[Nmoitmzr]

So much for the wolf-cry from Republicans about how public insurance will stifle competition, as if it has not already been happening anyway.

Why is the answer to the problems of a partial monopoly creating a total one?

[TSVIDeo]

Why is the answer to the problems of a partial monopoly creating a total one?

Who's talking about creating a monopoly? Providing an alternative choice is NOT a monopoly.

[Pharmaciest2007]

By the way, I see nothing in that article to indicate that insurance companies "quash" competition, or that they use market power to increase premiums. Can somebody please explain to me what nefarious method a company which happens to have 70% of the market in a given region is supposed to use to increase their prices above those of their competitors? If they charged significantly more than that competition what makes you think that they would retain 70% regional market share for very long? Are different insurance companies really that poor substitutes for each other?

[M_Marked]

Zk: If you want to punish insurance companies, remove the legal barriers to competition already in place. Simply striking down laws that ban health insurance sales across state lines would reduce the amount of uninsured by 12 million.

[Lxbsvksl]

1) Pre-existing conditions.* You're with Company A. You develop a disease and then want to change companies. Company B won't cover you for your disease because it's a pre-existing condition.

zkribbler, you're a ****ing idiot. Most insurance is through employers, not the individual market. Companies get group rates and thus individuals' pre-existing conditions aren't important.

Captured doctors. Doctors who can treat Kaiser patients can't treat Blue Cross patients, and visa versa.

Really? Because that sounds pretty ****ing illegal to me.

[Nakforappealp]

DD beat me to it. Remove State-line hurdles.

[FuXA8nQM]

There's a big difference between "not all doctors are on all plans" and "doctors are only allowed to participate in one plan".

You don't need all doctors to be on all plans to have a very competitive market. You just need that there are reasonable alternatives which are accepted by a large number of local doctors.

If the story was "71% of doctors in Maine only accept Wellpoint" then that might mean something.

So no, zkrib's "larger point" is not at all correct.

[traiffhetl]

And? Why does that seem like such a tragedy to you?

Also, I have no idea what that has to do with health insurance being a competitive market. The MORE dominant a single insurance company was, the less likely that would be to happen.

[ZIZITOPER]

It's not a market at all for doctors. It's a market for insurance.

[BoarmomorurrY]

It's not a market at all for doctors. It's a market for insurance.

Very good, young padawan. Now take the next step and explain who the consumers of this insurance are...

[addyta.org]

Doctors who are full-time employees of an HMO or similar organization obviously can't work for the competition, but I have no idea how you can possibly claim that doctors who make up only a small minority of the total are so important.

Read your previous post, where you point out that most people are insured through their employers. How can "most people" go to "a small minority" of doctors?

I think I'll sit back and watch you debate yourself.

[22paseabelldaps]

Read your previous post, where you point out that most people are insured through their employers. How can "most people" go to "a small minority" of doctors?

I think I'll sit back and watch you debate yourself.

Doctors who accept insurance != doctors directly employed by an HMO.

Moron.

[Muhabsssa]

Switch to a single-payor (e.g. government funded) health system like every other industrialized nations.

Every? Switzerland is suddenly not industrialized?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/op...17krugman.html

Finally, the third route to universal coverage relies on private insurance companies, using a combination of regulation and subsidies to ensure that everyone is covered. Switzerland offers the clearest example: everyone is required to buy insurance, insurers can’t discriminate based on medical history or pre-existing conditions, and lower-income citizens get government help in paying for their policies.

[botagozzz]

There are non-profit private insurers in the US, Az.

[ValdisSeroff]

Damn these mergers and squeezing out of the small guys:

For Immediate Release
U.S. Government Unveils Health Care Partnership With God Inc.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Government CEO Barack Obama announced today that his firm had embarked on a new joint venture with metaphysical industrial giant God, saying that "We are God’s partners in matters of life and death."

"This partnership is a natural," said Obama. "We both are unfathomably large, we both control people's lives, we both work in mysterious ways, we both have a fanatical customer base. Instead of competing, it just made basic business sense to work together to become the premier developer of mission critical life-and-death operating systems."

The announcement came before the annual GodCon trade show in Las Vegas, where Obama gave a product demo of the iGod heath care rationing device, the first of what he said would be "many development projects" between US Government and God. He encouraged independent God developers to support the closed-source iGod / iGov health care platform, warning that "woe be unto the unlicensed app developer, for he shall be smote by a vengeful hail of ACORNs."

Other iGod apps currently in beta test include an end-of-life calculator, income leveler, and a wireless database detector for anti-government heretics and apostates.

"I believe this exciting health care partnership opportunity with the Almighty will be every bit as successful as our previous peace partnerships in the Middle East, and will pave the way for an eventual merger," said Obama. No date has been set for Government-God merger plans, but the FTC has signalled it would give quick approval.

To finance the project, Obama said US Government would seek US$2 trillion in a 103rd round of involuntary venture capital.

Headquartered in Washington DC, U.S. Government (NASDAQ: USAGOV) employs over 4,000,000 full time workers, with projected 2009 revenues of US$1.7 trillion and EBITDA of (minus) $2.1 trillion. Founded in 1789, the firm produces a diversified portfolio of products and services including military operations, postal delivery, free money, automobiles, and I.O.U.s. Its Health Care division has been in business since 1965.

God, Inc. is a privately traded, infinitely dimensionless enterprise headquartered on the ethereal plane, and has been the largest vendor of corporeal reality, including life and death, since its founding at the alpha origin of time. Its financial prospectus and mission statement were unavailable at press time.