I Can't Make Sense Of It Either
One of many unseemly bumps in the otherwise smooth and ordered debate over health care reform has been the recent release/leak of a petulant threat scientific report from the American Health Insurance Providers. This document outlines what can only be charitably described as a worst-case scenario, a calamity that will befall us should the insurance industry not get absolutely everything they want out of this legislation, plus a pony.
It is a very revealing document, not for the claims it makes, but for the intentions it reveals. For instance, that in the absence of any other influence, they plan on premiums going up nearly sixty percent in the next decade or so. And that's just for one scenario excerpted from the report.
The Rude Pundit, confused as the rest of us, tries to make sense of it.
The Rude Pundit has tried to come up with a rational reason why the public option is still even being debated and is not the centerpiece of the bill. He can't do it. By AHIP's own admission, they have to be stopped or they'll kill again. The report is a taunt, a thug-level threat, terrorism, if you will. With no government alternative to corporate health insurance, it's like asking captured bank robbers if they'd mind not robbing banks anymore. When they say, "Yes, we mind," you ask if they'd stop shooting hostages. And when they say, "We'll think about it," you thank them for accepting their punishment so gracefully and release them.
As they say, read the whole thing. It's not that long.
It is a very revealing document, not for the claims it makes, but for the intentions it reveals. For instance, that in the absence of any other influence, they plan on premiums going up nearly sixty percent in the next decade or so. And that's just for one scenario excerpted from the report.
The Rude Pundit, confused as the rest of us, tries to make sense of it.
The Rude Pundit has tried to come up with a rational reason why the public option is still even being debated and is not the centerpiece of the bill. He can't do it. By AHIP's own admission, they have to be stopped or they'll kill again. The report is a taunt, a thug-level threat, terrorism, if you will. With no government alternative to corporate health insurance, it's like asking captured bank robbers if they'd mind not robbing banks anymore. When they say, "Yes, we mind," you ask if they'd stop shooting hostages. And when they say, "We'll think about it," you thank them for accepting their punishment so gracefully and release them.
As they say, read the whole thing. It's not that long.