It is amazing to me to watch the town hall revolution going on right now in our country.  Apparently, the average American is smarter than what the whacko leftwingers and Commucrats thought they were.  Despite being called "angry mobs", "simpletons", and being accused of "not knowing what is really good for them", average people are still out in numbers, and have called Pres. Obama and his "Gang of Lefties" on the carpet on being railroaded out of their right to determine what is best for them.  I think the Administration and their out of touch liberal cronies have launched quite an arrogant attack on average Americans.

What started out as something everyone wants, true health care reform, subsequently has been twisted into a socialist/communist power grab of close to 15% of our economy.  There is nothing in the bill about any true health care improvement or reform, or any kind of cost control, but merely an insurance change, from independent decisions to bureaucratic bean counting. 

One of the things that I hear all the time in my office is how my patients are going to pay their bills now that they have new insurance, but a pre-existing condition excludes them from being covered for a year or more.  Luckily, I'm not in medicine for the money, and we always work something out.  I think that is terribly unfair to the consumer, since in my field most of the illnesses I deal with are genetic and chronic in nature.  That's why I think eliminating the "pre-existing condition" exclusions need to be eliminated.  When I was in Family Practice, most of the chronic illnesses I dealt with were lifestyle related.  If insurance companies were truly interested in the good health of their payees, they would be engaged in preventive medicine and outreach programs.

But the truth is insurance companies only care about making a huge profit so they can fly their jets and keep their limos.  If you are in Des Moines, go to the blue lights, and near there you will see where the private jets are kept.  The biggest jet is Wellmark's, who just settled a lawsuit by physicians for wrongful withholding of payments, a tactic routinely used by insurance companies.  Next biggest is Principal, who has the biggest building in Iowa, and the third biggest is EMC.  If you stick around for the day, you will see the big limos pulling up and dropping off the bigwigs.  That's your money you pay FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE they are using to live that lifestyle.  So the next time you are fighting with them about paying a medical bill for you, keep in mind that they are poor, too, and need to make the jet and limo payments just like the rest of us.

One of the points that is made is that around 60% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills.  What's NEVER said is that the bills result from doctors and hospitals utilizing our very advanced medical knowledge and technology to save that person's life.  What is NEVER said is that THE INSURANCE COMPANY DIDN'T PAY THE BILL!!!  So you pay for years of insurance, and when you need it they screw ya.

I advocate that when an insurance company accepts you as a client, they become equally responsible for your health as you and the physician and the hospital are.  That will eliminate denial of care issues, as well as denial of payment issues. 

Here's a story that should infuriate you.  And it happens all the time.  When you are in the hospital, the insurance company wants you out of the hospital quick.  I had a patient who had threatened to kill someone the moment the patient got out of the hospital.  The insurance company refused to keep her.  Since my patient had reversed the statements, I couldn't hold my patient, and the insurance company said that since this patient had reversed the statements, the patient was now safe.  The reveiwing physician, in New York, who had never seen my patient and based his decision on a flow chart, (just like Pres. Obama wants) stated, "Well, if she hurts somebody she can come back in." (sic to the hospital) I followed my patient out to the car, along with security, and just like rain in May, the patient attacked the people my patient said would be attacked.  Even then, we had to beg for just ONE MORE DAY.  It was later that year I found out "physician reviewers" get paid a percentage of the claims they deny.  I think physician reviewers should lose their license for not upholidng the Hippocratic oath.

Insurance needs to be truly transportable.  If you get insurance when you are young, and you want to keep it your whole life, you should be able to.  It should be affordable, and at the same rates other people that age pay.  That way, the insurance company has an incentive to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Also, let's have an option to put our aged parents on our insurance.  That would fix a lot of the Medicare budget mess.

We also need to allow the insurance companies to engage in interstate competition.  Prices fall with competition, and it will allow people to customize the insurance to their needs.

Since health insurance companies are not allowed to insure other things, they buy companies that insure those other things.  If that held company has a massive claim, like Katrina, then the health insurance company that holds it is responsible indirectly for the costs.  That means your insurance premiums go up. 

The bottom line:  Health insurance companies make their money by DENYING YOU care, and not paying physicians and hospitals for their services.  That needs to change.