Yes, you read that right, the insurance industry has come out strong to promote the need of a public option.
They announced in a report today that the Baucus bill, which doesn’t have a true public option, would force them to raise premiums on families by $4,000 a year.
So…the only way to get reform and not continue to be robbed by them, they explain through subtext, is to have a public option.
Some pessimists might say that this was actually and attempt to blackmail America into killing reform by holding a financial gun at all of our heads but those folks just don’t understand how truly compassionate and patriotic insurance companies truly are.
The insurance companies can’t openly support the public option because that would be supporting competition and their stockholders could protest.
So, they have cleverly pretended to be greedy, intolerant, extortionists who put their profits over the lives of Americans and the future of America. I mean, come on, could they really be so blinded by their greed that they’d be oblivious to their making the best argument against themselves and for a public option?
If the last year has taught us anything, corporate CEOs are far too smart to ever sabotage their own companies.
The only explanation I have for this report is that it’s a knee jerk reaction to any healthcare reform.
But let’s start out and understand the report is right and wrong. Under any plan insurance total costs are going to go up because providers increase the cost. But premiums will go down even with the Baucus plan because of spreading the risk more. Yes healthcare reform with the public option will be lower the percentage healthcare costs increase and lowest premiums but an independent study by the Commonwealth Fund shows expanding the insurance pool will slightly bend the curve as well.
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Jun/Fork-in-the-Road.aspx
With no universal healthcare costs will rise 6.5%
With only private universal healthcare costs will rise 5.8%
With universal healthcare with public option costs will rise 5.6%
With universal healthcare with public option and Medicare limits costs will rise 5.2%
If you don’t think 1.3% is much it’s about $2 trillion dollars over 10 years.
Moreover insurance rates will go DOWN 25% with a strong public option.
The bottom line is I think this move by the insurance companies to obstruct only eases the way for the public option.
Absolutely, though the cost of health care, like everything else, will rise, when you subtract the 30% (though I’ll bet it’s more) in profits they tack on…and the recissions and denial of care from their corporate “death panels”, the public will be doing so much better.
We can hope too that a public option eventually leads to single payer too.
BTW, I do think that the cost of insurance should be reduced further when people who typically use emergency rooms for advanced issues and then can’t pay, feel free to visit doctors early on and be treated when issues are less severe so urgent care isn’t needed as much.