by James L. Lambert – Guest Columnist – 3/10/2010 from OneNewsNow.
Unlike Nancy Pelosi, I am thankful for the healthcare industry. In fact, I’ve benefited greatly because of the status quo of that industry.
Several years ago, needing to lower my monthly healthcare costs, I shopped around to secure a new healthcare provider for my family, as the monthly premiums were increasing.
Thank God for good old competition between the different providers. Besides saving money each month, I found a new healthcare plan for myself. And when I did have to use that coverage to pay for an expensive operation, I figured my healthcare provider saved me in excess of $80,000. It was an enormous blessing.
Enter Democrats Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama. In their rush to impose their version of socialized medicine on all of America, they and their ilk have been viciously demonizing the healthcare insurance industry with exaggerations and innuendo. Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, has even confirmed that the White House is recklessly determined on passing the healthcare legislation sometime during the next two weeks. According to insiders, the push to get the bill passed before the upcoming recess (March 29-April 11) is intentional. Why? If it doesn’t pass before then, it is expected that members of Congress will “get an earful” from their constituents during the congressional break — which would doom the bill’s passage.
Meanwhile Democratic leaders Pelosi and Obama are blaming the insurance industry for “carpet-bombing” their attempts to pass socialized medicine. The dirty little secret here is that this bill, if passed, will cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. It will also deny billions of dollars of Medicare funds to seniors in addition to transferring over $31-billion in expenses to the states, some of which are almost bankrupt. Even Obama admitted that we “can’t cover another 46 million for free…we’re going to have to find the money somewhere.”
Now the president is attacking the healthcare industry insurers by saying that insurers are not to be trusted. “They’re filing the airways with deceptive and dishonest ads,” he reports. And the country is being “held hostage” by the insurance companies, according to the president.
My, that’s interesting. It seems like the federal government has all the power these days. They can legislate companies out of business, print money out of thin air (creating inflation), waste billions of dollars on frivolous government programs, and put trillions of dollars of debt on the back of future generations.
Speaker Pelosi’s attacks on insurers are even more vicious. She emphatically states that the health insurers “are the villains in this. They have been a part of the problem in a big way”….”It’s almost immoral what they are doing”….”Of course they have been immoral all along.”
Dr. Mark Perry, professor of economics in the School of Management at the University of Michigan, has a different take on healthcare insurers. He has studied profitability margins of the 100 most profitable industries in America. He ranks healthcare plan insurers as the 86th most profitable industry in the country. This equates to a profit margin of 3.3 percent (see chart). Measured by profitability, 85 industries outrank healthcare. But you won’t hear that from the President of the United States or the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Here are the facts: health insurers take tremendous risks in providing insurance to their customers. Like any prudent business, they try to keep their costs down with healthcare providers/hospitals and doctors. They also realistically deny coverage to very high-risk patients — in the same way that banks turn down a car loan to someone who has a terrible credit history.
Secondly, I don’t believe that healthcare insurance is “a right.” Contrary to what Speaker Pelosi preaches, not everything in this country is a right – not by a long shot. Many things in life come through hard work and determination. The concept of personal responsibility is essential to our society. Even so, the federal government provides emergency ward care to anyone, especially if it’s absolutely needed.
Finally, the government needs to understand that taxpayers can no longer be called on to pay for the healthcare of the 12 million people who are in the U.S. illegally, the 7 million people who don’t want healthcare insurance, or the millions of part-time workers who are not covered by insurance from their employers. No one is forcing them to work for these particular companies.
Here’s my take: If you want health insurance, you most likely can get it. You might not always like the coverage you get, but you get what you pay for. You can even obtain catastrophic insurance (which is even cheaper). It’s like anything you buy in the free marketplace, where people spend money on wide-screen televisions, fancy cars, expensive cell phones, and computers. If they wish to make their health a priority, most people can afford to buy some type of health protection. Believe me, it will be a lot cheaper than what our tax rates will be if this socialized medicine bill is passed.
So, Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Obama, back off! The free enterprise system does a much better job of providing healthcare than the federal government could ever dream of.
And here’s my advice: If you don’t want the government to take over the healthcare industry, which represents 1/6th of our economy, I urge you to call your representatives on Capitol Hill and voice your opinion — today!
