85% Of Bullsh!t

Under the new law, for-profit insurance companies will be required to spend 85% of their budget on claims. One left wing group estimated HMOs spend only 15-25% on claims, and 75% on executive bonuses and payments to stakeholders. Yeah, right. A more realistic estimate was produced by people who actually work for the industry - not executives, but people who get a regular wage like most hard working Americans - of 65% of cost to claims. Now lets say you're a liberal lawmaker who thinks anything short of 100% of cost to claims is not enough, but you're willing to take money from the insurance lobby toward your reelection hopes, so you settle at 85%. Now we've all hard a few stories of people who were actually denied claims or dropped from insurance, but of course we never hear all the facts, only the side of the "victim" of the insurance company, but the reality is these companies are not out to get you, and for almost everyone with insurance who isn't taking on an elective operation, your insurance company will honor your claim. If they don't, sue them, it's your legal right. That doesn't happen because those people don't really have a case and just want government to take care of them.

Anyway, the 85% rule will have only two possible outcomes: Either insurance companies will slash thousands of positions to meet the drastic cost cuts - more lost jobs - or premiums will skyrocket to balance existing costs against the new benefits requirement. Democrats know this, of course, and built in a provision where they can step in and evict companies from programs that directly or indirectly receive any public funds or provide for public clients if those companies break undefined and arbitrary cost borders. Effectively, politicians can force private insurance companies out of business by robbing them of significant revenue at any time. And the more insurance companies are forced out of business the more people will be forced to accept the government option of tax credits for access to local, government-contrived insurance organizations with more red tape and bureaucracy between the patient and provider.

You want to talk about customer service? At least with a private company the livelihood of the person on the other end of the phone or the email is dependent on your continued contribution. With government there is no such failsafe. If they screw up you have absolutely no recourse. You're on the hook, and they're unionized - why should they give a damn about you? If you're lucky you'll be allowed a "health insurance advocate" who will dig into your claim and maybe it will all work, but there are no guarantees and you can't realistically sue them and win, and as a taxpayer you're paying their salary, too.

How is this not a scam???