Transitioning to universal health insurance

[hedgehog]

I can't find figures for the health insurance industry itself, but 2.3 million people work for the insurance industry (http://www.careercornerstone.org/industries/insurance)

I suspect that number doesn't include the number of people employed by doctors and hospitals submitting claims to the insurance companies. I would expect the number of people required to administer universal health insurance to be much smaller. In addition, I have no idea how many people are invested in health insurance companies through their 401K plans. For all I know, my portfolio, invested in mutual funds, may include a health insurance company.

My point is this: anyone proposing an instant conversion to universal health insurance is proposing a major economic disruption. A plan that allows for an evolution into universal health insurance makes more sense to me.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. what economy?

you mean the one that is already getting flushed down the shitter?

eta: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2340304

[Trajan]

2. Sheeesh ....

I would imagine Horse and Buggy drivers were economically dislocated when the car arrived .....

I want to care about everyone ...... but SURELY many of those employees, especially those processing claims on the 'care' end, would remain employed to continue processing claims .....

[panader0]

3. What's a portfolio?

It would seem that people with "portfolios" shouldn't have to worry too much. I'm a 57 year old self-employed bricklayer, I have busted my ass for 37 years, I have no insurance at all and I truly hope that universal health coverage happens soon. I need it. My three teens are covered by my ex-wifes insurance, and that's a good thing because insurance for all of us would take most of my paycheck.

[hedgehog]

6. Well, it does sound pretentious, but the 401K has replaced the pension

for some of us. (For others, the pension was just not replaced.) It's not just fat cats that would be hurt is the health insurance tanked all at once, but working people like school teachers, engineers and nurses.

True, the buggy whip companies went out of business, but there was a transition period. My question is about how we make the transition with the least pain.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Portfolio!

:rofl:

I had one of those once. It had some papers in it. No money, just papers.

The OP points out one of the problems, even on "our side": "But! But! But! My portfolio!"

The poor bastard who stiches up his leg at the beginning of Sicko didn't have a "portfolio", I would reckon.

[hedgehog]

11. Do you have another word for the stocks that I've been buying in lieu of a pension

that I hope will still be worth something when I retire?


I want universal health insurance ASAP, but I don't think we have to throw people under a truck getting there.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

14. A certain level of sacrifice...

Will, sadly, be something we will all have to bear, especially in the early stages.

I would suggest you look closely at your portfolio and make whatever changes necessary to mitigate your level of economic sacrifice.

[bluestateguy]

4. We do have to have a plan for these people

A Medicare for All program (national health care) will probably only need 100,000 of these folks.

The rest will have to find another line of work, but we can't just leave them out in the cold.

[Hieronymus]

17. I don't think we are obligated to support a monstrous industry

that causes the needless deaths of our citizens through the very act of refusing to cover patients.

[bluestateguy]

19. I'm not asking you to

But what kind of a political message is that: we're going to tell almost 2 million people (most of whom are middle class and clerical employees, not big time executives) to go to hell. Not exectly a winning campaign message.

[PSPS]

5. Who cares?

For many, they can do the same work for the government who would be administering the program. But, let's face it. Many of these people built careers on the backs of suffering people by finding creative ways for private insurance to dodge their responsibility. The same thing goes to "investors" who also decided to garner personal wealth at the expense of human suffering. I have no compassion for these parasites, and humanity would be far better off without them.

[hedgehog]

9. Most of those "parasites" are just people trying to make a living.

Who do you think processes all the paperwork? It isn't the CEO making megabucks but someone in a cubicle sitting in front of a computer screen. Yeah, they're part of an evil system, but who among us isn't?

[bluestateguy]

20. Does that apply to a secretary or a file clerk working for Humana?

It's one thing to tell the executives to go to hell, but that's only a small number of employees for these companies.

The people with menial jobs who work for these companies have the same problems that other working families have.

[PSPS]

21. Like I said, many of these people will do the same work ...

... only for the government instead of a private insurance company.

What are you proposing? That we keep the private insurance industry going simply as a jobs program?

[bluestateguy]

24. As I said

Yes, some, some of these people could be picked up for employment by a Medicare for All program, but only some. The other 2 million people will have to be retrained to do something else. We can't just leave them out in the cold and tell them to go to hell. We're Democrats, and we believe in putting people to work.

[Imagevision]

7. Michael Moore should release "sICKO to the HBO/Cinemax crowd...

[sutz12]

10. Look at the bright side....

even though they would lose their jobs, they would still have health care. ;)

[hedgehog]

12. True that. Maybe if they had health care, they wouldn't have to work !

[Mike03]

13. Industry-Specific Disruptions have happened before

In fact we are witnessing one right now: the extermination of the real estate industry. Millions of agents are losing their jobs.

The health insurance industry will manage. They deserve as good as they have given. <---Former Blue Cross customer

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

16. If I were to express...

my feelings on what they deserve, there is no telling of the laws I might be breaking. You could build another Great Wall of China from the tombstones.

[valerief]

15. Those folks are getting replaced by offshore people anyway. nt

[Vinca]

18. No one cared when the shoemakers were put out on the street.

Clothing factories are gone. Book binderies are gone. Millions of manufacturing jobs are kaput and you want me to worry about the people hired to deny claims? No way. The people who work for doctors and hospitals will still be needed to submit claims for payment to the government. Many of the insurance industry workers could get jobs with the government processing claims. The rest can join the steelworkers, seamstresses and software engineers at McDonald's. The lower echelon insurance workers are not getting rich - they'll find other office jobs - and the CEOs can live high off the hog for a dozen lifetimes without earning another cent.

[ileus]

22. The government is gonna have to prop 80% of the hospitals.

[calteacherguy]

23. One. Step. At. A. Time. nt