Comments on: GOP: No Third Party For Health Care Decisions http://talkradionews.com/2009/05/gop-no-third-party-for-health-care-decisions/ The Talk Radio News Service is the only information news service dedicated to serving the talk radio community. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:19:19 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Tom Hagan http://talkradionews.com/2009/05/gop-no-third-party-for-health-care-decisions/comment-page-1/#comment-44291 Tom Hagan Mon, 18 May 2009 17:46:12 +0000 http://talkradionews.com/?p=26588#comment-44291 It is galling to hear mendacious blather about "choice [of plan] for individuals" and "We want to make sure that health care decisions remain between a patient and a physician, not a bureaucrat." I asked a friend working for a large employer how much choice of plan he has. Answer: none. Who decides what treatments he is allowed? An insurance company bureaucrat, one of the army of denial clerks the healthcos employ to limit costs, which they call "medical losses", i.e., payment for health care services. The real mystery is that "health care insurance as we know it" continues to entail huge markups. Even with all the pressure to keep healthcare costs down, health insurance companies persist in imposing a 50% markup on the healthcare delivery services they choose to pay for. Why do they do this, when supermarkets can flourish with a 2% markup? They are not all run by a bunch of greedy incompetents: there must be something about "free market" health insurance that requires a large markup. Something inherent must impose large expenses compared to the Medicare single-payer solution, which functions with a markup of about 5%. Hence the inordinate fear of any kind of government competition. FedEx and UPS thrive despite competition from the Post Office; why can't the healthcos handle government competition? Why, exactly, do they need to mark up health care services by 50%? It is galling to hear mendacious blather about “choice [of plan] for individuals” and “We want to make sure that health care decisions remain between a patient and a physician, not a bureaucrat.” I asked a friend working for a large employer how much choice of plan he has. Answer: none. Who decides what treatments he is allowed? An insurance company bureaucrat, one of the army of denial clerks the healthcos employ to limit costs, which they call “medical losses”, i.e., payment for health care services.

The real mystery is that “health care insurance as we know it” continues to entail huge markups. Even with all the pressure to keep healthcare costs down, health insurance companies persist in imposing a 50% markup on the healthcare delivery services they choose to pay for. Why do they do this, when supermarkets can flourish with a 2% markup?

They are not all run by a bunch of greedy incompetents: there must be something about “free market” health insurance that requires a large markup. Something inherent must impose large expenses compared to the Medicare single-payer solution, which functions with a markup of about 5%. Hence the inordinate fear of any kind of government competition. FedEx and UPS thrive despite competition from the Post Office; why can’t the healthcos handle government competition? Why, exactly, do they need to mark up health care services by 50%?

]]> By: dmac http://talkradionews.com/2009/05/gop-no-third-party-for-health-care-decisions/comment-page-1/#comment-44271 dmac Sat, 16 May 2009 13:34:25 +0000 http://talkradionews.com/?p=26588#comment-44271 I love how Tom Price hides behind his simplistic "free market" ideology. What a fraud. He is opposed to any involvement by our government to curb the abuses of the insurance industry. Actually, he may not be a fruad, it may be that he's just hopelessly misguided. I love how Tom Price hides behind his simplistic “free market” ideology. What a fraud. He is opposed to any involvement by our government to curb the abuses of the insurance industry.

Actually, he may not be a fruad, it may be that he’s just hopelessly misguided.

]]> By: dmac http://talkradionews.com/2009/05/gop-no-third-party-for-health-care-decisions/comment-page-1/#comment-44270 dmac Sat, 16 May 2009 13:31:09 +0000 http://talkradionews.com/?p=26588#comment-44270 It's a simple calculation. The insurance industry and drug companies own most of congress. Congressmen & President Obama will do what big money wants done. It’s a simple calculation. The insurance industry and drug companies own most of congress. Congressmen & President Obama will do what big money wants done.

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