Elizabeth Edwards has cancer. John McCain has had cancer in the past. Last weekend, Mrs. Edwards bluntly pointed out that neither of them would be able to get insurance under Mr. McCain’s health care plan.
It’s about time someone said that and, more generally, made the case that Mr. McCain’s approach to health care is based on voodoo economics — not the supply-side voodoo that claims that cutting taxes increases revenues (though Mr. McCain says that, too), but the equally foolish claim, refuted by all available evidence, that the magic of the marketplace can produce cheap health care for everyone....[more]
More like Black Magic.
True, the power of partisan government is all over the health-care equation. Google "health insurance state mandates" a bit, and you'll see. Every medical association extant has approached state legislatures, waving campaign money, and largely they've managed to get legislation passed that sets all kinds of mandates (minimum requirements) for publicly-available insurance policies. I'm not sure how Ohio's laws corrupt the process, but if you want a policy in this state, it's likely to require things like acupuncture and mental-health treatment. You can't remove those provisions, to get a focused insurance plan for your particular needs. Since all those riders are on your policy, it costs more to you in the premium. But hey, the Ohio Acupuncture Association (fictitious name) is happy, right? That's all that matters ... that some rich people waved money at some rich legislators and forced YOU to pay them.
HOWEVER ... the Marketplace Magic we're currently enduring works this way:
1. Sign up for an insurance policy.
2. Time passes.
3. You get sick. You file a claim.
4. The insurance company does everything possible to not pay the claim. They refuse the claims outright. They investigate your past to see if you have anything that might be (allegedly) related to the current treatment. They tell you a provider is in the network, and to go ahead and get treatment from them, and then later tell you the opposite (i.e. you just got suckered). Etc.
5. End Result: PROFIT (for them).
Well, you wanted a free market, and so there it is. And if you don't like it, you can haul your insurance company to court. Considering what it takes to get an auto-insurer to pay off around here, I'd say that happens a lot. (In every instance that I know of from people I know who have been in a traffic accident not of their fault, each and every time, they had to eventually relent and go retain a lawyer, since the insurance company just wouldn't pay. Can anyone smell the huge additional costs invoked by going to court EACH TIME?)
We need less Marketplace Magic, and more Marketplace Science.
insurance, McCain too. As members of Congress , they are covered under the federal employees' health coverage.
Here we are again, on the verge of another mandate- I have to take care of my neighbor, whether I want to or not. 'Love thy neighbor' should be voluntary, motivated by faith. But now the govt does it , from Medicaid to prescription drug coverage , all with taxes extracted from us.
A bit off topic, but we've used Statefarm insurance for decades, and they have been wonderful about paying up on auto accident claims (our fault or not). One phone call is all it's ever taken, and less the couple hundred dollar deductable, they handle it all, even rental cars while our car is being repaired. One of my closest friends has an insurance co. I am not familiar with & some guy rammed her car through a stop light (she was stopped) through 5 lanes of traffic, totaling her car. Neither her or his insurance paid shit, barely touched medical bills, and gave her far less for what her car was worth, and no rental car.
I guess we all should sign up with State Farm.