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Insurance Industry Already Finding Loopholes
Source: New York Times, March 28, 2010
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The new health care reform bill has barely been signed into law and already insurance companies are finding ways to avoid providing one of its centerpiece benefits touted by President Obama: coverage for children with pre-existing conditions. Congress meant to stop insurance companies from discriminating against children with chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, birth defects and cystic fibrosis, and the law does say that if a company sells a health insurance policy, it has to cover these kinds of pre-existing conditions for children. But now companies are arguing that they don't have to sell the policies in the first place -- at least not until 2014 -- and if they do, they can hike the premiums to whatever amount they need to cover the additional costs. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-West Virginia) said, "The ink has not yet dried on the health care reform bill, and already some deplorable health insurance companies are trying to duck away from covering children with pre-existing conditions. This is outrageous.”
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Am I surprised by this development? No... of course not, not at all... We ALL know how the insurance industry works in this country...
Here is the portion of this piece that I do not believe...
"Congress meant to stop insurance companies from discriminating against children with chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, birth defects and cystic fibrosis, and the law does say that if a company sells a a health insurance policy, it has to cover these kinds of pre-existing conditions for children."
After nearly 18 months of working on this thing are they trying to tell us that the congress was once again just too stupid to get it done right? Somehow I find that very difficult to believe...
In my opinion it is merely propaganda...
*I* think HOWEVER this health care bill is designed most likely that is the way it was meant to be designed. Full of holes... I suspect that during all the meetings between the administration and the drug companies and the insurance companies the 'loopholes' were intentionally written into the bill...
Remember Senator Chris Dodd's last minute change on the stimulus bill that allowed the huge bonus' of Wall Street TARP recipients to continue uninterrupted?
Here's a refresher...
Never forget that our kleptocratic leaders in Washington THINK that they are smarter than we are... That they are still operating in the old system, the pre-information explosion system...
These cronyism loopholes have ALWAYS been used in Washington by BOTH parties... It is so they can SAY 'look at the wonderful things we have accomplished for YOU, the American people'. While at the same time using amendments and legal mumbo jumbo language to intentionally create loop holes and set asides and restrictions and exemptions! It's complete, I'm sorry, bullshit!
Look at the state of our tax code! By now nearly the whole damn thing is one huge contradiction!
So how could anyone in congress, in Washington DC or in the public be surprised to find out that the health care bill is full of the same sort of language and loop holes?!
Don't you see that congress is juxtaposing itself against the insurance industry for show only?! It is my opinion that GovCorp is merely attempting to position itself against populist anger. The insurance companies are the imaginary 'whipping boys'. While congress and the administration verbally beat them up publicly the insurance companies, drug companies and others in the health care industry are laughing all the way to the proverbial bank!
As *I* have said all along... This health care bill has ALWAYS been designed as a huge profit windfall for the health care industry because the entire health care industry is a bubble in grave danger of collapsing! By adding 32 MILLION brand new customers for insurance companies who are about to go broke. These 32 MILLION new customers will be using health care services and buying DRUGS from the drug companies.
It IS and always has been a huge money grab FROM the American tax payer BY the United States government who will then turn over that collected tax money directly to the health care industry!
There is NO protection in the bill that prevents insurance companies from raising their premiums as often and/or as high as they like! There is NO protection in the health care bill that prevents drug companies from raising their prices as often and/or as high as they like! In FACT there ARE provisions that PROTECT the PROFITS of drug makers!
And, after BILLIONS of dollars of YOUR wealth has been stolen from you don't you dare expect anything in the health care industry to change at all until at least 2014!
With the exception of higher premiums! And higher costs all around, throughout the health care industry...
We CANNOT be so apathetic and docile so as to accept as James K. Galbraith says...
"... restricting the flow of thought and shrinking the sphere of admissible debate." And, paraphrased, limiting the range of presentable ideas, conveniently setting an entire panoply of reasoned discourse beyond the pale of what CAN be said, at least in public, by reputable people. There IS a process of internalization, of self-censorship. Once the 'rules' and 'boundaries' are understood, adherence becomes reflexive, and at the end of the day people come to think ONLY what it is permitted to think. They know, instinctively, when they might be "going too far".
*I* will continue, intentionally, to "go too far" in my own speech... *I* will continue to call for peaceful resistance and civil disobedience whenever and wherever possible. I will continue to hope that many Americans will join me in doing so. We are being rail-roaded badly. Completely 'run over' by a GovCorp that is COMPLETELY out of control.
Greg
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