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Now that there is a new law the Health Care Industry is wasting no time implementing new strategies to circumvent it.

Executives with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine meet with Bangor Daily News staff, 12/12/09. (photo: John Clarke Russ/BDN)

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+4 # ProfPeteB 2010-04-15 22:29

NATIONALIZE HEALTH CARE, Oil, water, banks and all necessities of life.
Fire-off Executive Orders, to shame lawmakers, as did FDR successfully, into passing bills to benefit people. Tax job Outsourcing corporations Union scale + 15% for each job outsourced including each job controlled by Independent contractors.
Make Lobbying a Capital offensce.

+4 # Guest 2010-04-16 00:28

Does anyone in Washington, and does anyone else get it yet...that single payer health care is the ONLY viable way to go? Did anyone think for a second that the health insurance industry wouldn't continue to do anything it could to squeeze as much out of us as possible?

Oh come on! No matter how reformed, we don't need the health insurance industry in the first place and as long as we have one, they, like any corporate entity, will squeeze as much through every loophole as they can.

Reclassifying administrative expenses as medical expenses is enough to convince me that the ONLY reform that will come is when this industry no longer exists.

+1 # Guest 2010-04-16 01:50

What would Jesus do???
Matt 12 ...and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
Matt 14: Jesus fed 5000.
Luke 9: ...And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child,
Luke 13: And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day,
Matt 19: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

What would Jesus call the Congress Persons who have been bribed to fight the Health Reform Bill and twist it so that it fills the coffers of the rich insurance companies?
Matt12:34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

+4 # Guest 2010-04-16 04:00

What a surprise. Shocked, shocked I tell you. And to think that it was the Democrats that let these SOB's through the rathole. Another shock.

Single payer anyone?

+6 # Guest 2010-04-16 06:55

This is exactly what I, and I'm sure many others, predicted would happen. For every regulation, there is at least one way to get around it, one loophole, or one alternative to meet your goals (increased short term profit at the expense of the insured, in this case). That is why we fought so hard for single payer, or at the very least for a strong public option, and why we felt so betrayed by the corporatist or "centrist" Democrats. The system itself is broken, and band-aids like the recent health care bill can't possibly fix it. The health insurance companies are parasites and must be eliminated before they kill the host (us and our economy). Let's all fight for single payer on the state level. If California elects a governor who supports single payer this year, we have a good chance, since the legislature passed a single payer bill twice (vetoed by the Republican governor).

+1 # Guest 2010-04-16 15:51

A public option would be better than single payer because the management wouldn't be under political appointees.

+1 # Guest 2010-04-16 19:56

You were expecting maybe POLITICS reform? Parasite elimination? Common sense? Human decency? Not in the good ol' U. S. of A. The American mantras are "Buy the Congress!" and "Bilk the consumers!" Since there is plenty of will, and money (ours, actually), for both these "philosophies," the corporations prevail -- again, or rather still.

+3 # Guest 2010-04-16 23:43

Take a look at Europe. The overhead costs spent there are 2%. That means they are spending 98 cents to the Euro on MEDICAL CARE. There are many different models, but at the end of the day it is a combination of a public option and government regulated programs. Germany has a private and a public system running parallel. They are constantly readjusting, but no one went belly up during the present financial crisis because of medical bills. It is a very "social" system, not "socialistic". Why does the USA always have to reinvent the wheel. Why not send 13 teams to the Western European countries , study what they have been doing for 40 years and copy the best of it ?? To proud ?? No too arrogant, and in the end too stupid.

+1 # Guest 2010-04-17 10:42

No, ER444, I don't think these are the sole reasons. Purely and simply - Corporate America takes precedence over *everything* and strives to remove people, entirely, from the equation. I'm so sick of political writers who vacuously state "Corporations aren't people." So, this amazing insight, of theirs, must certainly explain as to why they are treated as the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

+1 # Guest 2010-04-17 14:47

The fox is still in charge of the chicken coop! Congress should be in charge. Every loophole should be sealed tight by those in charge of oversight; YES, we need responsible oversight in Congress to take speedy corrective action on an ongoing basis on behalf of Main Street. When will Congress wake up and do the job they were supposed to do when they were sent to Washington by "We the People"? We all know that corporations are basically interested in the bottom line. If they don't temper that with concern and action on behalf of Main Street, our congressmen should be replaced.

0 # Guest 2010-04-18 21:01

Oh how I agree George R. but, let's not hold our breath.

+1 # Guest 2010-04-19 08:29

Publicly financed elections; no private contributions; no corporate contributions. Only under such a program can Congress possibly become the representative of the real public interest.

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