Dateline AP: Senate chair proposes fee on insurance companies
Sen. Max Baucus on Monday pushed a new health care plan including an industry fee to help pay for covering the uninsured as President Barack Obama said insurance companies must share accountability for the troubled system.
Okay, there is only one problem I immediately see with this.
Insurance companies are for-profit entities. This basically amounts to a tax on people who currently can (in some cases barely) afford health insurance. EXCEPT: It’s more than just a tax, it’s a tax that has a profit margin built into it. Instead of a straight tax from the .Gov that would go into a low-overhead system like Medicare (3% overhead, or what the industry would term “profit” above and beyond the money needed for actual medical care), this would be a tax routed through insurance companies. Who HAVE to make money. They will be sued by their shareholders if they do not do everything in their power to turn a profit so the shareholders can profit too. That means any fee the insurance companies get, YOU will have to pay an extra 30% on so they can hit their profit targets.
That’s right, so not only will you be paying for the uninsured, you’ll be paying 30% extra for their health care. Fuck that, I’d rather have a tax.
Tags: celebrate good obama c'mon!, more like the insurance companies will kill you, no really we're really fucking fucked this time, total cockup, trouble in paradise