Under sharp questioning from SCC Commissioner Theodore Morrison, Braly declined to say that her company would pass on efficiency savings to customers by lowering health insurance premiums.
See? That’s a part of the reason why health insurance premiums are so high. The quote comes from this article, which appeared in The Virginian Pilot. It seems that as a part of its agreement to purchase Trigon, the SCC required that the purchaser, Wellpoint, Inc., keep certain services in Virginia. Now that company wants to move the operations out of state, or even overseas, in an effort to improve its bottom line.
Let me guess: Angela Braly, the president and chief executive of Wellpoint, gets a bonus based on the net bottom line.
“We have an obligation to fix the health care system. We have an obligation to provide better services at lower cost.”
Obligation to whom, Ms. Braly? That was a rhetorical question, by the way. I know who your obligation is to: the shareholders.
That’s right. Once these companies went thru the demutualization process, going from policyholder-owned to publicly traded, the focus shifted from the policyholders to the shareholders. The bigger question is who at these companies is looking out for the policyholders?
That would be no one.
As long as profits are driving the health care system, it can’t be fixed. We are beyond the time for needing some form of universal health care.
How can I send you the sweater? You didn’t give me a mailing address.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 12:36 pmWell, it would appear MB has found his calling. With seven billion people, he will alway have someone to insult.
VAB – Please don’t put words into my mouth or tell me about my experience, of which you know nothing.
As to your main point, I did deal with it. I spoke about private charity. In this country, everyone already has a right to health care — at least they do for the present. All anyone has to do is find a way to pay for it.
What we talking about is who pays. Do you envision a bottomless pit from which we can draw all the funds we want? I hope not. We in fact have a finite source of wealth. How do we manage it?
In this country we have a social system we call democratic capitalism. I for one tend to like that system; however, it is slowly morphing into something we call socialism. Socialism is a poor way to manage any economic or political system. Everyone ends up poor, and nobody has any rights (Our rights stem from our right to own property. That includes our own bodies.).
As far as medical care is concerned in a socialist system, nobody except the vanguard of proletariat gets decent medical care. Nonetheless, because no one is allowed to object, socialist system do seem like the produce equality.
Now, of course, you will object you are not proposing socialism. Maybe not, but where are the principles that justify what you want? When you want to rob Peter to pay Paul, where does it stop?
Posted by Citizen Tom | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 8:59 pm
Posted by MB | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:31 pmTom Paine visited France during the Reign of Terror. He was appalled.
Posted by Citizen Tom | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:52 pmYes. Dishonest partisans who claim that the suffering of others is necessary for some higher purpose are pretty appalling.
Posted by MB | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:58 pm“Tax the rich, feed the poor Till there are no rich no more?”
- Ten Years After, I’d Love to Change the World
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 10:22 pmVAB, I’m very disappointed that you did not respond to my critque of the Helvering v. Davis decision. With four semesters of constitutional law under your belt, you should be able to come up with some defense of this idiocy.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Sunday, July 29, 2007, 7:17 pm