The health insurance industry has us all by the throat -- and yet they want more! They have a "10 Point Stranglehold Program" on America -- but they want 13. Here's what I mean:
Insurance companies have 10 things already:
1) No rate regulation;
2) No rate caps;
3) No competition;
4) No federal regulation;
5)Anti-trust exemption;
6) ERISA protection (podcast my Oct. 8, 2009 show for lots on ERISA);
7) Domination of state regulators;
8) Pre-existing conditions to cherry-pick only the customers they want;
9) Rescission to dump patients who cost them money;
10) Life time caps to limit their liability and exposure to paying claims.
But wait, there's more! They now demand three more things:
11) A federal mandate to buy coverage;
12) Whopping penalties to enforce the mandate and make our government their enforcement and collection agent;
13) Whopping subsidies of tax dollars (some call it money laundering) to pay for their overpriced, crappy product.
According to the rules of capitalism, a product that is bad and overpriced fails in the marketplace. So does the company selling the junk. But, in corporate, crony capitalism-land (America, 1980-present) the rules of the game don't apply. Yet, they call us Communists and Socialists. They are Fascists - plain and simple - the merger of big business and big government.
Only single payer will break their grip from around our throat.
Cross-posted from Justice for You.