I was reading Nicholas Kristof’s editorial this morning – Health Care That Works – and a question hit me: why aren’t people as critical of their own private insurance as they are about the government’s program? Kristof brings up a great point that about 60% of Medicare patients rate their insurance highly, while only 40% of private insurance folks rate their service highly. We’ve seen over the past weeks the raucous times at town hall meeting held by senators and congressmen, and for the most part the protestors are loudmouthing against “The Public Option.”
I find it ironic that a majority of people I’ve talked to, from coast to coast, always talk about how they got denied by their insurance company for something they thought was medically relevant. People get irate about their insurance sometime – particularly if they’ve had to help a loved one through serious illness. I find it ironic, then, that people are protesting the public option in such a vociferous and unruly manner. People are even biting fingers off for the cause! And, yes, the 65 year old man who’s finger was bitten off did have Medicare.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time today to dig into the actual numbers, but from the waste and wanton spending within insurance companies I’ve seen, I wonder why more people aren’t protesting their own, private healthcare? Kristof has an interesting point about firefighters in NYC in the 1850s being a rag-tag bunch before the city had a fire department – I think the same could be true about insurance. Now, I’m not for a single, government payer, but I am for increased competition and the government option where by people can choose their own insurance. The way the system is set up today is a racket – when are people going to turn all the energy their spending on protesting the public option and spend that energy to actually begin to create reform in healthcare? That’s what is going to help most.