Have you heard the news about all the health insurance company mergers? Isn’t there usually a freakout when Big Companies announce their intent to merge, complaints about a reduction in choice? Interestingly, when it comes to health insurance companies, and medical companies, merging, the news has been rather low key. I wonder why? The always unhinged, but a good peek into the Leftist mind, Salon tells us
Robert Reich: Single payer healthcare is the only way
The former secretary of labor on the dangers of health insurance mergers in the wake of SCOTUS’ Obamacare rulingThe Supreme Court’s recent blessing of Obamacare has precipitated a rush among the nation’s biggest health insurers to consolidate into two or three behemoths.
The result will be good for their shareholders and executives, but bad for the rest of us – who will pay through the nose for the health insurance we need.
We have another choice, but before I get to it let me give you some background.
Last week, Aetna announced it would spend $35 billion to buy rival Humana in a deal that will create the second-largest health insurer in the nation, with 33 million members.
OK, that goes on for a while, telling us all how super bad this is (and, really, Reich isn’t all that wrong. A loss of choice, domination by a few companies, etc), leading to
The problem isn’t Obamacare. The real problem is the current patchwork of state insurance regulations, insurance commissioners, and federal regulators can’t stop the tidal wave of mergers, or limit the economic and political power of the emerging giants.
Which is why, ultimately, American will have to make a choice.
If we continue in the direction we’re headed we’ll soon have a health insurance system dominated by two or three mammoth for-profit corporations capable of squeezing employees and consumers for all they’re worth – and handing over the profits to their shareholders and executives.
The alternative is a government-run single payer system – such as is in place in almost every other advanced economy – dedicated to lower premiums and better care.
Which do you prefer?
Remember, we were told by Ocare supporters that Obamacare would increase choice. Choice of doctors, choice of medical facilities, choice of insurers. Opponents talked about a loss of choice. Guess who was right? Again. But, rather than looking towards ways to increase choice, Leftists want to go down the road towards single payer, dominated and run by Government. Of course, this was always the plan.
