Cutting through the crap on health care reform

From T.R. Reid's piece in yesterday's Washington Post exposing the myths undermining the argument for American health care reform:

"The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage."

In other words, no country with national health care allows private for-profit insurance companies to profit from the provision of basic health care.

Don't you think that prohibition, in and of itself, would slash the obscenely high cost of health care in this country by 20%? 

At least?

The private insurance companies in Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland don't seem to have a problem with the "no profit" rule on basic health care.  Why then should America's private insurers?

So, President Obama, there's your message --get the profit out of basic health care!  Start with that and leave behind the incessant chatter about public options and health co-ops.

Maybe that will break the stalemate in the House and the Senate.

Comments

[Lee Coleman]

For-profit health care insurers will continue to compete in the market place and use the power of advertising to attract customers. They will be limited as to pre-existing conditions and required to obey anti-trust laws designed to enhance competition. This is as it should be since we want to give the lie to claims that Obama means to socialize health care insurance and is anti-capitalist.

In the meantime, a public option health care insurance system will also compete. But it will compete primarily at the pricing level.

There is room in the nation for both kinds of insurers -- plenty of it.

[Harry Kershner]

Welcome back, Terry.

The health care "debate" has now reached the Tower of Babel stage. The complex wonkfest of options, non-options and competing options has thoroughly confused what should have been a simple, easy-to-sell message: Medicare For All.

It doesn't take a genius to see that this was the intention all along.

The Democrat elites continue to cloud their acolytes' minds with threats that the Reich will call them socialists if they pursue what they actually want, ignoring the obvious reality that the Reich will call them socialists regardless of what they pursue. Stupid is as stupid does.