Thomas Frank: Conservatives Treating Health Insurers Like 'Panda Bears' That Need 'Our Nurturing'

wsj.com:

In June 2008, I used this space to call on then-Sen. Barack Obama to add economist James K. Galbraith's book, "The Predator State," to his reading list. As an account of the capture of government by private interests, I thought it would make a far more useful guide to contemporary political economy than the market-glorifying texts that were still in fashion in those days.

I don't know if Mr. Obama ever took my advice.

Read the whole story: wsj.com

Comments

[justobserve]

Republicans treat health insurers like their boss which is precisely what they are to them! They don't care about the people's health or their ruin due to health care costs that hit them when they have a fatal illness. If people vote them out of congress, they always can rely on their boss to give them a better jobs with better pay still! Any reform should have a condition that all government employees will be covered by the public option! That way, they will see it's their own future health care too. Now, they are enjoying the most generous insurance so they keep finding faults with the public option instead of looking at what was wrong with the no-competition private industry and work to have real competition to lower costs.

[dawnec1957]

http://countdowntohealthcare.com/

The above web address is for Rep Weiner new project to get Health Care passed with a PUBLIC OPTION.... Please sign the petition and take the poll on the site.

thanks,
Dawn

[research]

Done!

We must get big money OUT of our governmnet!

Outlaw All Contributions as the Bribery they are!

Free prime time for all the candidates,

and a small travel stipend, is all it would take!

[justobserve]

Just signed up. Thanks for the info.

[Piatt]

Why should we expect that their treatment of the insurance industry would differ signficantly from their treatment of the energy industry? Greed is good!

[dawnec1957]

Being a victim of domestic violence is a pre existing condition....Make a 60 sec ad on that and you will see an uproar from women and the debate on public option would get passed

[Estimated Prophet]

Thomas Frank hates panda bears?

[gnomic]

The GOP isn't defending conservative principles, they have simply sold out to the highest bidder. They are using Obama's change agenda to fill their coffers with as much of Judas' silver as they can gather.

[dawnec1957]

In My Own Opinion...­..PERFECTL­Y SAID !

[Estimated Prophet]

Uh you have the votes...so what's the problem?

[dawnec1957]

Baucus, Conrad and Nelson are Greedy $$$$$$ @ssh0les !

I may be a liberal, but I cannot stand greedy politicians,,,,No matter what party they say they are in!

[nomobull]

the wolves in sheep clothing called the 'blue dogs" of the democratic party. and the do nothing to help anyone who is not me attitude weight of the gop that has to be moved out of the way before it can even come to a vote. not to mention the misinformation put out by the opinion based/fact lacking ,talking pointlessness of the msm.

[goodpyr]

Unfortunatly,we have about four dems that think they're Repugnican'ts

[PWM]

There are no conservative principles but one: maintain the status quo.

Republicans are no more conservative than Gandhi was a communist.

[mtracy9]

I just signed a petition demanding that the U.S. Congress allow a public option.

Click here to sign: http://bit.ly/1MOpFS

[nomobull]

done

[WellTickleMeWillie]

The health care deniers insurance corporations and Big Pharma are the ones that the ReThugs cannot say NO to. And then there are the other corporations and wealthy individuals that ReThugs treat as Panda bears to be nurtured b/c they are so misunderstood and in danger of failing that they need their support and tax breaks. Rethugs - party of NO except YES to their monied special interests.

[RepublicanMicky]

Senator: How do you sleep at night?

[WellTickleMeWillie]

I am putting words in his mouth but he would probably say, "Very well, indeed since my mattress is stuffed with greenbacks. Thanks to all the special interests."

[TXfemmom]

This post is awaiting moderation and won't be posted until approved. Who are they hiring at HP?

[Smirk]

I think a software program does most of the moderating. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to get a rejected post posted just by replacing key letters with symbols (i.e., a with @) or spaces.

[TXfemmom]

Doesn't Grassley look like the Evil Emperor of Star Wars in that picture? Luke go after the Dark Side.

[mtracy9]

Looks like Dr. Seuss's "The Grinch who Stole Christmas."

[rad21]

The Republican politicians and others steeped into healthcare debate should know the facts. The Rand study found only 40% of healthcare that was delivered was necessary and appropriate. The rest of medical care was over-treatment, under-treatment and inappropriate treatment.

So there we have the "waste, fraud and abuse" by PROVIDERS (hospitals and doctors). Then there is "waste, fraud and abuse" by INSURANCE companies. Their 15-30% overhead cost has little to do with delivering care. There is LITTLE "waste, fraud and abuse" by the government; whose Medicare overhead cost is only 4%.

What irks me is the double-speak. The politicians complain about the "waste, fraud and abuse" and then go on to also complain about the fiscal-cuts to prevent the "waste fraud and abuse". Now how can the same persons talk both-ways on public TV and get away with it? Are these political guys and gals "stuck on Stupid"? Or are we the electorate just enamored watching the Democrat-Republican puppet-show; whose strings (attached to both sets of puppets) are pulled by the healthcare industry and lobbyists, greased with campaign contributions? Campaign contribution is the milk of politicians. So why not pander the source?

[Smirk]

Rather than being "stuck on Stupid," I think they're hooked on weasel.

[constitutional 1]

as the single largest buyer of medical products, you'd think it would at leastget a volume discount.

But it doesn't. In fact, Medicare doesn't even get the best price.

According to their own auditors, Medicare knowingly overpays for almost everything it buys. Examples include:

-- $7,215 to rent an oxygen concentrator, when the purchase price is $600.

-- $4,018 for a standard wheelchair, while the private sector pays $1,048.

-- $1,825 for a hospital bed, compared to an Internet price of $1,071.

-- $3,335 for a respiratory pump, versus an advertised price of $1,987.

-- $82 for a diabetic supply kit, instead of a $47

[justobserve]

If Medicare had wastes, frauds, ..., we just need to correct that but the system overall must be cheaper than private insurers which aim to make profits on people's health/illness. Their administrative costs and profits are 35-45% of the whole thing so you have to pay for it. No way to get over it while Medicare's shortcomings can be solved easily when you identify and work on them.

[constitutional 1]

The Medicare denial rate found in the study was, on a weighted average basis, roughly 1.7 times that of all of the private carriers combined (99,025 divided by 2,447,216 is 4.05%; 6.85% divided by 4.05% =1.69).

You would think Medicare's sheer size might enable it to have smoother procedures with its providers that would enable it to turn down a lower percentage of claims. But no, this is the government we're talking about.

[TJCole]

This Bill is a disgraceful example or how corrupt our Senate has become, an enclave of liars and bribe takers..!

Simple as that..!

[justobserve]

Sad but true!

[dfranz]

It will take a populists revolution to run the people out of office who are no longer working for the American people. When we get pis*ed off enough maybe we'll have the courage to make some changes.

As long as these same cronies keep getting reelected with no accountability nothing will change. Right now it's Money talks, bs walks.

Since the people in this country elected them in the first place maybe we deserve what we have.

[denlong]

The difference is; that it would be a great loss to humanity if all of the pandas were gone, and a huge benefit to all of us if the health insurance companies were extinct