Paul Ryan Doesn't Know How Insurance Works

[mcar]

But he's got his sleeves rolled up, so watch out.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53748/paul-ryan-insurance/?src=socialflowTW

I had thought that the burlesque comic opera The Agony of Paul Ryan, Genius had closed on the night in 2012 when Joe Biden laughed the zombie-eyed granny starver off the stage during their debate. (That was the night that Ryan demonstrated that he knew it snowed in Afghanistan in the winter.) But I had not reckoned with his many fanboys among the kept political press. He ascended to become Speaker of the House, largely because nobody else wanted the job after John Boehner got kicked to the curb by the crazy people.

Now he is out there pimping the dungheap that is the new healthcare reform bill as though Mitch and Murray from downtown were lighting his pants on fire. He even lost the suit coat and broke out the PowerPoint on Thursday. It was like watching something on cable access late at night, or a flop-sweaty rookie substitute teacher, and it was hilarious—except for the parts where people will lose their health insurance and die, of course. And this is what he said and, peace be unto Dave Barry, I am not making it up, either:

Paul Ryan said that insurance cannot work if healthy people have to pay more to subsidize the sick. This is literally how all insurance works. If someone's house burns down, some of your fire insurance money goes to help that person rebuild. If someone gets sick, some of your premium, healthy person, goes toward that person's coverage. Increasingly, I have come to believe that Paul Ryan is a not particularly bright creature from another world. Let us see if we can explain this to the lad.

Let's say that, in 1986, a 16-year-old lad loses his father to a sudden heart attack. Despite the fact that the family's construction firm is relatively prosperous due to its generous share of government contracts, the family's finances are considerably straitened. For the next two years, the young man and his mother receive Social Security survivor's benefits. Of course, these came from millions of people who had Social Security withheld from their paychecks and whose fathers did not die young due to a sudden heart attack. One of them was, say, a 32-year-old sportswriter for the Boston Herald, who had Social Security withheld from what he was paid to watch the Red Sox blow the '86 World Series, and whose father was still alive, but slipping fast into Alzheimer's. Some of his money went to make sure Paul Ryan could complete high school and go on the college and get the BA in economics that made him the smartest man in the world.

Got it now?

Also, you're welcome, rube.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Ever since he used Soc Sec to save his ass, he has dreamed of TAKING it from me.

He will take it, too. That much is certain.

I think I will die from a stress related heart attack first, which is his plan.

[mcar]

3. He hates the poor and middle class

Truly a great Catholic!

[TexasBushwhacker]

18. But he didn't really need the SS

He was/is from a wealthy family. He just used it to go to an out of state university.

[mcar]

21. He didn't need it but took it

And his big dream is to take it away from all who do need it. Bootstraps!!11

[Panich52]

2. He has warned of a failing insurance company we should avoid

He said the "head of an insurance company" told him ACA was in a "death spiral." He should name that company. Since the American Society of Actuaries, who should know if the death spiral is true, says such doom is not occurring, then Ryan owes it to us to name that apparently failing insurance company that believes otherwise so we can avoid contracting them.

[mcar]

4. Yes he does

Typical though, isn't it? He's taking a page from Drumpf's playbook - "this guy I know said..." So it must be true.

[Panich52]

27. Just heard on All In w/ Chris that Aetna is comp he referred

Also, that Aetna wasn't forthcoming about their reason f/ withdrawing f/ ACA

[mcar]

28. Ah, them

Yes, I had read that some months ago. So Ryan knowingly lied.

Thanks.

[rockfordfile]

5. Lyin Ryan.

[Scarsdale]

31. MediCARE

funds will dry up shortly if this disaster of a healthcare law becomes final. It draws money from Medicare, draining the fund. Another of Ryan's dreams. I saw we DEMAND that EVERY politician in DC HAS to join this disaster, forget their great taxpayer funded health insurance. See how long they stay on board for this. Are they forgetting elections are looming? Terminate pensions for these layabouts, they get enough grift from lobbyists that they are millionaires in a short time.

[PoliticAverse]

6. The person who wrote this article would seem to not actually now how real insurance works...

insurance rates in the real world are set based on risk. If you live in a firetrap you pay more for fire insurance
than if you live in a fireproof building. There's a reason that the ACA needed to force people to buy insurance
by penalizing those that don't while fire insurance companies need no such provisions. The ACA (and similar
universal coverage systems) aren't pure insurance they are social welfare programs combined with insurance
aspects. Fire insurance companies don't cover "pre existing conditions". Social welfare systems don't work if
people can just opt out, that's why taxes are mandatory.

[Beartracks]

13. Almost everyone will eventually need/use health insurance. But most people...

... will never need/use their fire insurance. So requiring lower risk people to be in the health pool makes sense, because they will always eventually move into the higher risk categories and will benefit from the new lower risk people participating at that time.

================

[bigbrother05]

14. You're right, there's a bit of difference with fire insurance

Fire insurance has specific limitations and takes size, replacement costs, available protection service, etc. into account to determine the premiums. Fire insurance only covers losses from fire damage, not annual inspections, maintenance upkeep, or improvements. Also, most mortgages require specific coverage as a term of the loan. But the basic idea is that many people pay premiums without a claim to pay the claims that come in. Underwriters work out the details of how the premiums are priced.

Health insurance uses similar methods to figure out the costs within specified groups covered. The broader the groups, the lower the average as healthy folks offset the sicker ones. The argument for mandatory coverage is that if you pay in when you're healthier, you are offsetting the costs for others and then when you are sick someone else is covering you. It is a social contract that benefits us all in the long run. The costs vary based on the pool of customers and services covered, so single payer would be the least costly of all on a per capita basis.

[guillaumeb]

7. But Paul Ryan certainly knows how bribery works.

Sorry, I meant to write legal campaign contributions, but my fingers typed the word bribery.

So when little Paulie receives his bribes, sorry I meant to type legal campaign contributions again, but my fingers typed bribes again. I should stop now.

[FSogol]

8. Paul Ryan is probably the most evil guy in our government.

I only say probably because of the existence of Mitch McConnell.

They won't be happy until mass starvation covers the continent.

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[Wellstone ruled]

10. BTW,

Like Scott Walker,Ryan received a free ride thru the Social Security Administration.

[mcar]

22. Yep

Makes my blood boil.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Insurance Is On Item On A Long List. . .

. . .of things that Ryan has no grasp of how it works.

[gademocrat7]

12. K&R!

[robbob]

15. Speaking from the Canadian point of view, you guys are screwed.

You will NEVER have universal health care as long as there are predatory middle men insurance companies raking in billions of dollars every year, rewarding their executives with 6 figure bonuses while complaining about how they didn't make as much as they wanted to because of all the Medicaid and pre-existing condition clients they had to "support".

In Canada there is one simple, undeniable fact about our health care system: from the time you are born until the day you die, you are covered for health care. You will never receive a bill from a hospital or doctor whether you have an accident, go to the emergency room, develop a serious debilitating illness or just make regular checkups to your family doctor.

Last September I found myself at the Monford General in Ottawa at 3am with some troubling chest pains. I had forgotten to take my blood pressure meds for a couple days and since I didn't have access to them I was worried about how serious a situation it could be. I was rushed into the examination area (wait time about 5 minutes) where they took my blood pressure, did an EKG, did some blood work, sent me to do a circulatory system test involving radio isotopes and an MRI machine (sorry, don't know the name of this procedure) and kept me overnight. Total cost to me? ZERO. I actually felt bad, since it turned out to be a false alarm, but under the Canadian system there is ZERO cost to the patient; we don't even ever see a bill.

In addition, they booked me in with a cardiologist to do further tests. I saw him 2 weeks later, he scheduled a treadmill stress test, a 2 day EKG portable heart monitor test and a heart ultra sound test, all of which were scheduled within the month. Then a follow up visit where (thank Dog!) he reassured me that everything looked good. Total cost? Again ZERO. No bills in the mail, no "approval" needed from some heartless insurance bureaucrat.

Is Canadian health care "free"? Of course not. Nothing in life is free. We pay slightly higher income tax in this country, but some estimates suggest a typical working class family of 4 pays about $11,000 a year (from their yearly income tax) for this kind of all-inclusive coverage. I am semi-retired now, so in reality I don't know for sure, but I would guess I pay less than $500 a year through my taxes towards the health care system. In my life I have been employed, unemployed, a student, a working musician, a computer systems analyst (the musician thing wasn't getting me rich, lol!), but in all that time I had a valid health card which gave me access to ALL the benefits described above.

Some companies offer extended coverage through an insurance company, for things that AREN'T covered by the Canadian system; dental, eye glasses, massage and other alternative therapy, but ALL basic health care is available to ALL Canadians from cradle to grave.

The very wealthy in this country are contributing much more to the system, but I think that is as it should be. Guess it sucks to be rich? As long as the American system is controlled by for-profit health insurers you will never have universal coverage down there: there's no profit in it. More politicians need to be pointing this out.

[klook]

19. Thanks for describing the "nightmare" of the Canadian health care system!

In the U. S. of A., many people's fear is that somebody, somewhere will get a free ride at the expense of hardworkingAmericanfamilies (TM).

Obviously, there are many Americans (including most DUers) who want to help those who need it. But the politicians who are bought and paid for by the zillion-dollar health insurance lobby feed this animosity and suspicion among the Have-Somes that their tax dollars are being wasted on the "lazy poor."

Paul Ryan's clueless portrayal of the "unfairness" of healthy people's health insurance premiums paying for sick people's medical care illustrates this mindset.

There is an empathy gap in this country, which dovetails neatly with the Protestant work ethic. It's deeply ingrained in Republicans, and taken for granted by large segments of the population. I very much envy the kindness that's built in to the Canadian health care system, and I hope we'll see something like it in the future in America. But to get there is going to be a long journey, I'm afraid.

[mcar]

23. Will you adopt me?

[robbob]

32. Sure, are you housebroken?

[Phoenix61]

16. I did not know Ryan received SS as a child

I guess he believes he got his and screw everybody else. Since I'm trying not to curse that's about all I can write.

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. "Zombie-eyed granny starver"

Best description ever!

[BumRushDaShow]

20. And some strategically placed expletives

and that could have been a Rude Pundit classic!

[mcar]

24. Pierce is usually polite

But he gets it done.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. +1

[Docreed2003]

26. Excellent piece...

Wonkey Ryan can fool some with his fancy presentations but at the end of the day it's all bullshit. Healthy individuals finance the expenses of those who are less healthy, it's a shared risk. If healthy people aren't paying into the system, then those who are less healthy will see their insurance premiums rise. Ryan's whole dog and pony show was to continue to lie about the ACA while hiding the fact that this current plan removes the funding of the ACA and pays that to insurance companies, funding we the taxpayer paid into the system. The whole argument about insurance companies losing money is laughable on its face. The GOP plan is a debacle and will be the ultimate failure of the healthcare system. At the end of the day, anytime anyone says that healthcare "choice" or "access" is most important, we need to stand up and scream from the rooftops: "No!!! Care...actual healthcare is the most important!!!"

[Gothmog]

29. Paul Ryan is not a policy wonk and is really somewhat stupid

[Grammy23]

30. That's another one of those

"Everyone knows Ryan is a policy wonk". Who is this everyone of which they speak? Experience has taught us that this is BS. But once set in motion, notions like this take on a life of their own whether they're true or not.

[Gothmog]

33. The claims about Ryan being a policy wonk are really sad and are false

I have read a couple of Ryan's budgets and the numbers never add up and the documents are simplistic and miss the real issues