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The private, for-profit health insurance companies will always be the enemies of true health care reform. The problem is that they are a pure waste in the system. They are the financial equivalent of a parasite. Medicare does a better job than they do. Even if they could play a limited, positive role in a truly workable all-payer system, private insurers would fight that because it would require dramatically shrinking their power and profits. In this post-Citizens United world, the for-profit insurance companies are planning to spend big to influence the upcoming elections:
WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and three other health insurers, criticized by Democrats during the overhaul debate, are seeking to influence how the new law will be implemented, and possibly change it, by campaigning for supportive congressional candidates.
Senior government-relations staff from UnitedHealth, WellPoint, Humana Inc., Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. have been meeting for at least two months to discuss the plan, which may include creation of a $20 million war chest, said two people familiar with the matter.
The for-profit health insurance companies plan to spend millions over the coming years to fight true reform and to fight members of Congress who support reform. This is why the new health care law was never a step toward reform. By funneling hundreds of billions in government subsidies to these companies and forcing millions of Americans to become their customers, the new law make these enemies of reform larger, richer and more powerful. Progressive Democrats will suffer in future elections because instead of using the new health care law to weaken their enemies, they used it to impose mandatory membership while shoveling huge government subsidies to them. They have provided these behemoths with even more money to use in political ads against progressives.
I suspect the failure to weaken the power of the insurance companies and reduce their size by creating a public option will cost Democrats for decades. From both a political and policy perspective, it was a terrible idea. Democrats are going to have a lot of fun trying to prove to Americans that they did a good job with their health care reform bill when their chosen partners for implementing it, the private health insurance companies, intend to fight and undermine it.
I don’t know what strange world progressive or Democratic base voters live in, where they were able to convince themselves this new law was a victory. Making your long- term enemies larger and providing them with billions in new resources is a strategic defeat. Democrats passing a law making the purchase of private health insurance mandatory is like Republicans passing a law making labor union membership mandatory at every workplace.
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Many dems have deluded themselves into thinking whatever Obama and the dems do is good. They are like the 20-30 percent hardcore bush supporters who supported him to the end. That same sort of thinking exists within the dem party only for their leader.
It was the craven fear of seeing Harry and Louise: The Sequel coming their way in 2010 and 2012. So they sold out in exchange for a promise not to do Harry and Louise ads and a promise that Big Health would spend $150 million on the Dems’ behalf.
As Obama said, he didn’t do this because it was popular, he did it because it was right. In fact the more unpopular the better as far as he’s concerned. /s
Too bad Obama’s surge didn’t turn out as well (fair is fair) as Bush’s did.
Businessweek had a very prescient article last August, The Health Insurers Have Already Won.
Executives from UnitedHealth certainly showed no signs of worry on the mid-July day that Senate Democrats proposed to help pay for reform with a new tax on the insurance industry. Instead, UnitedHealth parked a shiny 18-wheeler outfitted with high-tech medical gear near the Capitol and invited members of Congress aboard. Inside the mobile diagnostic center, which enables doctors to examine distant patients via satellite television, Representative Jim Matheson didn’t disguise his wonderment. “Fascinating, fascinating,” said the Democrat from Utah. “Amazing.”… Matheson, whose Blue Dogs command 52 votes in the House, can’t offer enough praise for UnitedHealth, the largest company of its kind. “The tried and true message of their advocacy,” he says, “is making sure the information they provide is accurate and considered”… Representative Mike Ross, an Arkansas Democrat who leads the Blue Dogs’ negotiations on health reform, also welcomes input from UnitedHealth. “If United has something to offer on cutting costs, we should consider it,” says Ross, a former small-town pharmacy owner. “We need more examples that work, and everything should be on the table.
Ugh, that article still kills me. OK, Unitedhealth has never invented anything worthwhile, not “high-tech medical gear”, not telemedicine, not satellite television nor even “shiny 18-wheelers”. And it doesn’t examine patients, distant or near; its an insurance company not a medical practice. You could have fooled that moron statesman Jim Matheson. Private insurers make their money denying claims outright and when that fails, delaying payment so they can profit from the float. That’s it, that’s the business model. The only fascinating thing is wondering whether Jim Matheson and Mike Ross are really that stupid or so corrupt they’re beyond shame.
I agree, “I don’t know what strange world progressive or Democratic base voters live in….” How about a poll of readers, Jon? ***Are you planning to vote for your Dem. Incumbents seeking reelection this year?***
It’s really that simple. It would be a very bad business decision for an Elector to turn down huge sums of money & promises of power to earn the votes of those who will vote for them anyway!
Yes. The mandate will rightfully be a burden to the Democrats for the foreseeable future. But the people who own the Democrats don’t care if they stay in office or not. They own the Republicans too. The insurance companies are enemies of the people. The legacy parties are mere tools. Partisan politics is a diversion. No combination of Democrats and Republicans will deliver us from the Oligarchy. Whatever else we do, we must boycott the legacy parties.