how about an INSURANCE strike

[peanut]

We all hear on a regular basis about strikes in France and England. Workers use them and they (sometimes) work. Forget rebellion in the streets. How about all of us all -- individuals, small businesses and large -- suddenly STOP PAYING our insurance premiums. Do you think doctors would stop serving us? That's against the Hippocratic Oath. I say we all strike. The hard part is getting the businesses to stop paying the premiums. Or maybe not. Let's all pay our DOCTORS and stop paying premiums!
STOP calling them health insurance insurance premiums. Stop calling them "Health" anything.
they are "insurance" peddlers... money grubbers. stop paying them.

[BlueJazz]

1. The idea is a Noble One ...but....reality precludes it happening..Sorry.

[rurallib]

2. That thought crossed my mind also. But how would you ever pull it off?

[TwilightGardener]

3. "Let's all pay our DOCTORS and stop paying premiums!"

I will, if you lend me $1700 to pay my anesthesiologist--I'm a little short of funds. Insurance already covered it two months ago, but I want to make a statement.

[WeDidIt]

4. Never gonna happen

the vast majority of this nation gets health care payments via health insurance.

[SheilaT]

5. If you stop paying health care premiums

you'll have no health insurance. And now you may suddenly have a bunch of pre-existing conditions. This is not a strike that would work.

[jotsy]

6. The insurance companies are holding doctors hostage as much as they are the public.

Haven't heard anyone talk about the double dipping; ask any physician about his own premiums for mal-practice coverage. The flow of money to the corporatocracy has to stop, across the board. Viability has never been further out of reach for more of us and the tension level is going nowhere but up if something doesn't give. I doubt it's coming from that end, so yes it's on us to push back.

[TheWebHead]

7. what are you hoping to accomplish

insurance companies don't set policy, congress and the president do. I think you'd be surprised how thin the margins are of the health insurers if you looked up their SEC filings and looked at their revenues and after tax profits. Despite having virtual monopolies in some states, they really don't make a lot of money, about 3% - 3.5% after tax. There's a lot of pieces to that pie contributing to such high costs.