Obama cites soaring insurance rates as reason to reform health care
In a health-care speech near Philadelphia today, President Obama took on the insurance companies, warning that the industry has made a collective decision to drive rates up even if it means that more people and more companies have to drop their coverage.
“These insurance companies have made a calculation,” Obama said. “Listen to this, the other day, there was a conference call organized by Goldman Sachs; you know Goldman Sachs,” he said to laughter.
He continued, “An insurance broker told Wall Street investors that insurance companies know they will lose customers if they keep raising premiums. But since there’s so little competition in the insurance industry, they’re OK with people being priced out of health insurance because they’ll still make more by raising premiums on the customers they have. And they will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it.”
The charge is certainly consistent with reports of startling rate increases around the country, including here in Georgia. The Goldman Sachs interview cited by Obama offers further evidence of that trend. Steve Lewis, a broker who negotiates rates with insurance companies on behalf of private companies, told investors that health-insurance companies were likely to report higher profits this year because of the higher rates they are beginning to charge”
“As a specific answer to that, we would say, price competition is down from a year ago…. We feel this is the most challenging environment for us and our clients in my 20 years in the business. Not only is price competition down from year ago (when we had characterized last year’s price competition as being down from the prior year), but trend or (healthcare) inflation is
also up and appears to be rising. The incumbent carriers seem more willing than ever to walk away from existing business resulting in some carrier changes. And that’s a significant adjustment from last year where we saw aggressive pricing on the
renewal front but not so much on the new business front.…. I’d say we settled in a range, on our book of business, from a 5% reduction to a 50% increase. But generally speaking, we were in low to mid-teens out of the gates, and this is where the real challenges begin. Because negotiations generated no more than one to one and a half points with no plan changes. And so it’s almost like you were getting a first and final and
you had to dig through the renewals to find a mistake.”
As a purely business matter, there’s nothing nefarious in what the insurers are doing. They are finding it profitable to charge considerably higher prices even if it means fewer customers, so that’s what they’re doing. They’re doing what businesses do, and in the absence of real competition in many markets, they have the pricing power to get away with it.
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216 comments Add your comment
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
12:51 pm
UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE NOW!
Midori
March 8th, 2010
12:54 pm
I had to switch health care providers this year, as my old provider dropped my dermatologist and wouldn’t pay for some of the medication she prescribed for me.
The new provider started ripping me off from the outset……
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
12:54 pm
I beleive that is the philosophy of Chanel, Bugatti, Vacheron Constantin, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, etc…
Of course, wearing a Valentino suit doesn’t quite mean life or death.
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
12:55 pm
But, but I thought the CBO showed this would SAVE money:
“Obama policies projected to add $9.7 trillion to debt by 2020…”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030502974.html
“Estimates show grim picture…”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100305/ap_on_go_co/us_budget_deficits_3
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
12:55 pm
Obama To Republicans: ‘You Had Ten Years’ To Focus On Health Care Costs — ‘What Were You Doing?’ (VIDEO)
Hear! Hear!
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/obama-to-republicans-you-had-ten-years-to-focus-on-hcr-costs—-what-were-you-doing.php?ref=fpb
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Have A Drink On Us, obozo!
March 8th, 2010
12:55 pm
Using fake numbers, of course, just sayin….
RW-(the original)
March 8th, 2010
12:58 pm
As usual our little Alinskyite in the White House is focusing on the wrong demon.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
12:59 pm
Midori,
From down below @ 12.50,
Kamchak
March 8th, 2010
12:59 pm
As a purely business matter, there’s nothing nefarious in what the insurers are doing.
Turning health care into a commodity brings new meaning to the phrase family values.
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
1:00 pm
Yeah right, this is what Americans want:
“UK HEALTHCARE: Neglected by ‘lazy’ nurses, man, 22, dying of thirst rang the police to beg for water… ”
“The tragedy emerged a week after a report into hundreds of deaths at Stafford Hospital revealed the appalling quality of care given by many of the nurses.”
Mick
March 8th, 2010
1:02 pm
These insurance companies are wrecking the economy. Medicare for all is the solution, take health insurance out of the for profit sector. Business will flourish especially the auto companies who would be better able to compete. Everybody in – everybody pays. It’s not socialism – it’s realism about people coming to grips with healthcare for all citizens.
Midori
March 8th, 2010
1:02 pm
complete with teleprompter, JCB
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
1:03 pm
And this from the U.K.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7396358/The-end-of-the-road-for-Barack-Obama.html
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:04 pm
Jimmy Carter,
At least we have this kind of health care in the United States:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/11/1963997/whistle-blower-nurse-is-acquitted.html
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
1:05 pm
Toss up question.
Will just ONE person explain, under the existing financial circumstances, just how we, not China, can pay for socialized healthcare?
Solution: get the economy strong first, get out of Iraq second, balance the budget third, and THEN talk about healthcare.
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
1:06 pm
The Truth About The Uninsured And Emergency Room Services
This is the reality of the uninsured.
http://indiedesign.typepad.com/inspire_political_discour/2010/02/the-truth-about-the-uninsured-and-emergency-room-services.html
Midori
March 8th, 2010
1:06 pm
Gee,
all of a sudden wingnuts CARE about what EUROPE says and thinks?????
*slaps head*
I coulda had a V8!!!!
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:07 pm
Midori,
“complete with teleprompter”
“UNNGHHH…UNGGHHGHG…brains….brains!” ~ Ronald Reagan, 1.20.2013 Inauguration
Doggone/GA
March 8th, 2010
1:07 pm
“Solution: get the economy strong first, get out of Iraq second, balance the budget third, and THEN talk about healthcare”
Translation: I don’t care how many people have to die for lack of healthcare, the money comes first
Here’s a “back atcha” question: how are we going to pay for the rise in healthcare costs that ARE going to occur anyway?
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
1:07 pm
Hello Kamchak.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:09 pm
Jimmy Carter,
“Will just ONE person explain, under the existing financial circumstances, just how we, not China, can pay for socialized healthcare?”
Can just ONE person explain, under the existing financial circumstances, just how we, not China, can pay for Bush Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, 2 wars of choice and the Medicare Prescription drug plan?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
March 8th, 2010
1:09 pm
Well, my problem with Obamacare is it makes other people just as good as me. They’ll have the same health insurance I worked so long to find a job for. I didn’t have it back when I was sheetrocking houses. When I got promoted to beer truck driver I got it, and I aim to keep it. And I don’t plan to pay taxes so somebody else can get it.
Besides, like Sister Dusty said a couple years ago, if everybody’s got health insurance I’ll have to wait a long time in the DR waiting room before the DR looks at my pile-on cyst. That’s no good.
We live in a jungle and it’s every man and woman for theirself. This Obama wants to get rid of the jungle and make everybody take care of everybody else. Everybody else will live as long as me. That’s no good.
So there’s your problem with guvmint health insurance. It’s no good.
And if everybody’s got what I got, there ain’t no reason for me to work anymore. All any of us work for is to be better than somebody else. It’s the American Way.
So die, all you lazy and laid-off poor people. It’s what God intended. Don’t lay back and wait on my tax money to help you out.
Have a good p.m. everybody.
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
1:09 pm
“Medicare for all is the solution, take health insurance out of the for profit sector.”
BINGO!
Why would anyone want their health care in the hands of for profit?
Kamchak
March 8th, 2010
1:13 pm
Good afternoon Jenifer. Hello Midori.
NowReally
March 8th, 2010
1:15 pm
Because I’m really stupid, I will ask – what is an Alinskyite?
NowReally
March 8th, 2010
1:19 pm
“Solution: get the economy strong first, get out of Iraq second, balance the budget third, and THEN talk about healthcare”
Why wasn’t healthcare a priority before the economy became weak, we weren’t in Iraq and the budget was balanced? Let me guess, it’s not a RIGHT because it’s not in the Constitution.
mm
March 8th, 2010
1:19 pm
“Solution: get the economy strong first, get out of Iraq second, balance the budget third, and THEN talk about healthcare.”
Ignorant post of the day.
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
1:21 pm
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:09 pm
Bush tax cuts are a thing of the past and I was dead set against the Medicare drug plan. I didn’t think we could pay for it.
Enough with our previous sins, we just cannot continue to add trillions on top of trillions with new, unnecessary plans.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:22 pm
Health insurance companies are now thinking about product tie-ins that best represent those who will soon be the only ones able to afford their policies:
• Aetna = Aston Martin
• American Association of Retired Persons = Roberto Cavalli
• Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield = Louis Vuitton
• Assurant = Manolo Blahnik
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield = Breitling
• Cigna = Cartier
• Humana Inc. = Hermès
• UnitedHealth Group = Prada
• Wellpoint = Christian Dior
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:24 pm
Jimmy Carter,
“I didn’t think we could pay for it.”
Never could and still can’t.
Midori
March 8th, 2010
1:26 pm
Hi Kamchak!!
Iris
March 8th, 2010
1:27 pm
Sir Redneck Converted,
By law, hospitals must treat the uninsured. The expense for this is passed along to the insured, in overall hospital charges. So despite your every-man-is-an-island philosophy, you’re not a solo act even now. You already pay — but pay more than you will under insurance reform — for others’ to get care. If you really want independence — maybe you can buy an island somewhere and take a doctor with you. But if you need to make a living remember this. When beer is drunk by others, which sometimes leads to drunk driving and health care costs or worse, this didn’t happen as a solitary act since someone made delivered the beer. Why should we pay for the side effects of driving a beer truck? Because, we’re all in this together.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
1:32 pm
NowReally,
I am assuming it is this person:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky
SOUTHERN ATL
March 8th, 2010
1:38 pm
Once an employer gives evaluations and decides that you are due for a salary increase, the insurance premium goes up and the raise becomes null and void!! It happens EVERY year!!
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
March 8th, 2010
1:40 pm
Why should we pay for the side effects of driving a beer truck? Because, we’re all in this together.
Dang! A Commie if I ever seen one.
@@
March 8th, 2010
1:51 pm
Too funny!
HAVANA, March 6 (Reuters) – Cash-strapped Cuba will require visitors to buy health insurance if they want to enter the country, according to a new government measure disclosed on Saturday.
Under the measure, which takes effect in May, the insurance will be sold by foreign companies approved by the Cuban government or by Cuban firms at ports of entry to the communist-led island, the government said in the online edition of Cuba’s Official Gazette
But the island has been hit hard by the global recession and is looking for new sources of revenue to boost its depleted financial reserves.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06109809.htm
Andy
March 8th, 2010
1:52 pm
If you want to look at a health care model that works for the uninsured, go here:
http://www.nhpf.org/library/background-papers/BP_CHC_08-31-04.pdf
Agnes
March 8th, 2010
1:56 pm
Give me the exact same National Healthcare coverage that Reid, Pelosi, Rangel, Frank, Dodd, Shumer, Obama, etc., and their families have. If that can’t happen then abandon this farce.
Huckabee The Next POTUS 2013
March 8th, 2010
1:58 pm
I hope obozos health care does pass against the wishes of the majority of the American public. This will only make November so much sweeter when dumpocraps are sent packing. Then the celebrations of Jan. 20, 2013 will be that much closer to a becoming a reality. You know that day don’t you, that’s the day barry the kid packs his bags and takes his family and all his chi-town thugs home. barry obozo, a little boy sitting at a big mans desk.
@@
March 8th, 2010
2:11 pm
Sen. Lieberman Proposes Legalizing Bisexual Behavior in the U.S. Military
I would not have believed what my eyes were reading had I not watched the video. Straight from Joe’s mouth to my ears. His Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 would allow bi-sexuals in the military.
With that revelation, I can no longer support repeal of DADT.
You either is or you isn’t gay….there is no in-between.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:16 pm
Kamchak
**Turning health care into a commodity brings new meaning to the phrase family values.**
Healthcare has always been considered a commodity, Carbon? Not so much.
Ray
March 8th, 2010
2:17 pm
Notice those who wolf cry ‘big government’ have no problem being devoured by big business?
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:17 pm
@@
**His Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 would allow bi-sexuals in the military.**
This is good. Now an officer can be convicted of sexual harassment of both sexes.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:19 pm
Ray
Big business never killed 10 million Russians, 6 Million Jews or 14 million Cambodians.
jt
March 8th, 2010
2:20 pm
Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd, and Barney Frank will save us all.
We simply MUST get congress more involved in our healthcare.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:22 pm
@@,
“You either is or you isn’t gay….there is no in-between.”
Perhaps if the rest of the country followed DC’s lead, the US would be out of this recession in no time.
“but a 2009 report by UCLA’s law school projected that the Washington region would see a $52.2 million revenue bump over the next three years.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/04/AR2010030405730.html
Of course, that does require the betrothed to pick just one
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:22 pm
Iris
So now we pay for the few uninsured that end up in the emergency room.
And the great money saving plan that you and the dims offer is to force us all to ensure everyone.
You guys just aren’t very good at math, are you?
N-GA
March 8th, 2010
2:22 pm
So Sarah Palin liked Canadian healthcare, but now she doesn’t?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/palin-crossed-border-for_n_490080.html
Jimmy Carter: So you think UK-style healthcare is what this administration is proposing? Are you lying, or are you just stupid?
Disgusted
March 8th, 2010
2:23 pm
Give me the exact same National Healthcare coverage that Reid, Pelosi, Rangel, Frank, Dodd, Shumer, Obama, etc., and their families have. If that can’t happen then abandon this farce.
OK. You appear to be among those who believe that elected federal politicians have an exclusive plan. They don’t. They choose from the same plans other federal employees choose from. Here are the choices for a Georgia federal employee. It’s direct from the OPM Web site. All require that the employee pay a portion of the premium, usually 25%:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan Nationwide 10
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan Nationwide 11
GEHA Benefit Plan Nationwide 31
NALC Nationwide 32
GEHA High Deductible Health Plan Nationwide 34
Mail Handlers Benefit Plan Value Nationwide 41
SAMBA Nationwide 44
Mail Handlers Benefit Plan Nationwide 45
APWU Health Plan Nationwide 47
Mail Handlers Benefit Plan Consumer Option Nationwide 48
Nationwide Fee-for-Service Plans Open Only to Specific Groups
Rural Carrier Benefit Plan Specific Areas 38
Association Benefit Plan Specific Areas 42
State Specific HMO, HDHP and CDHP Plans
Aetna HealthFund Most of Georgia 22
Aetna Open Access Atlanta and Athens Areas 2U
Humana CoverageFirst Atlanta Area AD
Humana Employers Health of Georgia, Inc. Columbus CB
Humana Employers Health of Georgia, Inc. Atlanta DG
Humana Employers Health of Georgia, Inc. Macon DN
UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company, Inc. Atlanta, Athens, Macon Areas E9
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc. Atlanta, Athens, Columbus, Macon.Savannah F8
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia Inc. HDHP Atlanta, Athens, Columbus, Macon, Savannah GW
Humana CoverageFirst Macon Area
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:27 pm
Jenifer
**Why would anyone want their health care in the hands of for profit?**
Apparently, you don’t know anyone in training to be a doctor. 14 years of higher education to work for a non-profit.
This is where our country is headed folks. In the USSR, garbagemen were more highly regarded than doctors.
N-GA
March 8th, 2010
2:27 pm
Some of you think that people can just walk into a hospital, receive care, then walk out with no financial obligation. Toooooo silly. They still owe the money. I’m told many if not most immigrant laborers come in and pay cash. They are a lot more likely to pay than the rednecks up here (at least the ones not already getting state-funded insurance like Medicaid & Peachcare)..
Ray
March 8th, 2010
2:36 pm
NIF – you left out the Iraq numbers, as well as the soldiers we needlessly lost.
Barry
March 8th, 2010
2:38 pm
If you are OVERWEIGHT, you are the PROBLEM.
Pete
March 8th, 2010
2:38 pm
Better over sight of insurance companies is required. However, that is not the solution to the problem for insurance companies are a small part of the overall health care cost – as most of their premiums pass thru costs from health care providers. For example if you look at the largest 5 insurance companies revenue and net income (UHG, Wellpoint, Aetna, Humana, Cigna) their total sales for their last years reported is $227.38B with net income of $11.32 which is less than 5% margins. Compare that to a single technology company like Apple – would made $9.36B on sales of $46.71B. So yes, there are issues with insurance companies but if the top 15 insurance companies were all nationalized – assuming the Federal goverment could maintain the same level of efficiency – it might save $20B a year a far cry from the total savings required.
Disgusted
March 8th, 2010
2:38 pm
Apparently, you don’t know anyone in training to be a doctor. 14 years of higher education to work for a non-profit.
Oh balderdash! Full college professors have usually 8 years of higher education, including the PhD–which, by the way, is usually much more stringent than an MD–and they work for non-profits. After receiving the MD, a medical doctor usually serves a three-year residency, but the college professor needs at least seven years to enter the ranks of those seeking the full professorship. And when’s the last time you heard of a college professor making $400,000 a year?
MDs make the big bucks for one reason: restriction of entry to the medical schools. The gates are guarded by other MDs; a medical school candidate needs the recommendation of at least one MD to get in, and the ranks are kept deliberately small, not because getting the MD is so tough but because the costs are so high and the opportunities are so few. The medical profession is the closest thing to the medieval guild system still existing.
@@
March 8th, 2010
2:39 pm
jewcowboy:
Gays make up about 2-3% of the entire U.S. population. I’m just not seeing that big of an investment in return for gay marriage. Unless, of course, you wanna include bi-sexuals in the mix. Heck they could marry a woman one week, divorce the next, then marry a man, then…..well you get my point.
A perpetual marriage and divorce cycle depending on what kinda sex they’re looking for at any given moment.
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:39 pm
@@: “You either is or you isn’t gay….there is no in-between.”
I’m sure it was meant to be amusing, but I firmly believe that most people fall between the two and even change throughout theier lives.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:39 pm
N-GA
**Some of you think that people can just walk into a hospital, receive care, then walk out with no financial obligation. **
Yes and that will never change. What will change is that “people” will pay much higher taxes to not only pay the medical fees but also finance the enormous bureaucracy that the government will build, and government workers are now the highest average paid in our country.
So great plan dims: cut costs by hiring tens of thousands of paper pushers.
Barry
March 8th, 2010
2:40 pm
I hope that those on this blog ranting and raving are not overweight. You FAT LOSERS are driving up the cost of healthcare because you don’t want to PUT DOWN THE HAMBURGER. I got four words for ya, “put down the chips”.
@@
March 8th, 2010
2:41 pm
Oops! make that return on our investment in gay marriage.
IHBIRRDHBIWYPWQRTMIPTWAIJKMH
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:42 pm
@@,
“A perpetual marriage and divorce cycle depending on what kinda sex they’re looking for at any given moment.”
And how does that differ with heterosexual marriage?
Doggone/GA
March 8th, 2010
2:43 pm
“return on our investment in gay marriage.”
What investment?
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:43 pm
@@ @2:39 Since when do Americans think they need to marry to get sex?
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:43 pm
Disgusted
Do you know any good doctors who want to go through what they go through to have the income of a college professor?
College professors aren’t required to make life and death decisions every day. There is no way to compare the two.
Ray
March 8th, 2010
2:45 pm
Barry – Right on about the fat. Throw in the smoking and the sedentary lifestyle and you’ve got a real health disaster.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:45 pm
Doggone/GA,
“What investment?”
The cost of changing the form to say Spouse 1 / Spouse 2, instead of Husband / Wife?
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
2:47 pm
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:39 pm
People “change throughout their lives”? Well, why I don’t agree with your conclusion, at least we DO agree that homosexuality is a choice, not a biological/genetical condition at conception.
Moderate Line
March 8th, 2010
2:47 pm
The health industry is the 66th rank industry as far as profits. The attack is purely political. The real profits in the health industry are being made by
REIT – Healthcare Facilities 27.3% 2nd
Drug Manufacturers – Major 21.3% 6th
Healthcare Information Services 19.2 9th
Drug Delivery 8.9 29th
Home Health Care 8.6 32nd
http://biz.yahoo.com/p/sum_conameu.html
Hospitals
Canadians spent appreciably less than Americans for acute hospital care in 1987, but they did not have fewer beds, fewer admissions, or shorter stays. The difference arises entirely in expenditures per admission, which were 39 percent higher in the United States.
37% health care cost are for hospitals
21% of health care cost are for drugs
How does Obama’s bill address the cost difference between Canada and the United States? . It doesn’t.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/328/11/772
Doggone/GA
March 8th, 2010
2:47 pm
“The cost of changing the form to say Spouse 1 / Spouse 2, instead of Husband / Wife?”
Welll….I watched a new episode of “What Not to Wear” recently, and their “contributor” was a gay woman. They addressed her partner as her wife. And when they spoke to her wife, they called their contributor HER wife.
I’m still trying to figure out where “we” are making an investment, though.
Moderate Line
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
Correction. Health Insurance industry is 66th.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
Jimmy Carter,
“at least we DO agree that homosexuality is a choice,”
So who is the guy you decided not to have sex with?
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
Ray
March 8th, 2010
2:45 pm
Just wait until the “victims” start suing McDonald’s for the Big Mac and Burger King for the Whopper. If they don’t sue, they’ll at least blame them for their obeisity.
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
Hmmm, given the form is probably in soft copy today, the revision sounds like about one minute of administrative time and six weeks of legal time so the legal team can review the document. (Yes, I have easy things hung up in the legal department again.)
Doggone/GA
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
“So who is the guy you decided not to have sex with?”
and when?
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
2:49 pm
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:48 pm
Not sure if I follow you, but ALL of them:)
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:49 pm
Jimmy Carter
**at least we DO agree that homosexuality is a choice, not a biological/genetical condition at conception.**
You have obviously never met Glen, the clarinet play that I went to school with. No one was surprised when Glen “came out”.
Disgusted
March 8th, 2010
2:50 pm
Do you know any good doctors who want to go through what they go through to have the income of a college professor?
Check out the compensation structure of medical doctors in other countries, NIF. USA doctors get the highest compensation among all doctors in the world, and it isn’t because they “make life and death decisions every day” or that they’re the best doctors in the world. Most of them earn more than the MDs in medical schools who taught them. All practicing MDs make “life or death decisions every day.” I repeat: it’s deliberately created shortages that create the high salary costs.
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
2:52 pm
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:49 pm
Based on the numerous reactions, I guess everyone missed my point at humor. I’ve heard many “gay” leaders say they had no choice – they were BORN homosexuals. I was merely calling attention to the post by “Gale” who said many people would change back and forth between hetero and homosexuality in their lives.
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:52 pm
Jimmy, No, we do not agree that homosexuality is a choice. Sexuality is not a choice. If your body tells you one sex or the other is “right”, that is not a choice in the sense you seem to mean. It is not like a fashion statement. “Oh, bell bottoms are in this season.” I cannot understand why some people persist in believing that homosexuals would *choose* to be spurned by society.
Mick
March 8th, 2010
2:57 pm
NIF
**This is where our country is headed folks. In the USSR, garbagemen were more highly regarded than doctors**
A little bit over the top even for you. Remember, we have american culture – god, guns, and butter for more than 200 years, there is no comparison in reality.
jewcowboy
March 8th, 2010
2:57 pm
Jimmy Carter,
“Not sure if I follow you, but ALL of them:)”
You said homosexuality is a choice, so by the same right is heterosexuality…if that is the case then you must be continually choosing to have heterosexual relations, and if you are having to choose, then that means you have homosexual feelings.
So my question is since you have to choose to have sex with men or women, I was just wondering who you were considering for your homosexual encounter?
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:57 pm
Jimmy, When I say that people change in their sexuality, my point was more that most people are actually bisexual than one extreme or the other. I was refering to the earlier comments about bisexuals. Think of sexuality as a dial. Most of us fall somewhere on one side or another, but some will be all the way to either side or right in the middle. I doubt many people would swing from one extreme to another. Individual situations or companions, however, may incline them to lean one direction or another. I don’t think that qualifies as a straight person choosing to be gay this week or vice versa.
Jimmy Carter
March 8th, 2010
2:58 pm
Gale
March 8th, 2010
2:52 pm
Look, we can all go to extremes with our examples. Using your logic, a 25 year old man can say sex with a 13 year old girl is right. It’s not. But again, using your logic the man couldn’t be wrong because why would he “choose” to be spurned by society.
I don’t think I was the one who brought up the gay topic, but sheesh, let’s move on (not .org).
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
2:58 pm
Ray
**NIF – you left out the Iraq numbers, as well as the soldiers we needlessly lost.**
I wasn’t talking about soldiers dying in battle. I was talking about dedicated government programs designed to kill millions and millions of innocent unarmed citizens. THAT’S what a government is capable of doing.
N-GA
March 8th, 2010
3:00 pm
Drain the Swamp,
I just love it when people remark about our huge, inefficient bureaucracy without noting things like Blackwater paying military contractors more than $100k/year. It would seem the government’s $$ problems are at their worst when they pay American companies to do the work.
On the other hand the government managed to build the interstate hwy system, many huge hydroelectric dams, and put a man on the moon.
All that to say that there are many examples of the government doing things well and doing things badly. Then again success AND failure can be cited frequently in private enterprise.
Some posters here have noted the small net profits produced by health insurance companies. What a typical observation from people lacking fundamental business education. Of each $1.00 of healthinsurance premium only $.68 goes to healthcare (doctors, labs, hospitals and drugs). Some goes to profit, but most of the reat goes to running the business and paying much higher salaries than are paid to federal workers.
Sarah
March 8th, 2010
3:01 pm
Those Canadians sure do offer good health care. You betcha.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
3:02 pm
Mick
First, if you are still eating margarine instead of butter, good luck digesting plastic.
We have had lots of freedoms that are being taken from us. The government is growing at at unprecedented rate. I just can’t understand anyone who would support that.
Mick
March 8th, 2010
3:08 pm
NIF
I would suggest you move out of georgia and come on down to florida or go out west, I haven’t noticed any freedoms disappearing except of courss some of the unctious provisions in the patriot act concerning international phone calls. Outside of that same old, same old. Me thinks you are getting a bit paranoid.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
3:08 pm
N-GA
**On the other hand the government managed to build the interstate hwy system, many huge hydroelectric dams, and put a man on the moon.**
Of course the elephant in the living room is the fact that we didn’t already have a great system, already building the interstate highway systems, building dams or putting people in space. And of course, the government didn’t do anything but write the checks. Contractors and venders built the highways, dams and built everything that NASA has ever used.
**Some goes to profit, but most of the reat goes to running the business and paying much higher salaries than are paid to federal workers.**
That’s such a completely vague and ridicules comment, that I will let it pass. I work around this stuff every day and I have never seen anything supporting that. Insurance execs may make a lot but the agents and the rest of the support make crap.
jefferson
March 8th, 2010
3:10 pm
If there was only one regulated insurance company, health care could be very affordable and with proper care many issues could be prevented. The excess in profit, salaries, and operating expenses of the existing system would be the savings. It is going to change someway or another. No way the current system can be substained.
N-GA
March 8th, 2010
3:11 pm
Drain the Swamp:
Just because someone supports fixing healthcare doesn’t mean they support more government.
The GOP has had ample opportunity to address healthcare. They’ve avoided it.
- drug cost are too high (look at Canada!)
- premiums are too high (my BC/BS is now $2400/month for my spouse & I with no dental or eyewear)
- preexisiting conditions and waiting periods
-lifetime limits
- service denials
- approved treatments being classified as “experimental”
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
3:12 pm
Tobacco Lobby Underwriting Part Of The Conservative Anti-Tax Rally Tomorrow In Georgia
Grover Norquist = Shady.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/afp-norquist-tobacco/
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
3:13 pm
Mick
Oh Jeeze, you live in Florida.
I’ll just stay up here. Sand fleas and rude people, I can get anywhere, but Florida is the world’s leading exporter.
Mick
March 8th, 2010
3:17 pm
NIF
The sunshine state – greatest place on earth from december thru april, then its off to montana or colorado. It’s been my experience that there’s no shortage of rude people in EVERY state in this here union, georgia is no exception.
Pete
March 8th, 2010
3:19 pm
N-Ga, not sure where you get your # that only 68% of insurance premiums pay for health care – just looking at the annual reports for the two largest companies – UHG pays 80% for direct health care costs and Wellpoing 84%. Profit is roughly 5% so around 12-15% is administrative costs – not great – but likely significantly better than what the Federal Government could do based on their performance with VA, Medicare and Medicaid.
Ronnie Raygun for President
March 8th, 2010
3:20 pm
Hey! It beats what they got now.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
3:22 pm
N-GA
2400 a month for two people with no pre-exists?
6 words: let your fingers do the walking. I am 57, pay 246 a month for great coverage. My sweety has her own through her little business and her’s is much less than mine.
**The GOP has had ample opportunity to address healthcare. They’ve avoided it.**
Except for the members of the government that is determined to take over 1/6th of our economy and dictate everyone’s lifestyle, healthcare has not been the most pressing issue, sort of like now, where most Americans put it Waaaaaay down the list of important topics.
I was at a party when Obama first said the talking point about what the Republicans haven’t done, and almost everyone at the party burst out laughing. The party was a group of small businessmen trying to figure out how to get some money to hire some people.
Please read this very carefully: HEALTHCARE MEANS NOTHING COMPARED TO NOT HAVING A JOB!!!!!!
So when you want to repeat that talking point about what the Republicans haven’t done about health care, I would point you to the unemployment numbers just before the Congress flipped and was taken over by people who have been trying to push healthcare through.
Patches
March 8th, 2010
3:25 pm
Insurance rates went up too much so we should nationalize healthcare?
Just last week the progressives were telling us that Obamacare was not a take over. This week he promises to control rates.
It’s all just blah blah blah. We don’t want this disaster jammed down our throat.
He can’t even get the democrats to vote for it!
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 8th, 2010
3:28 pm
Mick
I practically lived in Florida when I was growing up. Now, when the Keys secedes, I’ll go back. Florida has changed a lot in 40 years.
Jenifer
March 8th, 2010
3:30 pm
Roy Ashburn: ‘I’m Gay’
Palin – a consumer of Canadian socialized healthcare.
Ashburn – gay.
Will there be any more republicant hypocrisy before the day is out?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/roy-ashburn-im-gay_n_490297.html