pmcohenpac replied on Permalink
Health insurance reform
We used to have not-for-profit health insurance before the 1990's. Rate increases needed to be approved by state regulators. Someone then had the bright idea to "sell" these "not-for-profit" insurance companies to for-profit corporations expecting the "marketplace" to create efficiencies and cost reductions. Oh, by the way, billions of dollars of "reserves" were transfered to these corporations in the process. Nice windfall! So what do for-profit insurers do? They invest their "reserves" and make a profit. Nobody has a problem with that. However, when those investments lose money, the insurers have to raise the rates they charge for the insurance product. If they make more profit, do they lower the rates they charge for their product? Not in my lifetime. Those extra profits go towards higher salaries, bonuses and then shareholders. So rates always go up. It's just a matter of how much. Does anyone have the guts to fix this lunacy or do we just keep thanking corporate America for not raping us harder and more often?
