Instant Polls Very Positive for Obama State of the Union

Rep. Ryan is supposed to be among the most thoughtful and smartest of Republicans in Congress. Can he so misunderstand the dynamics of the insurance business to really believe that there would be coverage available for individuals over 65 from the private insurance industry at a price that would be absorbable for most people even with a government voucher? Private insurers are in business to make money for the stockholders which is fair enough. The one thing they must avoid to be successful is frequent utilization of the benefits they sell. This is as true for life insurance as it is for health insurance. As long term care companies and policyholders are currently discovering, the insurers must keep raising their rates in order to avoid losing money. And the number of companies that even offer the product has declined drastically since the 1990s when the product became popular.

What Rep, Ryan and his like-minded colleagues don't seem to understand is that people over 65 utilize health insurance benefits with increasing frequency as they get older.(Just as they do with long term care benefits) And the current health care system encourages that behavior over and above pure and simple need. So too does the remarkable advances in medical technologies.

The net result of the the Republican position as presented by Ryan is nothing less than health care rationing with the distinguishing factor being personal wealth. The well off will either self insure or find primo coverage because the cost will be relatively immaterial to them. The overwhelming majority will either go without or have bare bones coverage that will force them to chose between medical service and cat food!

I don't know what the answer is to the so-called Medicare crisis, but clearly for the well being of the overwhelming majority of the nation's seniors, it is not the Republican Health Care Rationing Plan that is now on their table. On the other hand unregulated health care companies will be willing to play as long as they can charge whatever they choose. For most people, unless the voucher matches the rates the insurers conjure up (not what Ryan has in mind I suspect) the outlook is bleak. In fact when you think about it, this plan condemns most people to a future of increased pain, decreasing wellness, and could have the same effect as those legendary death panels, just without a government anointed committee calling the shots.

Joel David Seigle of CA 4:04AM January 28, 2011