From the Rochester D&C: Supporters call for universal healthcare plan in NY .
The proposal is to replace private health insurance with New York State Health Insurance -- insurance without premiums, deductibles, co-pays, etc.
No one likes dealing with premiums, deductibles and co-pays! Health care should be Free!! It is a "Basic Human Right" -- No?
It is easy to make promises that sound good . . . it is quite something else to deliver on them.
For some politicians, the fact that insurance companies make a "profit" on providing a "basic human right" is downright wrong . . . and they intend to fix the situation by replacing the health insurance companies with government. [Never mind the fact that NYS heavily taxes this "basic human right" in hidden ways.]
"Free" health care ultimately has to be paid for. With a "single payer" system in New York, the "government" becomes the payer . . . You can surmise where the government will get the money from. Who pays ultimately will be determined by . . . politics. Do you trust NYS politics?
If it is "free" healthcare, you will pretty much have to settle for the health care you are given. "Beggers can't be choosers" we used to say . . . If the government is doing the paying then the government will determine what health care you are allowed. What you get will ultimately be determined by . . . politics. Again, do you trust NYS politics?
And if the government is the sole payer, the pay of the people working in the health care system will ultimately be determined by . . . WHAT? And if the healthcare workers don't like their pay, then what happens?
Frankly, I do not want politics -- especially NYS politics -- determining who pays for my health care, what my health care provider is paid, and what health care I will be allowed to receive.
But there are a couple other issues here, perhaps even bigger . . .
Insurance companies compete with each other for your business. If you do not like the service you get from one, you can choose to do business with another. If NYS politics makes the government your insurance company, if you don't like the service, where will you go? YOU WILL HAVE NO CHOICE to go elsewhere for your insurance unless you move elsewhere.
But why stop with health insurance? Why not Workers' Comp. insurance? It's not that different. Or auto insurance? Or life insurance? Or homeowners? Etc. Etc. If NYS politicians can go after health insurers, they can go after the whole insurance sector.
Insurance companies are big employers in New York, including ones employing many in this area. We've seen what NYS politicians have done to the arms businesses in New York because they don't like guns.
It looks like the insurance sector is next.
1 comment:
In my experience with health insurance in NYS will say it all. I have a long term NYS partnership policy written by John Hancock. For the first four years of ownership the yearly premium stayed the same. Last year NYS granted the insurer a 100% premium increase that had to be paid or face the same yearly premium BUT with reduced benefits No amount of discussion with the NYS insurance dept. was productive nor was there any notice of until the bill arrived. NYS can not be trusted with the health care of needs of its citizens. Promises from the state are written on smoke and go away as soon as the wind blows in a new direction.
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