Talk Walker

As a Baby Boomer, I remember in my earlier years having the insurance system being explained to me as: The insurance companies take money from you as part of a bet. They are betting you will not get sick and you are betting you will. As long as you are losing the bet, they will take that money, invest it and keep the profits. When you win the bet, they are to pay for a substantial amount of your healthcare with the profits they have made on money invested, which came from you and countless others.

That seemed to work fine, until they started making ridiculous, ill-conceived and irresponsible  investments with money from a bet they would eventually lose. When their investments turned into losses, they started tweaking the original agreement, saying healthcare costs had gone up so much, they could no longer afford to pay out. In insurance speak, that is ” we do not approve paying for this treatment.”

In an effort to increase their profits, they started driving up premiums and reducing payouts, to the point that they now occupy 16% of our economy. I often wondered why I had to pay for their bad judgment and I still do. NOW they argue against insurance reform because it would negatively impact a significant portion of our economy, especially if they were driven out of business. EXCUSE ME!!!!

They weaseled their way into our economy, trying to make up for their own shortcomings by living off the the backs and deaths of tens of thousands of consumers and now they have the nerve to claim we owe it to them to keep them not only alive, but highly profitable. I say if their profits decrease as our well-being, both economic and physical, improve SO WHAT?

We suffered through the Dot-Com bubble bursting and we have handled two Real Estate downturns since the 1990’s. Not exactly grandly, but many of us are still standing. Making healthcare affordable and easily accessible, will make domestic businesses competitive with foreign-owned. Who knows, maybe there are more than a few jobs in that mix, which  is good for all of us. If the insurance industry shrinks to 5% of our economy and small businesses, especially local, grow to 10%, I say great.

Go for it! Call your Senators, Congressperson and President, and tell them it’s time for them to care of us and not THEM.