Before we get into this discussion, go toTruthout.org and get the background on Teddy’s Bill: http://www.truthout.org.
Now this is a real winner for the Insurance Companies that are already sucking the money out of the Healthcare system and making it more expensive for the majority of us. For one thing, EVERYONE would be required to buy insurance… and those who couldn’t afford it would get a government subsidy… your tax money in Insurance company pockets.
While the ICs would make somewhat less than they are gouging now, they would be guaranteed continued profits… money that would not go back into the “Health” part of the Healthcare system. This, of course, is opposed to the Single Payer system where the government is the insurer of choice for the masses and the commercial companies can compete for the rich if they want to (it is NOT, I repeat, NOT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE.)
One comment on the Truthout summary of Teddy’s plan came from a poster named BillyDoc, who I acknowledge with sincere appreciation:
Now, instead of the “off the table” but oh-so-reasonable “single payer” option that the entire rest of the world uses with success we get “and require everyone to purchase insurance.” How nice for the insurance industry. And it only cost them a pittance in bribes.
My personal feeling is that Teddy has caved to the Insurers because he wants to get a reformed program through before the Cancer he is carrying kills him. It is his Legacy. I wish his Legacy would be the Single Payer system he originally supported (as did the Campaigning Obama)… Teddy needs to listen to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
