Here's a link to a statement from my employer regarding health care reform. This post does not necessarily represent the point of view of the blog authors (Lewis and Dan)...
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan - Newsroom - Health care reform
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Dan, good for you for using the "add this" feature (something I have not yet done).
Your CEO makes two points with which I take issue.
First, he believes that the solution to the health care crisis--if not all such crises--must come from the political center to be acceptable to the common people. This is simply a cover for the health care establishment to preserve as much of the status quo as possible. Truth is, approximately 2/3 of our people would accept, as polls show, a program such as "Medicare for All" that was government-run and universal in its coverage (even if they had to pay higher taxes to cover everyone).
Second, Mr. Loepp states that the "bargain" made between insurance companies and the government to stop denying coverage to those individuals with a pre-existing condition, in exchange for requiring all Americans to have health insurance, preempts the need for a public option. Nothing could be further from the truth. The raison d'etre of the public option is to provide downward pressure on the price point for health insurance by offering everyone in the country a not-for-profit option. Despite the situation in Michigan, where residents do have a not-for-profit choice, the vast majority of Americans are not so privileged. Without such an option, the millions of Americans who will be required to purchase health care insurance should reform pass the Congress will have no assurance that health care insurance premiums will not continue to rise at the same unsustainable rate they have been for the past 20 years.
Note: This morning, I have been watching the debate over Senators Rockefeller's and Schuler's amendments to include a public option in the Finance Committee's bill. I believe it was Sen. Schuler who remarked that there was no longer a true non-profit insurance option in the country. Obviously, he has forgotten Michigan but they may be about the only state that still has such a choice.
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