Government vs. private bureaucracy

[ramapo]

Government bureaucracy is always the whipping post for any suggested program, most notably health care.

Why is the massive cost and inefficiency of private bureaucracy never mentioned? What would be simpler and more cost effective? A single-payer, one stop, no haggle system administered or at least overseen by the federal government. Or the present convoluted non-standard duplication of systems now available to some run by a myriad of corporations?

How can the latter be less expensive? The government doesn't need to make a profit! In the Medicare Drug plan the government gives money to the health care industry to boost profitability. This isn't a waste?

Why is government so hated? We are (or should be) the government.

Maybe I'm just naive.

[cosmicdot]

1. you're not naive ... most likely experienced

I'm a 'veteran' of the control-oriented labyrinth of a big corporation's 'medical network' which can flag an individual from the moment one calls the magic *800* number, and 'log in' which 'flags' one immediately throughout 'the system' ... from the Patient Advocate line to the Disability Benefits line to the drug and medical reimbursement group to even the 401k plans for emergency medical hardship withdrawal ... it's all control control control ... and, the network is spread out nation-wide ... the cost of control is an unnecessary obstacle for healthcare.

I've witnessed more than I cared to ... it's monstrous how fellow citizens treat other citizens.

I doubt if many of our 'Hill' politicians even know what it's like to fight or deal with this type of computer-age, software-driven expensive communication network ... geared more to defeat the patient, not help the patient, but certainly geared to control the whole process and gather data on the employee.

Anyone who hasn't had to 'really' deal with this network on a level of survival (not just basic file claims and collect benefits) likely finds proposals to 'phase-in' or increment a national healthcare system somehow 'realistic'... and, 'acceptable' to keep corporations involved in the process ...

Jim Hightower begins his book, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos", basically, asking how we woke up to the current 'system' ... and, inquiring as to when did we vote for this mess (we didn't).

Having been there, done that ... I understand perfectly.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. "private" corporate bureaucracy is ALWAYS less efficient

if only because they have to skim money off the top to pay the investors.

[baldguy]

3. Whats the difference between the far-away corporate home office

telling you what to do in your cubicle - without any clue in the world as to what your needs and responsibilities are - and the Politbureau in Moscow setting 5-year production goals for a collective in Siberia?

Multinational Fortune 500 companies are just as much totalitarian institutions as the USSR or mainland China.