Private insurance system is the problem
Letter to the Editor
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Oct. 14, 2007
Regarding the Oct. 7 editorial “Mandating coverage: A sensible solution,” private for-profit insurance is the very cause of our health care crisis — not the solution.
“Private insurers maximize profits mainly by limiting benefits or by not covering people with health problems,” points out Marcia Angell of Harvard Medical School. “The United States is the only advanced country in the world with a health care system based on avoiding sick people.” How will a mandate for individual coverage address this basic yet perverse motive?
Nor will it address the nearly $400 billion from this huge private-sector bureaucracy dedicated expressly to denying insurance to those with pre-existing conditions and refusing coverage to the insured whenever possible. Further, individual mandates will not guarantee coverage of the 47 million uninsured.
The Journal Sentinel editorial contended that a single-payer system — like those in Canada, Taiwan and France — is not “politically doable.” Yet BusinessWeek’s May 17, 2005, poll showed “67% of all Americans think it’s a good idea to guarantee health care for all U.S. citizens, as Canada and Britain do, with just 27% dissenting.”
It’s time to cut out the parasitic middleman — the for-profit insurance industry that is driving up costs, dictating to patients and doctors alike and diminishing quality.
Roger Bybee