Mandatory Health Insurance Coverage

Insurance companies know that difficult times are coming. Massive personal debt and a shaky economy are forcing many Americans into cost reduction life adjustments. This will involve cutting their insurance burden. The insurance companies want to stop this income loss by having the government force Mandatory Health Insurance Coverage onto the public thus guaranteeing corporate profits.

This model was used by the banks with the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005. The financial establishments saw very bleak times ahead; mass bankruptcies would eat into their profits. Calling it bankruptcy reform the banks created state sanctioned indentured servitude by eliminating the ability to erase your debt.

Under the guise of universal health care the insurance companies will force American's into a broken system built to move wealth from the working class to corporate pockets without guaranteeing coverage. As long as corporate profits are the goal of the insurance companies the system will remain broken.

Premiums for a family of four in 2006 were roughly $11500. Research has shown that of the total insurance premiums used to cover hospital and physician care, 21 percent is spent on insurance administration. Another 13 percent is used to cover other administrative tasks. Only 66 percent of every insurance dollar is used for patient care. Compare this to Canada's national health insurance system which spends just 1.3% on overhead, and the U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs having administrative costs of between 2-5%.

Additionally insurance companies vigorously deny payment on claims; deny insurance to the high risk populations or people with preexisting conditions; and charge higher premiums for people who have been without health insurance for a time. These practices are legal, encouraged and done to maximize corporate profits.

The United States is the only industrialized country to not offer universal health coverage to all its citizens. This country spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product on health care than any other nation but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. Forty-five million are uninsured; an additional 50 million are under-insured. Free market based, for-profit health insurance does not work; why can't we just eliminate it in favor of a streamlined universal single-payer insurance system.

It has been estimated that a single-payer system would dramatically reduce administrative costs by at least $150 to $200 billion a year. Also the single-payer institution could drive the cost of health care down by negotiating contracts that award health care providers for prevention of illness rather than prolonging sickness for profit. Our current insurance system will not do this; if the public is kept sick they can charge more for premiums.

Police departments, fire departments and the public school system are examples of critical support structures that were institutionalized for the greater public good. Corporate greed is the only reason a universal single-payer insurance system is not in place today. Presidential candidates of both parties will release plans in the coming year talking about universal coverage. These plans are nothing but variations on mandatory coverage, authored by the bosses in the insurance industry and dressed up to look like universal coverage. The United States government is guaranteeing corporate profits at the expense of its citizens.

Mandatory coverage is not universal coverage and should be rejected