What's so great about private health insurance? (Do insurer's pay a role in the healthcare crisis?)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 8/3/2009 | Michael Hiltzik

[lentulusgracchus]

'Rat Troll alert.

Hey, Seek .... With George Stephanopoulos working for you on ABC's payroll, and the entire MSM in the tank for your boy and his message, you don't need Free Republic as an outlet for your propaganda.

Paging VK ..... VK ..... VK ..... Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!!

[SeekAndFind]

Will you please deal with the argument before calling someone who has been here for ages ( and who never votes for a Democrat) a troll ??

[Leisler]

The biggest problem you'll find in the insurance industry is that the "least expensive" insurance plans will also be the least stable in terms of the financial stability of the companies involved.

Bull. Wal-Mart, the early Ford MoCo. Toyota. There are just as many examples of low/lowest cost manufactures and service providers being more stable, more popular than high cost providers. The trend this century has been continued lower costs and increase quality anywhere the government doesn't regin.

"You can go to almost any state in the South and find plenty of horror stories from people who paid premiums on insurance policies for years, only to have the insurance carrier collapse in insolvency when they needed to file a claim. " Three letters. AIG. Total toilet.
I have no doubt that those companies, with names like Rebel Yell Confederate Health D'Royal charged premiums significantly below the market average.
. Frankly, I don't care what some dullard, dolt that thinks he can fly first class at economy fare does.
I'm concerned about me, and the vast majority of citizens that can tell the difference between a Mercedes, a Ford and a Yugo. Most people know you don't get what you don't pay for. I would love to see Wal-Mart use it's price/cost skills to delve into health care, nation wide, out of a state with little oversight. I trust the free market over government any day.

[Captain Beyond]

Obama Approaches Tipping Point As Nation Erupts Over Health Care

[lentulusgracchus]

Your argument is a liberal-Democrat argument.

Find your own forum, we'll argue about it there.

[SeekAndFind]

I am presenting a liberal-democrat argument for conservatives to refute. I am sure there are a lot of smart conservatives out there who can deal with THE ARGUMENT itself.

If you can’t do it, then please leave this thread, instead of attacking a conservative.

We don’t need “conservatives” like you who only attack and malign people ( without even knowing who they are or their posting history ) instead of dealing with arguments.

[Diamond]

He writes quite often about Communist parties and regimes, East and West.

I had never heard of him and didn't know anything about him. I just recognize the lingo.

Cordially,

[lentulusgracchus]

I checked your "in-forum" history before I called for the Kitties. You'd posted that argument before, on other threads. I concluded, you are a troll. I still think you are a troll.

And no, I am not leaving the thread, Channel Master. [Posted up like a true DU troll, btw. Nice going.]

I'm not the troll.

You, on the other hand, are.

[Brugmansian]

The memo from Congressional Democrats telling everyone to go out and bash insurance companies was leaked. They want the focus to be on the evil insurance companies, not them, during the recess.

Not that everyone didn’t know where LA Times writer Michael Hiltzik was getting his copy but its nice to see it confirmed.

[TChris]

...those who take them from their employers. People employed by big companies that offer a health plan are within a layoff notice of losing coverage for themselves or their families, joining America's millions of uninsured.

False.

Anything else?

Their only alternative right now is the individual market, where insurers scrutinize applicants' medical histories, looking for reasons to turn them down or charge them exorbitant premiums.

OK. This is eeeeeeeeevil... why?

Should I pay higher premiums becuase of YOUR medical problems? Is that what you consider "fair"?

We expect our insurance to cover medical expenses for extremely expensive, catastrophic events, no? Do you suppose those insurers could do that if people only had to pay a pittance of a premium? Where do you imagine the billions of dollars should come from, if not the insured?

Even if you're accepted, your carrier reserves the right to cancel your policy retroactively if it finds that you left even a tiny condition from years back off your application.

You mean, if you lied about your medical history? Lying about the conditions of a contract is a Bad Thing in every case.

Insurers have the freedom to choose whom they will cover; you have the freedom to choose which insurance carrier you will use. Sounds fair to me.

If you don't like the conditions of an insurer paying the bulk of your bills for you, then just save up and pay your OWN medical bills. That will keep those nasty insurance monsters away.

[SeekAndFind]

You'd posted that argument before, on other threads. I concluded, you are a troll. I still think you are a troll.

Really ? I posted a THREAD, not my opinion. You can call me a troll all you want, and I can call you a troll as well. What then will it prove ?

[BunnySlippers]

Michelle Malkin has a list of the Healthcare Townhalls:

http://teapartypatriots.org/TownHalls.aspx

[a fool in paradise]

Communists, Nazis, and Islamic Jihadists ALL live for “the struggle”.

[Alberta's Child]

You're applying legitimate principles and experiences of companies involved with the production and sale of tangible products to a very specific area of the financial services sector where the "product" or "service" offered cannot easily be seen until.

If you buy a Ford or a Yugo and the thing turns out to be a crappy car, you'll find out pretty quickly that this is the case. The problem with a crappy insurance company is that you may not find out just how bad it is until you've been paying premiums for years -- and you need that insurance company in a big way when facing a serious injury or illness.

[Leisler]

You keep ignoring AIG. Is that...er...was that...some backwater Podunk, unregulated insurance company?