Mark Evanier, a writer and a gentleman in L.A., has a wonderful blog which he updates a few times every day. And that’s how often I go there, because he is both fun and insightful. Today he blogs about Obama’s health care plan and links to an analysis by L.A. Times writer Michael Hiltzik. I quote Mark’s blog verbatim here because I not only agree with his sentiments — and have experienced my own insurance problems first-hand — but I won’t even try to improve on perfection.
In addition, go to his blog. Have fun. Watch some videos of the amazing George Carl.
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Michael Hiltzik discusses efforts to kill the “public option” proposals for health care…and he asks the musical question why some folks are so desperate to protect the mega-profits of the insurance companies. Here’s one paragraph of many worth quoting…
The firms take billions of dollars out of the U.S. healthcare wallet as profits, while imposing enormous administrative costs on doctors, hospitals, employers and patients. They’ve introduced complexity into the system at every level. Your doctor has to fight them to get approval for the treatment he or she thinks is best for you. Your hospital has to fight them for approval for every day you’re laid up. Then they have to fight them to get their bills paid, and you do too.
That has all been my experience, the experience of most friends, and a constant gripe of darn near every doctor I’ve had in the last decade. When someone asks me, “Do you really want the government coming between you and your physician?,” I have to remind them that right now, that’s the position of insurance company employees whose job description is to pounce on every possible loophole to deny coverage and payment.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the mounting public debate about Health Care Reform is going to be about things like that. Looks like it’s going to be about arguing if the bills really contain provisions for killing Grandma when her nitroglycerine tablets get too expensive.
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Thanks, Mark.