A Pound of Cure is a Whole Lot More Profitable Than an Ounce of Prevention.

by Dee Newman

Private health insurance companies are motivated by one thing and one thing only – profit. They are in business to make money, that's it – nothing else.

They are not concerned about the health and well-being of the American people, let alone, to provide preventative care.

To them – a pound of cure is a whole lot more profitable than an ounce of prevention.

If a single-payer government health care insurance system, or even a public option, were to pass congress they would loose big time. That is why they are spending 1.5 million dollars a day to try to delay and obstruct the Democrats' efforts in Congress and to mislead the American people about the President's healthcare reform legislation.

They do not want you to know the truth. They do not want you to know that with a single-payer government health insurance system we would no longer pay for such things as their excessive administrative cost, sales and marketing, lobbying, enormous bonuses, exorbitant executive pay and profits for shareholders.

The only way for these wasted healthcare dollars to be saved is through a single-payer system.

Now, there is no reason to be worried about those poor old insurance companies. If the Democracts in congress muster the courage to pass a comprehensive healthcare reform bill, the for-profit insurance industry will not go out of business. They will find plenty of ways to make money off of us.

For example, they used the same scare tactics and lies to try to derail medicare back during President Johnson's Administration in the mid-60's. Fortunately, it did not work and all those dire consequences never came true.

Yesterday, I received my medicare card. I will be turning 65 in November. For the last 6 months every health insurance company in the United States has ask me to buy into their supplementary plan. Believe me, the health insurance industry will be trying to sale us all lots of supplementary plans once a government single-payer or pubic option is past.

And, whatever you do – don't let them convince you that a government run health insurance plan will provide you with a quality of care that is substandard. That's exactly what we have now.

Nearly 50 million Americans do not have any health care insurance and millions more are inadequately insured.

The number of uninsured Americans is growing (14,000 people a day), premiums are skyrocketing, and more people are being denied coverage every day. It should be a moral imperative for congress to make sure that every American has access to high quality health care.

In comparative study after study, report after report, the statistics show that the United States ranks at or near the bottom of all the major industrialized nations in the delivery of health care to its citizens.

Did you know that preventable medical mistakes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States?

And, that an estimated one million people are injured by errors during hospital treatment each year?

Now tell me – how much worse can it get?

Posted by Catherine Morgan on May 5, 2007