Below is a link to a transcript of one of the town hall's conducted by President Obama. In it he sort of answers the question of how a private insurer is supposed to compete with a "public option." He acknowledges that if it is a government organization he can see where there would be significant difficulty, but points out that Blue Cross/Blue Shield are non-profits as well and that for profits are still doing well. There are plenty in the insurance industry, my wife included, that would say otherwise with regards to both BC/BS being non-profit and with the assertion that the for-profits are doing well, but I can't say as I have no information. He also mentions an example of private businesses that compete with the government and are kinda beating its pants off (UPS/FedEx vs. USPS). It's food for thought but really light on specifics. It kinda boils down to "We need to be really careful in how we structure this thing."
I have not finished reading it, but plan to tonight.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/08/obamas_health_care_town_hall_i.html
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The insurance lobby is spending at least $1 million a day (I've seen much higher estimates) to block even this half-a**d attempt at reform. So the cries of poverty render me a tad skeptical.
ReplyDeleteWell from my understanding the gov't is what is slandering the health insurance agency with this "lobby" info. Here's an article directly from AHIP itself in regards to these recent articles. http://www.ahiphiwire.org/News/Default.aspx?doc_id=368607&utm_source=8/7/2009&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HiWire_Newsletter&uid=TRACK_USER&page=1
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