The Evil Insurance Company Repents, But the Stuggle for Reform Continues

There is no free market my friend. It is a huge Monopoly system and the US Govt is run by the corporations. There is no distinctions between the revolving doors. That is why Govt is run so poorly because The corporations, Wall Street, the lobby groups and military industrial complex run the show...all of it...if we would kick them out and keep Corporations from being in politics (once was illegal) since they are not persons with rights (in which the writers of the Constitution meant only for the People) we would have a lot less problems in this country. The souless capitalism we are in at the moment doesnt work, not because of Govt but because the Corporations have overtaken our Democracy.....if we really ever had a democracy. I would call it Plutocracy or Corporatism (fascism light at home and very totalitarian foreign policy abroad)....Peace...

It's so naive how people villainize "profit motives" and "for-profit" companies. It simply shows they don't understand how things work.

I agree with the idea that creating/prolonging/ignoring suffering (human or animal) as a means of capturing excessive profits is sinful. The question is what to do about it. If we can get over the idea that all profits are bad, we can start to see that profits are actually just information in a healthy system. Companies that aren't profitable are being sent a message, by their customers, that they'd better mend their ways. If there is sufficient competition in the market place (which there currently is not), a company becomes less profitable when a competitor provides better service to the customer.

The problem we have now is the result on some companies lobbying gov't to create "regulation" which actually helps them gain a monopoly or corner the market. Over time, the smaller companies die out, not being able to compete with the gov't rules. Once the little companies die off, the big companies get bigger, more impersonal and less motivated to serve their customers better.

If there is healthy competition in the market place, profits will be kept relatively low. But when gov't provides an advantage to some companies, stifling the competition, profits begin to grow out of control.

So what if the gov't takes over completely? Since there is no motivation to be profitable, efficiency takes a nose dive. Obama may be promising that the "public option" will be self-supporting, but that's hog wash. The gov't is not capable of the kind of efficiency necessary to make this happen. Ultimately, tax-supported health insurance/care will be unacceptably expensive.

Actually Govt run health care and other social programs run just fine all over the world... Why not here...that is because the problem is corporations running our Govt...the Tail that wags the dog sort of speak... Clean house on a severe level on the level of a revolution - will be the only end game option of the people... and Like Thomas Jefferson said, "A little Rebellion is good to have now and then.....
Peace

We need SINGLE PAYER period! Lets join the rest of the industrialized nations already...We rank 37 amongst the nations for decent quality health care and insurance coverage...
The problem is DEREGULATION not regulation. I am not against profit - All European Democratic Socialist nations and Canada have corporations that make profit....it is the system of Capitalism that ultimately doesn't work.

It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people -- Gore Vidal
(Author, Play Write, father was Senator at one time, political critic).

It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people -- Gore Vidal

And the truth will set you free....

When we have had Deregulation since Reagan until now you get greedy little foxes all over the foreign goods and steal them away from the weaker animals - and the rules and laws goes out the window...and that is in part why we are so far gone economically here in America on a federal level.. We borrow for our so called wars, we borrow to keep govt running - we are on dire straits --- China just has to sell our national treasury notes and stop buy up our debt and we are a foot note in history as a super power or 1st world nation.... and into a banana rebublic and no middle class with only a ruling class above. The Bail out was a sure sign of the ruling class and wall street looting the people's money --- they are preparing for the huge crash that is coming....

Actually Govt run health care and other social programs run just fine all over the world... Why not here...that is because the problem is corporations running our Govt...the Tail that wags the dog sort of speak... Clean house on a severe level on the level of a revolution - will be the only end game option of the people... and Like Thomas Jefferson said, "A little Rebellion is good to have now and then.....
Peace

Really, what is the built in correction, I am waiting for it to kick in my friend? We are in the mess mainly today because the so called free trade myth and the deregulation of Regan until now - the corruption amongst the banks and corporations is huge....You do not matter to them - you do not have rights - you are a serf who works for them. The ruling class and corporations and wall street ect run the show and the ultra wealthy - elite have democracy and control..... We have a one party system in this country my friends and we are not unique in that we have a One Party System. There are other nations that do as well - oppressive ones - but we are the only country with Two Right Wing Factions (One Bird with a left and right polarity) and the Corporations are ontop controlling the puppet strings of our representatives....and presidents..(they serve the private interests first and foremost period.... it is a humbling lesson to learn... Peace....

We need SINGLE PAYER period! Lets join the rest of the industrialized nations already...We rank 37 amongst the nations for decent quality health care and insurance coverage...
The problem is DEREGULATION not regulation. I am not against profit - All European Democratic Socialist nations and Canada have corporations that make profit....it is the system of Capitalism that ultimately doesn't work.

"If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged. "
Noam Chomsky

---think about it ---- Peace

I agree that it's not a perfect free market by any stretch of the imagination. However, we do still enter into (some) transactions willingly, even though the prices are meddled with. Unlike the USSR, prices are not (typically) fixed, but they are limited by maximum or minimum.

The main thing I wanted to deny is that free market theory is a myth... I don't think Allen was getting at that, but I thought it was too easy to misinterpret his post that way.

"As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests." Gore Vidal -

What is your proof that we are "in the mess today" because of free trade and deregulation? What economic research and studies have you done to prove such a theory? Or is it just popular mythology that the free market produced this scenario?

Any sense of basic economics tells us that a recession is a correction. The market is indeed succeeding because it is spewing out toxic assets. Government and Fed collusion into the market has caused all of this trouble. That is certainly not a free market (read my post here on the illusion of the free market. Just like the body vomits unwanted and harmful "stuff," so does the market. Our economy was built on false prosperity, and the only cure for it is a recession. Nobody calls it a body failure when they throw up. It's actually a sign that the body is doing exactly what it was meant to do.

I totally agree with what you said about the bailout.

What has been called "deregulation" is really no such thing. More study is needed in this area to see through the propaganda they want you to believe.

It is an interesting fact that industry always plays a hand in creating "regulation." They write their own rules. In fact, industry and special interests are most often the ones pushing for "regulation."

The greedy little foxes (private interests/corporations) would be unable to do what they do without the assistance of gov't. Greed cannot be avoided. It can only be balanced with competition.

The problem comes when private interests/corporations hire lobbyists to get gov't to cooperate with them in suffocating out the competition. Once the competition is gone, profits rise, both for industry and corrupt gov't officials who accept bribes.

If you've ever tried doing business in an industry that has lots of competition, you know that profits are small. Why? Because the competition keeps it that way.

It's not that the rules and laws go out the window, but that loop holes are created at the request of lobbyists.

I agree that it's not a perfect free market by any stretch of the imagination. However, we do still enter into (some) transactions willingly, even though the prices are meddled with. Unlike the USSR, prices are not (typically) fixed, but they are limited by maximum or minimum.

The main thing I wanted to deny is that free market theory is a myth... I don't think Allen was getting at that, but I thought it was too easy to misinterpret his post that way.

only probl;em is when government rules or is the tail that wags the dog as you say, your freedoms are lost. It is much much harder to change who is in control when you have government making the rules,and corrupt politions running the show. at least in what we have we can fix it by getting good politions in power. Did you that there are MORE lobbyist now then when bush was in power. Do you now how much of our stimulus money went to those companies whom a lot of current polititions are involved in some way or another. So I dont think a government run health system whom is run by corrupt politions is going to work.

only probl;em is when government rules or is the tail that wags the dog as you say, your freedoms are lost. It is much much harder to change who is in control when you have government making the rules,and corrupt politions running the show. at least in what we have we can fix it by getting good politions in power. Did you that there are MORE lobbyist now then when bush was in power. Do you now how much of our stimulus money went to those companies whom a lot of current polititions are involved in some way or another. So I dont think a government run health system whom is run by corrupt politions is going to work.

"It still goes on - like in Iraq. Today's wars or occupations are about Resources"

Seriously? What resources have we gotten in Iraq. Where is all the oil that we supposedly went in there for?

Here's the interesting part of the story, the parents want their son on a private insurance plan and they say that, "Medicaid would be a 'death sentence' for their son". They also note that government medical programs don't provide the medical care that their son needs.

So the answer is that we need to more toward more government involvement; the same government that isn't providing care now is supposed to provide the care at some point in the future. To be honest, with medical costs in the $1 million/year range, the only way the insurance company can cover this type of customer is because they have a lot of healthy young policyholders that don't submit a lot of claims (these are the same healthy policyholders that current "reform" plans in Congress seem destined to chase out of the insurance market).

If there is a case for government involvement in healthcare, it is situations like this. There may be an opportunity to spread the costs of a high risk pool nationally (so that a single insurance company doesn't have to bear the costs) with some government subsidy. Solutions like insuring insurability risk is another market-based solution as well. But the larger question is why we should we believe that a government that isn't providing care under the programs that proponents of "reform" extol as "models" of government involvement, would some how perform better in the future.

Here's the interesting part of the story, the parents want their son on a private insurance plan and they say that, "Medicaid would be a 'death sentence' for their son". They also note that government medical programs don't provide the medical care that their son needs.

So the answer is that we need to more toward more government involvement; the same government that isn't providing care now is supposed to provide the care at some point in the future. To be honest, with medical costs in the $1 million/year range, the only way the insurance company can cover this type of customer is because they have a lot of healthy young policyholders that don't submit a lot of claims (these are the same healthy policyholders that current "reform" plans in Congress seem destined to chase out of the insurance market).

If there is a case for government involvement in healthcare, it is situations like this. There may be an opportunity to spread the costs of a high risk pool nationally (so that a single insurance company doesn't have to bear the costs) with some government subsidy. Solutions like insuring insurability risk is another market-based solution as well. But the larger question is why we should we believe that a government that isn't providing care under the programs that proponents of "reform" extol as "models" of government involvement, would some how perform better in the future.

Here's the interesting part of the story, the parents want their son on a private insurance plan and they say that, "Medicaid would be a 'death sentence' for their son". They also note that government medical programs don't provide the medical care that their son needs.

So the answer is that we need to more toward more government involvement; the same government that isn't providing care now is supposed to provide the care at some point in the future. To be honest, with medical costs in the $1 million/year range, the only way the insurance company can cover this type of customer is because they have a lot of healthy young policyholders that don't submit a lot of claims (these are the same healthy policyholders that current "reform" plans in Congress seem destined to chase out of the insurance market).

If there is a case for government involvement in healthcare, it is situations like this. There may be an opportunity to spread the costs of a high risk pool nationally (so that a single insurance company doesn't have to bear the costs) with some government subsidy. Solutions like insuring insurability risk is another market-based solution as well. But the larger question is why we should we believe that a government that isn't providing care under the programs that proponents of "reform" extol as "models" of government involvement, would some how perform better in the future.

I am grateful for the VICTIM's outcome, but as one comment asked, did anyone get disciplined?

I doubt they have had the time. They scrambled to fight BAD PRESS and focused on DAMAGE CONTROL (BETTER PR).
Another equally important question is who their similar VICTIMS are and if they or anyone else is giving them a voice for the same help. Great job Washington Times. Please keep the fair stories of victims in this country coming, regardless of their affiliations.

In my opinion there is No free market nor true capitalism here in the States. After WWII, Our Govt - Military - CIA - And Multinational corporations have been busy over throwing third world nations - replacing their democratically elected officals with brutal right wing fascist dictators; We either were directly or indirectly involved in over throwing countries in order to "steal" their resources and protect them for US Business Interests in those regions. It still goes on - like in Iraq. Today's wars or occupations are about Resources (Oil and soon Water) and economics. Point being - the free market is a myth... We are an empire that is in flames just like Rome....