Run the numbers

So I see health care is back in the news.  Here’s some interconnected points on that:

“Um, about that promise…”:

President Barack Obama seems to leave little room for doubt when he promises that his health care plan will let people keep the coverage they have. His vow sounds reassuring and gets applause, but no president could guarantee such a pledge.

Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and Obama’s plan still leaves companies free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like. Employers can even drop insurance altogether.

“No matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people,” Obama said Monday, addressing the American Medical Association. “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” (emphasis mine)

A politician promises something he knows for a fact he can’t do?  What a shock!

This has, of course, been the problem with the largely employer-based system since the beginning.  It has trained the general public into dependance on corporate conglomerates, with the fear of losing coverage keeping people docile & in dead-end jobs, many of which are in industries that despite massive government intervention are still going the way of the dinosaurs.  All that is for nil though, since your coverage can just be dropped anyway.

Because of this — not to mention the insurance companies themselves always being able to just drop you for becoming an unacceptable risk to them (read: getting sick) — “public government option” is highly popular.  A recent poll (PDF, scroll to p.21) has 3/4th saying it should be in any legislation on the subject… and 47% of those with employer-based insurance saying the result of doing so would be having their coverage dropped.

Put 2 & two together here.  Premiums are going up, people are being dropped from coverage when they actually turn out to need it, employers are yanking it & projected to do so at a higher rate w/ the implementation of a public government option.  Basically, since the average person isn’t familiar with the concept of a true public option system (that is, a decentralized system of options on health care built from the ground up), they’re opting to switch providers, and other than the insurance companies themselves the corporate sector is all too happy to see them go.

The eventual result will be single-payer, implemented as one more in a line of corporate cost-dumps.