Barrel Roll
The nation’s major health insurers are barreling into a third year of record profits, enriched in recent months by a lingering recessionary mind-set among Americans who are postponing or forgoing medical care. (NYT, 5/13/11)
There is nothing the Times hates more than companies making money…….
To Recant or Not to Recant
To win a Republican nomination, a candidate has to move right, recant absolutely any past position that violates the current conservative catechism and never dare to speak the truth that solving our deficit problem will require new revenue — a.k.a. taxes. (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 5/15/11)
Dionne excoriates Republican candidates for hewing to party-line views. Democratic candidates never do this which is why John Kerry did not say that he was for the war before he was against it and why Hillary Clinton did not repudiate her previous pro-war position. Just kidding!
The issue is not the profit, but the manner in which they get there by protecting their bottom line. Now you would say, that is what private sector companies are supposed to do. And I would agree with you because that is what private sector companies are supposed to do. But the hippocratic oath makes medical service an obligation to those who show up. Somewhere along the way, the private sector socialized that by passing the cost of the uninsured onto the insured. Now those without insurance get health care for "free', (OK that is an exaggeration) but that is precisely why everyone needs to be covered by health insurance. The private sector socialized it to produce a profit and not everyone pays in.
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