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brewens

(15,359 posts)

23. Where did large medical insurance companies come from in the first place?

Reply to kpete (Original post)

Fri Dec 30, 2011, 12:00 AM

Dec 2011

That's a question I've asked friends in the business. Those companies exist because businesses started giving medical insurance to employees as a benefit. They didn't want to do that but the workers organized and made them want to!

I said the way things are going, eventually their jobs will be in jeopardy. Eventually things have to shake out so that people get health care for what they can afford to pay. No way we continue to allow a middleman to take a huge rake off the top.

I just have an average Joe type job in the industry, working for a blood center. I know I want to keep working, so do all the doctors and nurses. We all just want to keep being paid. Guess who get cut out?

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Highlight:

More Proof Big-Profit Insurers Doomed; Single Payer Coming Sooner Rather Than Later [View all] kpete Dec 2011 OP

Greed is such a wonderful thing FreakinDJ Dec 2011 #1

Simple, elegant argument that goes to the heart of the "free market" issue. Geoff R. Casavant Dec 2011 #2

Good! soryang Dec 2011 #3

The 1% will devour themselves... Modern_Matthew Dec 2011 #4

Excellent. Insurance companies are nothing more than banks. Lint Head Dec 2011 #5

They used to be in it to invest excess when market profits were unbeatable. Oh well. cpamomfromtexas Dec 2011 #6

My favorite line "if a business can't survive on 15 - 20% profit margin does it deserve to survive?" peacebird Dec 2011 #7

Experienced workers and professionals could go into business for themselves too. soryang Dec 2011 #9

Norman Goldman sometimes talks about putting together some kind of an insurance gateley Dec 2011 #14

Health Insurance Corporations: bvar22 Dec 2011 #8

Possibly...but who do you think is going to manage "single payer"? cbdo2007 Dec 2011 #10

Good analysis. I disagree with the conclusion. MedicalAdmin Dec 2011 #11

I too disagree with the conclusion. It just means more and more Americans without health insurance riderinthestorm Dec 2011 #12

Yes. MedicalAdmin Dec 2011 #13

The END result just may be single payer. If millions lose their coverage, they will gateley Dec 2011 #15

RECOMMENDED!!! Bill USA Dec 2011 #16

I went to the ER Xmas night with nasty abdominal pain. CANDO Dec 2011 #17

The last two or three health insurance companies standing wll make out like bandits. dawg Dec 2011 #18

Look for a bunch of CEOs to pay themselves obscene bonuses somehow Tsiyu Dec 2011 #19

They can't do that any more. The ACA made it illegal. tridim Dec 2011 #26

On paper they can't you are correct Tsiyu Dec 2011 #30

It's really built into the law Obama signed. That's why the GOP's went nuts. freshwest Dec 2011 #20

Sounds like scare tactics by rightwingers. The Sky is Falling. Honeycombe8 Dec 2011 #21

The companies mentioned all have diverse business dflprincess Dec 2011 #22

Where did large medical insurance companies come from in the first place? brewens Dec 2011 #23

Most of them started as mutual funds. Downwinder Dec 2011 #24

Some might even call this result multi-dimensional chess. tridim Dec 2011 #25

Of course we'll wait until the system collapses before we do anything... joeybee12 Dec 2011 #27

The HC Exchange is the "planning ahead" mechanism. tridim Dec 2011 #28

Actually, ProSense Dec 2011 #29