at Palin just for good measure.

We complain about health care costs rising but we neglect to consider all the advances in treatment that we now expect. It is ludicrous to think the government is able to cover more people with reduced overall cost and to improve service at the same time. We will look back in 10 years and curse those that rammed this bill through.

Of course there are ways to improve the health system in the US but this monstrous bill will only make the problems multiply.

As for the Nelson statue and airport, it will be a constant reminder to McCook visitors and residents of corruption and payoffs. That is not the McCook I remember.

Ontheleftcoast has missed the most important parts of the reform. PREMIUMS ARE A FUNCTION OF CLAIMS EXPERIENCE. Milliman health reports in Oct 2008 that 70% of claims dollars are the result of lifestyle choices. Author then should realize that 70% of the rate spikes are the result of claims driven by the 32% obese, the 22% smokers, and the 3.5% unmanaged diabetics whose behavior generates lots of heart and orthopedic surgeries.

If the American Public invested some effort in the control of their own health, rates would be more acceptable. Note that AP reported that health insurance company profits were only 2.2%., so Obama and the media are lying about profits being the cause of those rate spikes.

The new legislation does far too little to incentivize the American Public to control their health. So ontheleftcoast, when are the liberals and the american public going to raise their fist in determination, and not their palm for a handout?

Mandates . They stink, and are so biased and selective, I am disbelieving that this is happening.

Example: Auto insurance. It is priced based on the profile of the driver and the auto itself. When the driver has a high risk history, he pays for that actuarial load. Same for the choice of car, he pays for the actuarial load. So the insured truly is paying for what he gets. And if a person contrives a way to buy it after the damage to the auto occurs, and tries to make a claim, that person is prosecuted for an illegal act called insurance fraud, in the process of trying to defeat adverse selection.

Example: Life insurance. Oh, yeah, the stories abound of how someone tries to buy it for their recently deceased relative or business partner, The judicial system also has a room for perpetrators in the grey bar hotel for that inconvenience called adverse selection that is fueling the crime called insurance fraud.

But health insurance: how did it get the title "entitlement"? The HIPPA rules written by a liberal named Ted Kennedy and his accomplice named Nancy Kassabaum, destroyed the actuarial science in the employer health market with a tool called Certificate of Credible Coverage. So it made it possible to seek employment for the purpose of transferring health costs to the employer, fellow employees, and even former employers with impunity. The closest to white collar crime ever perpetrated on any segment of society was written to defeat actuarial science and adverse selection in one single monstrous document. In years following, the left used HIPPA's discrimination against individual policies to vilify the insurance that truly has minimilized the adverse selection and creates forces to cause everyone to remain continuously insured. Ah, yes, the health insurance industry also was forced to price their group product in a way to not charge for those self imposed risks that drive claims off the chart. The analogy is that the auto insurance would price the same, whether the driver is a drunk, or driving an imported supercar, or both. Thus the public attitude of entitlement.

So now, the American Public will continue to send their adverse selection costs to each other via the confiscation of their tax dollars, when simultaneously knowing that other insurances will not allow the same privilege. And like little seventh graders, believe that they got something for nothing, until the under 30 group get their insurance premium notices in 2013. Too late, the realization will set in they have been had.

Harry Reid and 59 accomplices, including Earmark Ben, clearly have perpetrated the largest insurance fraud scam ever devised, and packaged it to call it an entitlement.

What a legacy for a former insurance director.