I think we're talking about 2 different things. The insurance companies' "cost" runs around 30 cents on the dollar, their profits are some fraction of that. This system is a mess. For-profit healthcare has a lot of built-in problems. Single-payer goverment-run plans would have theirs too, I'm sure, but we have the European systems to look at, and compare to, and from what I've been reading, they are often a lot more efficient in terms of care per dollar. On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 3:21 PM, Douglas Nygren <dnygr@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Sorry, Marc, > Your facts are, well, wrong. Your statement that "US Health Care insurance > companies average around 3% net profits" doesn't hold up. > > When Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example, proposed healthcare reform for > California, his plan, called "Arnoldcare," required that healthcare > insurance companies spend at least 85 cents from every premium dollar on > medical bills. The insurance companies reacted storngly calling the > proposal "socialism," and the proposal died. > > The point is that a lot of the cost of our health insurance lies in our for > profit health insurance companies. Other countries have recognized this and > have removed profit from healthcare insurance. > > If there weren't such a big profit, insurance companies wouldn't pursue it > here. If it were only 3% they wouldn't be spending the money they do to stop > reform, meager as it is. > > On their own, insurance companies for profit won't be able to change their > practice because they have to answer to stock holders. If their profit to > loss (medical claims are called losses in the insurance industry) ration > drops, their stock values will go down and the execs will lose their jobs. > > I personally like the German and Swiss models. You seem to like the VA > model which is government run. You have more choice than the rest of us. You > can go anywhere in the country and get treatment. If I leave the Northeast, > I had better stay healthy because in-network doctors in my plan become fewer > and fewer the further west you go. > > Doug > > > --- > Rollei List > > - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the > subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org > > - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in > the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org > > - Online, searchable archives are available at > //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list > > -- Be Just and Fear Not