Not a Healthcare Crisis, but an Insurance one.

From a recent NY Times article on long term care insurers:

“The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims,” said Mary Beth Senkewicz, who resigned last year as a senior executive at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. “They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.”

As you read the NY Time article, bear in mind the Bush administration wants to dismantle Medicare and force everyone into the greedy clutches of exactly these private insurers. The radical free market wing of the Republican party argues that private business can meet people's needs more effectively than government programs. What is clear is that what big business does best is to protect the interests of big business.

Every interaction I have had with my insurance in the last few years has been an exercise in frustration. The process has deliberately been made complex so that they can deny claims. No form in triplicate - denied! Form electronically submitted - denied! Form not electronically submitted - denied!

The best thing we could do for health care in the county is bar private health insurance from the market in favor of single payer. Did you know that what the insurance companies spend on lobbying congress every year is more than enough to insure every uninsured person in this country? Imagine where we'd be if the administration had targeted that profound waste of resources instead of squandering billions on the war in Iraq.