Are Republicans just too stupid to understand this basic fact?

[Winterblues]

Insurance companies are in business to make money. They do not do that by paying lots of claims....Figure it out.......

[DarthCheney]

1. just like they don't understand this statement

The larger the pool, the cheaper the cost.

[Botany]

2. or let people buy insurance over state lines ... that will fix the problems

n/t

[DFab420]

5. Nope

Cause that will allow insurance companies to move their companies to the lowest tax bracket and least regulated states then sell at premiums higher than your state law allows.

"Insurance is currently regulated by states. California, for instance, says all insurers have to cover treatments for lead poisoning, while other states let insurers decide whether to cover lead poisoning, and leaves lead poisoning coverage -- or its absence -- as a surprise for customers who find that they have lead poisoning. Here's a list (pdf) of which states mandate which treatments."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/sel...

Unless we allow for Federal oversight and regulation of healthcare providers...

[lazarus]

8. something I don't understand

My dad was an executive with USAA, so he dealt with property and casualty insurance. He says that they were able to deal across state lines no problem, but they had to deal with the regulations of each individual state. Why would the health insurance companies be different?

[Botany]

11. sorry ...

I should have added this :sarcasm:

buying across state lines just like "tort reform" is just an empty talking point

Show me the state that has affordable and total coverage for health care and
then I will go there.

[DFab420]

20. Haha

yea that sarcasm changes everything hahaha

[hfojvt]

27. I hear Hawaii is nice

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh101909.shtml

but it is otherwise expensive to live there. But I bet fresher air and sunshine are good for your health too.

[liberalhistorian]

15. No, it won't. Health INSURANCE is not health CARE.

Just because you have insurance does NOT mean you will get the care you need when you need it or will be covered when you need it. I don't know how many times people need to hear that before they'll finally get it. INSURANCE DOES NOT MEAN OR GUARANTEE ACCESS TO COVERAGE AND GOOD CARE.

And if you have what is considered a pre-existing condition (and at this point, life itself is often considered a PEC by too many companies), or a chronic or serious illness, forget about getting coverage. Or at least, coverage you can actually afford.

[AmandaRuth]

9. just in case there is a misunderstanding about what I wrote

I am speaking for the need for universal single payer. :)

Actually, darth said that....

He is my husband, and regardless of the name, a very good guy. :)

[donco6]

33. Unless you're buying the care directly.

Can't get any cheaper than that.

[eleny]

3. They don't believe in ordinary Americans having a decent life

Whatever discretionary funds we have, they're out to get for the corporations.

[Zoeisright]

4. They don't care. Wait, that's wrong.

They do care. About money. And that's all they care about.

Oh, and oppressing anyone who isn't a rich white man.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I expect no less of Republicans, but it's really discouraging to know that

some Democrats seem equally eager to kiss insurance company ass.

[bergie321]

7. Stupid is a little harsh

I am going with ignorant, gullible, and incapable of critical thought.

[City Lights]

10. They understand and don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Selling insurance is nothing more than a business to them. They will not care until someone they love is shafted by an insurance company.

[SmileyRose]

29. Bingo!

[anonymous171]

31. Exactly. Their brains work just fine. It's their hearts that are defective. nt

[liberalhistorian]

12. That is what I've been trying to get across to some

people. That, while the free market does, indeed, work well most of the time with the majority of businesses (that is, if it's truly allowed to work the way it's supposed to and not if private companies keep expecting public bailouts instead of being permitted to fail), it CANNOT be applied to health insurance companies. That's because the purpose of health insurance companies flies in the face of the way the traditional free market works. Companies exist to make profits, which is generally fine and good. In the free market, companies make profits by selling their services/products. The more of their services/products they provide and sell, the more profits they make.

But that's not how health insurance companies work. They only truly make real profits, and more of them, by DENYING their services and products. This turns the traditional free market process on its head. They take customers' money, but they only really make any money if they then deny the very services the customer is paying for. Also, most people choose to receive services and/or products from companies. But you often don't have a choice of getting sick or injured, and sometimes your very life and health is at stake, unlike with most other products/services. So, the very people who may need the services the most are denied them because they will cost the company profits. This is, frankly, so simple that I really don't understand why so many people, especially republicans, just do NOT get it and just keep insisting that the free market will work and let it work. Or maybe, as I suspect, they really DO understand but they just don't care and consider profits and the rights of businesses to be more important than the lives of people.

[Winterblues]

16. The Government is not in the business of "making money"

The purpose of Government as spelled out in the Constitution is to maintain the general welfare of the nation. That means taking care of it's citizens..It is the people, afterall, that make up a country and not the dirt they stand upon.

[Echo In Light]

13. Lack of empathy/sympathy, which is why they hide behind "family values" & bibles

[Politicub]

14. Republicans are stupid

There, I fixed your subject line. ;)

[liberalhistorian]

18. No, they're not, actually. They know all of this

perfectly well, they just don't care. Profits and the rights of business are more important to them than people. And, frankly, too many Dems are exactly the same way as well. Dems don't have clean hands in this at all. In fact, they're the ones pushing this mandate and massive giveaway to insurance companies bullshit.

[progressoid]

17. to be fair, you need to include a LOT of Democrats as well.

[LibertyLover]

19. Of course they understand it -

good grief, why do think they invest in insurance companies and tap them for donations? It's not because insurance companies are paying claims, that's for sure. See the opening scene of the movie The Incredibles - more truth than fiction unfortunately.

[DirkGently]

21. Capitalist fundamentalism

We hear so much about the supposed "radical socialist" ideas of Obama (???) and so forth, don't we? But we actually have very little of that in America. What we do have is an increasingly irrational devotion to the idea that capitalism is the best and only approach to ANY social issue. "Just let the business people run it. THEY know what they're doing." The hell they do. Capitalism's nice for making lots of widgets, but it frankly sucks for things where people's lives are on the line.

We can't have a "giver" and a "taker" diametrically opposed to each other when the goal is, say, keeping all Americans as healthy as possible. We can't have the "business" of healing people determined by corporate managers who are literally legally bound to act in ways that increase profits, i.e. giving the least amount of service for the highest possible charge, when it comes to life and death.

But we've been well outside the bounds of rationality on this issue for a long time. Capitalistic models are being pushed for everything from fighting wars to running prisons to elementary schools. It's been a disaster in nearly every case.

Fundamentalist capitalism is a bad religion, and it's one of the things screwing us up the most right now.

[n2doc]

22. "making money" is their God n/t

[surrealAmerican]

23. These are people who still think that illness is a ...

... "lifestyle choice". They figure that, since they are not chronically ill, people who are must want to be that way.

[BarbaRosa]

24. Republicans are just too stupid...

[Dragonfli]

25. Are Democrats also too stupid to understand this basic fact?

Insurance companies are in business to make money. They do not do that by paying lots of claims....Figure it out.......

They are selling the same thing now or aren't you paying attention?

[Echo In Light]

26. Indeed

[donco6]

34. Many appear to be, yes. n/t

[Festivito]

28. They like the free campaign donations that allow them to think less.

Half our people vote and we call the ones that vote, stupid. Well, they are at least dumb and dumber .. times a hundred million.

They're being told that the public option will cost more than it's worth, and they believe what their told by nicely dressed TV pundits. They have no reason to believe elsewise. They really don't.

Stupid or not, calling them stupid might not get their attention in time. But, what will?

[treestar]

30. Probably not true

They make money by investing the premium proceeds. "Not paying claims" would draw lawsuits.

[donco6]

35. Not if they're clever at wording the policy.

Which they are. NO ONE employs more attorneys than Big Insurance.

[treestar]

36. There are "bad faith" lawsuits

for failures to settle, many statutes regulating them already.

There is not way that not paying for claims allowed for in the contract is the way they make money. They may do it, and get sued for it, but they make money by investing premiums.

[donco6]

38. Bu tthey have more to invest when they don't pay for services.

The more they avoid paying for service, the more fund balance they accrue. So, no matter what, yes, they make money from not paying claims.

[treestar]

39. But not the bulk of it

They may make some, but the chance of lawsuits cuts back on that.

That's how they convince people to vote for no-fault auto insurance. If they just didn't have to litigate, they'd save money and premiums would go down. Some voters have bought that argument in some states.

[ibegurpard]

32. well, yeah...I would've thought the Democrats would've been smart enough

to know that though

[Caretha]

37. Damn that was my line

seriously (did I spell that right) I was going to say the exact same thing...I would have added though, why did the OP have to post such a wanker thread?

[Odin2005]

40. They are SOCIOPATHS, so they don't see anything wrong with it.