For opponents of President Obama’s health care reform efforts, there’s no greater rallying cry than “Competition!” Invariably, government is presumed to be competition’s sworn enemy. Yet strong government action is desperately needed to bring some competition over price and quality into the highly consolidated health insurance industry.
Read MoreLast week I wrote about the fact that there is no true competition among health insurers because there are so few of them, in most markets one insurer dominates. On the consumer end of the spectrum, there is no true competition either, because there is no way to evaluate exactly what it is you are getting when you buy health insurance. There is no standard against which you can measure what you are getting and how it will perform and no transparency in how health insurance works. We need a choice of public health insurance that will set that standard.
Read MoreAs much as conservatives hype the importance of competition in the health insurance market, competition is largely a myth today and will remain a myth so long as private insurers have exclusive control of the health care market for individuals and working families. Giving people a choice of public health insurance would bring much needed competition to a health care system dominated by insurance companies with oligopoly power and large provider conglomerates.
Read MoreFor people stricken with cancer, having health insurance is no guarantee they will be able to afford the care they need. That sobering fact is illustrated in a new report with the stories of real people suffering needlessly in their time of crisis. As if fighting the disease were not difficult enough, cancer patients too often have to fight our dysfunctional health care system as well. Any of us could face such hardship at any time. That is why we must all take on the lobbyists and the special interests fighting health reform.
Read MoreIn 2003 a much-needed benefit was added to Medicare: prescription drug coverage. Titled “Part D,” the benefit became a lesson in what happens when ideology trumps facts and reason. It is the only Medicare benefit that is not available directly from Medicare. To get Medicare drug coverage people with Medicare have to join a private Medicare drug or health plan. The result? Taxpayers and Medicare members have paid tens of millions of dollars more for drugs each year than they would have if there were no private insurance middlemen. A new bill introduced in both the House and the Senate would finally correct this boondoggle.
Read MoreThese days you don't have to lose your job to lose your health care benefits, see them cut or have to pay more for them. Employers are trimming costs by decreasing their share of the cost of employee health insurance coverage. Health reform that includes the choice of a public health insurance plan can turn this trend around and guarantee stable access to quality affordable health care for all.
Read MoreAs more people lose their jobs, they may have to rely on COBRA or the individual insurance market to get health insurance for themselves and their family. But with insurance companies in control, most will not be able to afford it.
Read MoreThe drug industry is gearing up to fight health care reform again. They want to scare us into believing that their research and development (R&D) budget and their ability to invent the next great life-saving drug depend on their continuing to rake in enormous profits. Like the private health insurance industry, they will oppose a public health insurance plan option because they fear the government's ability to rein in costs. Don't buy into the fear they are selling. Here are the facts.
Read MoreTwo weeks into the New Year, the government has rebuked the two largest health insurance companies in the country for defrauding consumers. More evidence we need greater transparency from the insurance industry and a public plan option to hold them accountable.
Read MoreIf they are not laying off employees, employers are cutting back on their health care benefits and shifting more costs to them. As ever-larger numbers of people lose their health and financial security, where will they turn? In these perilous times, having Medicare as a back-up is more important than ever to guarantee everyone access to good, affordable health care.
Read MoreThe government bailout of the financial markets is one of the most prominent examples of a practice that has long been common in the United States: leaving profits in private hands, while charging the costs of risky, profit-seeking practices to the taxpayer. It has certainly long been the case in our privatized health insurance system.
Read MoreIs it any wonder insurance company executives want to avoid any major changes in their industry? Our broken health care system is paying them tens of millions of dollars a year! Pay packages for the CEOs of the 7 largest insurance companies ranged from a ‘mere’ $3.7 million to $25.8 million in 2007 alone.
Read MoreThey're afraid and they're coming out swinging! Two insurance company trade groups and a hospital trade association joined forces to try to make a case that competition in the health care marketplace from a public plan option would be bad. All they accomplished was to demonstrate that they care more about their bottom lines then they do about our health.
Read MoreThe health insurance industry is once again trying to show it cares about health care reform by trotting out "new" proposals that are in essence more of the same—they are geared to preserving their bottom line rather than to making meaningful changes that can rein in health care costs and guarantee everyone affordable, comprehensive health care.
Read MoreTwo insurance industry trade groups, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, announced that their members are willing to do away with their long-standing practice of denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. They will do so as long as they—the insurance companies—are allowed to continue to set the terms of coverage and the price and everyone is forced to buy one of their policies. Sound familiar? It’s a lot like Massachusetts, where coverage can be so limited as to offer precious little financial security and so expensive as to be unaffordable for tens of thousands of people.
Read MoreIf you ever wondered what the insurance companies do with our premium dollars other than pay out claims here is one answer: they invest our money in the stock market. When the market is good, these investments generate even bigger profits for them. When it’s not, it means higher premiums for us.
Read MoreA look at how much we will be paying for health insurance in about 20 years—if we continue on the same path we are on—makes it abundantly clear that we cannot afford to put off health reform any longer.
Read MorePresident Obama should take advantage of the current economic crisis to announce plans to jump start national health care insurance. Extending health care insurance can be an effective stimulus that will provide an immediate boost to the economy. It is important that we spend money now to boost the economy. We will be getting double-value if this stimulus can be spent usefully toward meeting a longstanding goal, like providing national health care insurance, rather than just buying things at the mall.
Read MoreAs discussion about the financial crisis and how to solve it continues, it is important to understand how lack of adequate health insurance coverage has contributed to this emergency.
Read MoreHealth insurance is paying less and less of our health care costs. As some people point to the individual insurance market as the solution, we should heed the myriad of studies that have shown these policies force people to pay even more out of pocket. We need solutions that will make our health care more affordable, not less.
Read MoreFifty-eight percent of primary care doctors in the U.S. report their patients often have difficulty paying for medications and care, and half of U.S. doctors spend substantial time dealing with restrictions insurance companies place on their patients’ care, according to the 2009 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.
Families saw their premiums for job-based health insurance rise to an average of $13,375 annually in 2009, with workers paying an average share of $3,515 and employers paying $9,860.
