On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 3:59 PM, C. Hatton Humphrey<[email protected]> wrote: > > Aside from the obvious power grab that is HR3200 (and if you don't > think that the Federal government dictating the standards that > insurance companies have to meet through a government appointed > commission isn't a power grab you're fooling yourself)
You call it a power grab, I call it regulation. The marketplace has failed miserably. We've known for decades that serious health care reform is needed and left it to the marketplace. Nothing good. Yes, now it is time for the government to step in in a more serious fashion. >the fact that > while everyone is having a grand old time demonizing the existing > system, they're paying no heed of those people that work in, with and > around the existing system! The 1.4 million dollars a day that the health insurance industry is spending on defeating a public option doesn't count for anything? Please, the insurance industry is being heard just fine thank you very much. > I'm one of those people. And so am I. > I work for a Professional Employment Organization - a company that > provides it's clients with outsourced Human Resources services, > including payroll, tax compliance, benefits management and > consolidation and human resources services. We are a for-profit > version of the "Co-Op". Our clients employees work under our Federal > ID, we take those numbers to insurance carriers and get a good reduced > rate. That rate then gets passed back to our clients. This allows a > pizza shop with 5 employees the ability to offer the same medical > insurance at the same rates as a company with 800 employees and 20 > locations! Which is awesome. Wouldn't that be great if everyone could have a choice of going through a co-op like yours or getting their own plan? Isn't more choice the watchword of conservatives? > A public option or the "non-profit co-op" would destroy our industry > and put me out of work. It would also put a serious dent in the > Chamber of Commerce organization, which offers insurance to its > members in much the same way. As someone who has been a small business owner, let me pause for a moment to say how much I really really loathe the Chamber of Commerce. Dear lord. Those people represent me in about the same fashion that the Mayor of Nairobi does. As for your industry, I'm confused as to why it would destroy it. Would people not need outsourced HR? It sounds like being an insurance co-op is a nice service you provide but you also seemed to indicate that you do lots of other things too. In any case, I'm not here to guarantee you a profit. I'd rather see universal health care coverage. > Since my job is directly threatened by this proposed legislation, I've > got no problem at all with corporate money being spent to fight it. > Yes, the system needs to be fixed, but there are many other ways that > it could be done. In some cases, they already exist. In New York > state there is something called "Healthy New York." It's stated goal: > to provide affordable health insurance options for those who do not > have it. They have low cost plans for low income families and some > free care as well. It's problem? There's an upper limit to the > income level that falls below what most independent contractors make > in the state. We've had some great, forward thinking reforms here in Oregon. This year we have finally passed health care coverage for all children in the state. Which is great. What's wrong with us progressing as an entire nation? > Are there problems? Sure. Is it worth my job? Doubt it. I'm sorry if health care reform might cost you your job. It isn't entirely clear what it will do for mine. I suspect it wouldn't have a major impact but I could be wrong, a lot depends on the details and how the market reacts. We shall see. But, as a country, I don't think we owe the insurance industry an obscene profit every year. When I list the goals for my country, that just isn't one of them. So ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:302252 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
