Buckle Up America: It’s Go Time for Health Insurers

Dare we dream? It’s beginning to look as if there’s been enough of a broad-based backlash against Washington’s inaction or indifference when it comes to meaningful Health Care Reform that our politicians are actually starting to take notice! We always knew that our House Reps and Senators could be gotten to. The only question was whether their respective ‘G’ spots were more susceptible to the lure of money or the need for votes.

The safe bet would be both, and although just how much each individual politician is influenced by either one or the other has yet to be determined, it would appear that most of them are now well aware of a rising level of dissent…on Main Street and beyond. The majority of Americans…65% and counting…are making it known that they want a public insurance option included in any Health Care bill that’s passed, and that demand is being echoed by more and more doctors and other health sector professionals every day.

It seems like the tide may finally be turning. The health insurance industry is being increasingly recognized and universally criticized for what it is…a corrupt, greedy, selfish, unfeeling profit center that cares only about its bottom line and nothing about its customers. The rest of the health sector concerns, and not an insignificant number of politicians, have begun distancing themselves from the insurers… leaving them isolated on an island by themselves so as to avoid being hit by shrapnel from the incoming bombs of outrage and grenades of discontent.

Since discussion concerning Health Care Reform was once again brought to the front burner in Washington earlier this year, the health insurance industry and their minions have been ‘wagging the dog’ in terms of the debate. A never-ending flood of fear-inspiring innuendo and outright lies, put forth in many cases by people and organizations who should know better, have kept supporters of meaningful reform consistently on the defensive. But with momentum starting to shift perceptibly in this battle, expect the insurers to lower the level of discourse and ethics even further.

So what’s next you ask? Well, as the legendary Al Jolson once said, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet”. If you think that the health insurance conglomerates, their lobbyists, and the media mouthpieces and political apologists that support them and are supported by them, will stand by and watch the sun set on this gravy train, you’d better give your head a shake. To paraphrase an old hockey adage, the gloves are about to come off.

Through the ill-advised largesse of our lawmakers, up until now health insurers have been granted a license to print money…or perhaps steal would be a more apt description of what they’ve been allowed to do for all these years. They’ve been operating without effective oversight for so long that when something threatens to impact their bloated bottom line…something such as a public insurance option designed to, oh, let’s say keep them honest…they predictably react with snarling desperation, like any cornered animal would in those circumstances.

That means we shouldn’t be surprised by anything they say or do, or that’s said and done on their behalf, in the coming weeks. There’s likely nothing they won’t try in their effort to retain unfettered, Washington-condoned access to our wallets and bank accounts. The salvos they’ve fired so far…death panels, socialism, communism, fascism, birthers, tea-baggers, government controlled, etc., etc.…will pale in comparison to what lies ahead as this transcendent battle for meaningful Health Care Reform reaches its climax.

A recent Quinnipiac poll suggested that fixing our economy is the single most important thing Americans have to deal with…but understand this! If we can find the will to reform and control the health insurance industry, fixing the economy is doable. Without meaningful Health Care Reform though, more specifically without health insurance reform, our economy will continue spiraling downward. It’s that simple.


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