There was a time I complained publically about the dire state of our healthcare. I didn't buy into the right wing arguments that the US had the BEST healthcare in the world; after all, there were all these numbers coming out that kept contradicting those statements, like our infant mortality rate, and life-expectancy rate when compared to other nations. But I must retract. I was wrong.
We MUST have the best Healthcare in the world, if only because WE are paying twice as much for it as Norway, France, the UK, Canada, et al. Of course, in those countries, every person is, indeed, covered by the government, and we all know that governments are corrupt, inefficient, and, at times, downright evil. We, the greatest nation in the world, rely on the inherent goodness of Private Insurance Companies. Profit-driven, they know that what's best for us is to shut the hell up, and be glad that we live in a free country, where they are free to grant us the safety of insurance or not, and where we are free to pay our own damned medical bills if we are un-insurable. If they had to take on additional risk of insuring those who might actually require care, we are good enough capitalists to realize that our premiums would have to be raised, cause the stocks have to keep climbing; cause the profit margins only travel in one direction, and that's up, and god knows patriotic Americans will not begrudge insurance giants their hefty profits - they earned it.
They earn it every time they say ‘no' to a claim to a paying customer, and can't be sued for it. They earn it by instituting internal policies that reward denials of claims, no matter their validity in the hopes that the customer gives up, or dies. They earn it by being good enough at what they do to recognize that Obesity can strike one as young as four-months-old, and it's simply a great business decision to deny the fat baby coverage, for years to come. Mama should starve the bastard, so he loses a few ungainly pounds, no matter that his pediatrician considers him healthy.
They earn it when they understand that acne in teens is a sign of cancer in the future, and why the hell would I want to pay for some broad who couldn't keep her face clean, while ridden with all those hormones. Or for the idiot woman who stays in an abusive relationship and gets beat up, but is too stupid to keep it to herself, and still wants to get medical insurance...
I'd say fuck ‘em. Forget reform. It boils down to our priorities, and being good capitalists that we are, there is only ONE that matters: keeping our Insurance Companies Making healthy profits in perpetuity. They are the modern day heroes of our economy, and we must keep them happy, healthy and swimming in dough. So I don't mind paying $7,900 a year one way or the other to keep them in business, and still not have any coverage. I am a patriot.
If only I had the confidence of some that there was a God to take care of me, should I get sick.
So, by all means, vote NO on the bloody idiotic bill in front of you, dear elected officials. Because for as long as Anyone's health is going to hinge on the good graces of private insurance, we, the people, will be no better of than before, only some of us might end up in jail for failing to pay our premiums.
Of course, there is that silver lining of government provided healthcare while incarcerated...
First Published on www.CoffeeDrinkersUnite.com - a social network for the progressive types. If you have something to say and Huff Post won't print it - say it on coffeedrinkers :-)
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Well maybe there should be no insurance companies at all. That would surely solve the problem of the insurance companies. No government involvement but paying the doctors and hospitals with chickens and pigs. Yeah, that's the ticket. Or maybe the government could take over the training of medical personal and they would all be government employees. Yeah, maybe that's the ticket.