Sidestepping the immensely long conversation about whether profiting from people’s need for medical care is any less moral than profiting from people’s need for food or clothing, period, there is the question as to whether profiting too much (however too much is defined) from people’s need for medical care is less moral than profiting just somewhat from that need. If excess profit is immoral, esp. for medical care/coverage, then these numbers might be surprising.

R. Smith, why don’t you illustrate your post with a personal story?—About your experience with a ‘bloated beauracracy’ & how that affected you? Can you do that? (Otherwise your post is just another rant that people roll their eyes at)

Sell me. I am listening.

Just because our political affiliates have based their entire argument on the myth of insurance industry greed is no reason to address those lies now. Our agenda relies on a populace of stupid and easily manipulated idiots who are dumb enough to believe our simplistic agitprop. Giving them facts is the last refuge of the functioning brain and, functioning brains have no place in the health care takeover debate.

Burearacracies are indeed the problem. This is why we need the federal government to take over and streamline the health care system as it has done in every other enterprise it has involved itself in. Only the federal gov’t pull off the purchase of a pencil with a skimpy, streamlined staff of 746 employees.

Because the federal goernment runs Medicare, that program isn’t due to go bankrupt for at least another 2 or 3 years. Also, medicare has only over run original cost estimates by about 3000%!With that record of efficiency we’d be stupid NOT to turn our health care over to them.

Besides, if we can off load our pension system to the feds, that will free up more money for us to bribe politicians and buy Lincoln Towne Cars for the union leadership. Plus, it will be free. The money will come from someone who has more than we do because they cheat and stuff. Going above and beyond the requirements set during arbitration…showing ambition, coming to work on time and on a regular basis, not sleeping on the job, staying sober…these are all signs of the greedy cheater and such people should absolutely be forced to pay for the health care of those among us who can’t summon the intelligence or energy to cheat.

In virtually every instance where individual initiative is NOT rewarded, productivity goes down. Profit is the incentive for new ideas and ideally well-executed plans. State-owned or run institutions are loaded with inefficiencies, yet bloated private firms such as GM are just as bad.

Medical care will not get any better or cheaper due to a govt.-run plan. The only feature is 100% coverage for every citizen and non-citizen, taxpayer or non-payer, worker or non-worker in the United States. More than likely those earning over $200K, the apparent limit, will not be covered yet will pay for most of the covered.

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder…Acorn, Obama, NAACP, NCAA, City of Richmond, HHS, NEA, etc.

The cumulative increase in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose at four times the rate of inflation and wage increases during last decade.  This increase has made it much more difficult for businesses to continue to provide coverage to their employees and for those workers to afford coverage themselves.

from nchc.org

Most complaints about health insurance do not focus solely on profits alone. More important is the inefficiency and the bureaucracy which aggravates doctors and hospitals to no end, and the high administrative costs from that inefficiency.  Of course you aren’t making huge profits if your industry is bloated and parasitic instead of lean and mean and well run.

These meaningless profit stats are the kind of last minute attacks you would expect from a well financed industry scared silly about public option and single payer.

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