Health Insurance - What Is Needed!
What does AIG, General Motors, Chrysler, the UAW, large banks and the health care industry all have in common; other than, they have all contributed to the severe economic downturn that we are now experiencing?They are all either too large to fail or they are in an oligopolistic or monopolistic industry that does not function efficiently.
AIG was the insurer of such a large portion of the sub-prime mortgage market that if they failed we would have had a banking crisis that would have equaled what happened during the great depression. The cost of this calamity would have been far more costly than bailing out AIG. If the risk of insuring these toxic assets was spread out over many more companies we could have let AIG fail
General Motors and Chrysler is in a growth industry. Dozens of countries, with large populations, are developing a middle class that will want to purchase a car. If we allowed these companies to fail, just when new markets are emerging, we would lose a competitive edge and lose 100’s of thousands of jobs. If we had 5 to 10 viable auto companies with several labor unions rather than just the UAW, the failing of GM, Chrysler and the UAW would have been a yawning experience for the economy as a whole.
The health care industry is another oligopoly. I heard the other day that that Blue Cross and Blue Shield controls 84% of the heath insurance business. If this is true, why are the conservatives not barking about the fact that such a large concentration of market share does not allow the free market to work efficiently. An inefficient market causes waste and higher prices than need be.We do not need government to be an active provider of health insurance.
We need government to do its job and make sure that free market forces drive the industry. Additional rules/regulations may need to be imposed to provide an incentive to the insurance companies to serve segments of the market that may otherwise not be considered profitable. This would be far less costly than the government directly being a service provider.We all should let free markets work and we should take corrective action when they are not working.
AIG was the insurer of such a large portion of the sub-prime mortgage market that if they failed we would have had a banking crisis that would have equaled what happened during the great depression. The cost of this calamity would have been far more costly than bailing out AIG. If the risk of insuring these toxic assets was spread out over many more companies we could have let AIG fail
General Motors and Chrysler is in a growth industry. Dozens of countries, with large populations, are developing a middle class that will want to purchase a car. If we allowed these companies to fail, just when new markets are emerging, we would lose a competitive edge and lose 100’s of thousands of jobs. If we had 5 to 10 viable auto companies with several labor unions rather than just the UAW, the failing of GM, Chrysler and the UAW would have been a yawning experience for the economy as a whole.
The health care industry is another oligopoly. I heard the other day that that Blue Cross and Blue Shield controls 84% of the heath insurance business. If this is true, why are the conservatives not barking about the fact that such a large concentration of market share does not allow the free market to work efficiently. An inefficient market causes waste and higher prices than need be.We do not need government to be an active provider of health insurance.
We need government to do its job and make sure that free market forces drive the industry. Additional rules/regulations may need to be imposed to provide an incentive to the insurance companies to serve segments of the market that may otherwise not be considered profitable. This would be far less costly than the government directly being a service provider.We all should let free markets work and we should take corrective action when they are not working.
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