It may be that the best scenario for the current attempt at health insurance reform is for it to utterly fail, and that the American people are so outraged that Congress will be forced to act on their behalf, not that of the insurance industry.
A House leadership deal with Blue Dogs and an aggressive marketing push by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) shifted the healthcare debate sharply toward centrist positions Wednesday, sparking threats of rebellion from the left.
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The Blue Dogs' deal, which cut $100 billion from the healthcare reform price tag, was instantly denounced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said, "It's unacceptable. We're not going to vote for anything that doesn't have a robust public plan."
Liberals aimed to win 50 signatures on a letter to their leaders opposing the deal to make it clear they could defeat the healthcare bill on the floor.
From 2000 to 2007, profits at the country's 10 largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent, according to a report by the advocacy group Health Care for America Now! The report relied on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Health insurance profits during that period grew from $2.4 billion to $12.9 billion annually, according to HCAN. And those companies were generous with their top brass. "In 2007 alone," according to the report, "the chief executive officers at these companies collected combined total compensation of $118 million - an aver-age of $11.9 million each."
One of the reasons health insurance is such a lucrative business is the limited competition in the market. "In the past 13 years more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers," the report says, "and a small number of companies now dominate local markets." Though these companies argue the mergers have led to efficiencies, HCAN asserts that numbers suggest the contrary. "Premiums have skyrocketed, increasing more than 87 percent, on average, over the past six years," according to the report.
It is understood that the fight to remove the for-profit health insurance industry from how health care is provided in our country would be a difficult one - the monies involved are just too large for these folks to give up.
And in the meantime, the wealthiest nation on earth, the United States of America, has a health care system that involves Remote Area Medical (RAM):
Ram is scheduled to provide free medical care in Los Angeles 11 - 18 August at the Forum - where the NBA Lakers and Clippers used to play.
Free medical care provide in the remote area called Los Angeles.
DIRIGO BLUE is available as an