Health Care: The impossible Dream?
Governor Schwarzenegger, tries to get Health coverage for Californians and the GOP Feds shoot it down. The Governor's health plan proposal actually only costs slightly more than what California is spending now. Central to the issue is allowing Insurance carriers to charge what the hell they want and to deny coverage to whomever they want, resulting in Insurance Carrier 'cherry picking' of the customer base. Most Republican law makers, and many Democrats as well, are firmly in the pockets of the Insurance Carriers, who have had the run of this roost for an excessively long time. The net result is that there are now many of us who cannot get coverage at any price and there are a great deal more that have to pay an excessive price for basic coverage, with the really cheap rates going to the healthy young.
Now, I am a Republican and am all for free markets. But the Insurance business is a networked oligarchy, period. It has been that way for over 40 years and it will never be a free market as long as Insurance is both tied to employment and employers remain self-insured, with the Insurance carriers administering the Insurance trusts. What's wrong with the current mess is that the tax breaks are towards the self-insured employer and they refuse to give those same breaks towards individuals. Until the 70's, employees couldn't even select their insurance administrator.
What most folks don't know is that you can't even get decent group coverage, if you have less than 25 employees, and a 50+ year old, type 2 diabetic, self-employed male, who smokes, is not insurable (why I can no longer find work in the US, it makes me un-employable too, they expect me to keel over at any minute).
What's working here in Europe is that each country is requiring mandatory individual health insurance. They then turn around and regulate the insurance prices and forbid any carrier from denying anyone coverage. The carriers are allowed up to a decent 10-15% corporate net profit, no more (that's already a lot!). There are some government subsidies, in the form of tax breaks, by not much and the health care here is excellent and covers much more than 60% of the population.
Now, I am a Republican and am all for free markets. But the Insurance business is a networked oligarchy, period. It has been that way for over 40 years and it will never be a free market as long as Insurance is both tied to employment and employers remain self-insured, with the Insurance carriers administering the Insurance trusts. What's wrong with the current mess is that the tax breaks are towards the self-insured employer and they refuse to give those same breaks towards individuals. Until the 70's, employees couldn't even select their insurance administrator.
What most folks don't know is that you can't even get decent group coverage, if you have less than 25 employees, and a 50+ year old, type 2 diabetic, self-employed male, who smokes, is not insurable (why I can no longer find work in the US, it makes me un-employable too, they expect me to keel over at any minute).
What's working here in Europe is that each country is requiring mandatory individual health insurance. They then turn around and regulate the insurance prices and forbid any carrier from denying anyone coverage. The carriers are allowed up to a decent 10-15% corporate net profit, no more (that's already a lot!). There are some government subsidies, in the form of tax breaks, by not much and the health care here is excellent and covers much more than 60% of the population.