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Somebody listened!
Topic Started: Jul 28 2009, 09:20 PM (502 Views)
dumblonde
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-health29-2009jul29,0,4731393.story

I've long been a proponent of insurance co-ops and written numerous letters on the topic. Maybe someone actually read one!
:dancingbanana:

I'd like to see hundreds, maybe thousands of small, responsive co-ops. I've never known anyone who has dumped their USAA insurance policy in preference of one of the big for-profit firms.
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towermonkey
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I heard Grassley a month ago talking about this and offering it as an alternative. He was being poo-poo'd by a whole bunch of democrats at the time. Its a good idea.
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dumblonde
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Note that I think they should be small, responsive co-ops. Large regional ones could be just as bad as UnitedHealthCare or Humana. Small is the operative word. Small and non-profit.
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archer
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I see the appeal of such a plan....but how would that work for people who travel...or are transfered....small co-ops would make portability of helath insurance difficult. You have paid into one co-op.....then you move, and start all over with another....

What many of us want is health insurance we can take anywhere....that is the same from state to state and doesn't involve changing companies if we move. Especially if you travel at all, you want to be able to get care in another city, not just emergency care but able to go to a clinic for the routine sore throat etc.
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Main Man
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archer
Jul 29 2009, 08:38 PM


What many of us want is health insurance we can take anywhere....that is the same from state to state and doesn't involve changing companies if we move. Especially if you travel at all, you want to be able to get care in another city, not just emergency care but able to go to a clinic for the routine sore throat etc.
Move to Canada. It was made for you.
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dumblonde
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I don't see why co-ops can't be portable- my USAA auto insurance covers me everywhere I go. Let's face it, we're never going to get a single payer while the health lobby is paying 1.4 million dollars a day on lobbying. (How much will our premiums have to go up to pay for that?)
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archer
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Main Man
Jul 29 2009, 09:11 PM
archer
Jul 29 2009, 08:38 PM


What many of us want is health insurance we can take anywhere....that is the same from state to state and doesn't involve changing companies if we move. Especially if you travel at all, you want to be able to get care in another city, not just emergency care but able to go to a clinic for the routine sore throat etc.
Move to Canada. It was made for you.
Interesting thought......I grew up in Canada.......I have family and friends who still live there. FYI, they love the health care system, though they admit to rough going in the early years (as would be the case with any new plan) but it works very well for them. However, my home is here now, I am a US born citizen, and surprise....this is just as much my country as yours, though I am sure that bugs the hell out of you.
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archer
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dumblonde
Jul 29 2009, 09:36 PM
I don't see why co-ops can't be portable- my USAA auto insurance covers me everywhere I go. Let's face it, we're never going to get a single payer while the health lobby is paying 1.4 million dollars a day on lobbying. (How much will our premiums have to go up to pay for that?)
I agree on the single payer, we won't see it any time soon......but am not sold on local plans, when I had Rocky Mountain Health Insurance they only covered me for emergencies outside Colorado, and If I moved I would have to find another company. Not always easy as you get older and have pre-existing conditions. The way things work now, an insurance company has to be licensed to write insurance in the state you are traveling in in order to be covered while in that state for anything other than an emergency.....do you really think a small co-op will go to that trouble for 50 states?

I would be OK with it if every health insurance plan was a "national" plan that could be ported to any state. This is one country......not 50 individual countries. (I also believe in a national drivers license) Our society has become so portable that state specific licenses, insurance etc is becoming a dinosaur.
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dumblonde
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The laws governing insurance companies will have to change- hopefully their immunity to anti-trust regulations would be one of the first to go. I am admittedly foggy on the laws covering insurance companies. What I do believe strongly is that the only avenue that will work is to strip the profit motive out. In all honesty I don't see that happening.
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archer
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As long as the money and power sit with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies there will be no meaningful changes. I have held out little hope that our elected representatives will do anything for the consumer when their campaign money comes from the very people they wish to regulate. The best that I see coming out of this congress is a symbolic slap on the wrist to the Insurance companies......removal of the pre-existing clause, more regulation on how they determine their premium structure, and if we are really lucky some uniformity on plans so we can compare apples to apples between insurance companies and actually know what we are paying for. I also see a few concessions coming from the pharmaceutical companies (these "voluntary" concessions are their attempt to keep congress from coming up with anything they really don't like)

Then....it will be business as usual, no real lowering of costs....a lot of back slapping by the Dems and statements of look what a wonderful thing congress has done for you......the Reps will groan and moan knowing full well that once again they kept anything meaninful from being enacted that didn't originate with them....and it will be business as usual.

We will all be the poorer for it, both economically and physically because nothing significant will have changed.
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