"Why? becomes an important question. What is it that truly bothers us about the current system? We can point here and there. This is unfair, so is that. But to see the monster we have to step back, far back, because up close having private health care insurance is warm and fuzzy.
Those who posted comments to Mr. Orelli's ...Witch Hunt struggled to get their arms around the hairy beast. Many posts were over 500 words long. Some brief passages deserve repeating here in the context of visceral instinct that something stinks.
From among those I counted as opposed to most reform:
"Health Care COSTS is where it's at [sic]. The current system could stand a little make over. Tackle tort reform. Do the obvious things first, people!
"the uninsured are not all needy people, but for those that are, there are ways to make reasonable health care available. It is important to allow competition between insurance companies across state lines.
"Being opposed to ˜Obama Care' does not imply that those opposing it are satisfied with the status quo. The issue is the kind of reform, not the reform itself.
And from those in favor of reform:
"I agree the health care companies make way more than you realize its time for a public option I feel it is a necessary evil [sic].
"Not surprised to see MF (Motley Fool) join the chorus of right wing mis-informers" Tell me how anyone can justify the salary of UnitedHealth Group CEO William W. McGuire" who has made 342 million (dollars) over the last 5 years?
Regarding medical insurance tied to employment, "It deprives individuals of the freedom to quit their job and sell their skills in the open market, especially if they have a preexisting medical condition.
But, making a profit is not unfair. Then what is the inequity that pushes our buttons to the max? Scoobrs, who wrote at length, shot the monster point blank:
"The insurance provider who expunges the most or signs up the fewest unhealthy Americans always wins. From a national productivity perspective, this is damaging our economy in multiple fashions.
Yes it is, and there lies the rub. There is no free market capitalism in the medical insurance system. These are not capitalist enterprises. What we have, and what we are reacting to, is a predetermined system of profiteering.
We recoil from the stench of a scam where the taxpayers pick up the bill for nearly everything: the government run insurance programs, much of the cost of our own medical needs, and the cost of "uncompensated services rendered to those who cannot afford to pay.
A bombing campaign of sound bites is in
order. How about:
"What the insurance companies have done is say: if you're a little sick we'll pay. If you get very sick you pay. While you're healthy, we'll take your money. Once you're old, we don't want you.
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