Health Care: Your Money or Your Life
Having lived in France, where health care for all citizens is viewed as a fundamental human right, I have been witnessing the debate over health care reform in the U.S. with a mixture excitement and horror. It seems that at the very least, the United States - which is ceaselessly referred to as "the greatest country on the face of the earth" by its politicians - may finally bring a measure of control to the health insurance industry and its obscene practice of making profits through manipulation of human suffering.
One would hope that the White House and the Democrats in Congress would finally stop pulling their punches in their drive to secure bi-partisan legislation. One might expect that with the publication of information detailing health insurance industry profits Americans would finally recognize the current system for what it is: a publicly sanctioned form of racketeering. Over the last several years, CEOs at the top health insurance firms have averaged $12 million in yearly salaries and insurance company profits have risen 400%. The rosy balance sheet is the result of companies paying fewer claims, raising premiums, denying coverage for specific treatments, terminating policies and other nefarious practices. Insurance companies have fleeced the public for so long we have come to accept the status quo as given. The situation is nothing short of criminal.
What is it about us in the United States that makes us so gullible, so easily manipulated that we would have a deeper regard for the bottom line of a bunch of insurance companies than our own health and well-being?
Having lived in France, where health care for all citizens is viewed as a fundamental human right, I have been witnessing the debate over health care reform in the U.S. with a mixture excitement and horror. It seems that at the very least, the United States - which is ceaselessly referred to as "the greatest country on the face of the earth" by its politicians - may finally bring a measure of control to the health insurance industry and its obscene practice of making profits through manipulation of human suffering.
One would hope that the White House and the Democrats in Congress would finally stop pulling their punches in their drive to secure bi-partisan legislation. One might expect that with the publication of information detailing health insurance industry profits Americans would finally recognize the current system for what it is: a publicly sanctioned form of racketeering. Over the last several years, CEOs at the top health insurance firms have averaged $12 million in yearly salaries and insurance company profits have risen 400%. The rosy balance sheet is the result of companies paying fewer claims, raising premiums, denying coverage for specific treatments, terminating policies and other nefarious practices. Insurance companies have fleeced the public for so long we have come to accept the status quo as given. The situation is nothing short of criminal.
What is it about us in the United States that makes us so gullible, so easily manipulated that we would have a deeper regard for the bottom line of a bunch of insurance companies than our own health and well-being?
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