[aquaadverse]

here, it is clear you need to brush up on the history of managed care.

Back Atcha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_...on_Act_of_1973

that's odd, my health care provided by my employer- the same employer for the last 24 years-has changed 4 times over that time frame. apparently only you can't "choose another insurer", because the rest of the country seems to have found a way.

Now take a plan and move to another state and see how that works for you. There are 1300 companies offering the product. Large companies are often self insured and use the insurance company for administration. There is virtually no free market choice. My auto, life and individual accounts like brokerage have all followed me through 4 States in the last few decades with no hassles. Medical should be no different.

property insurance is very different than health insurance.

Yeah, taking in more in premiums than you pay out in claims and overhead in a highly regulated environment is worlds apart. No one sues them either.

what? you need to call kaiser, united, humana and all those blue cross members and let them know they have other business lines than health insurance. they seem to be unaware of this discovery you've made!

Blue Cross is nonprofit. Kaiser and Humana are the administrative fronts for the PPOs and HMOs associations. They don't and won't offer products at large. Their product isn't insurance, it's administration with a large chunk of the business self insured companies. Aetna and Prudential are insurance companies and offer product in other lines.

sure I can, there is clearly a competitive market for choosing health insurance. there isn't a lack of providors. there's over a dozen just here in texas.

many industries would be very happy with a net margin over 4%, and that's after the cos provide a very high level of compensation. these insurers aren't hurting by any criteria.

the costs need to come down as well. no one is arguing anything different.

There are 1300 companies who can't leverage national markets because we currently have 50 individual markets. While 12 providers in one of the largest and most populous states might be "competitive" for you, it's minuscule.

When and if a Public Option becomes available under the current proposals the US government will be pulling in a national market of penalty payers and a possible national plan like Medicare. Meanwhile 50 separate markets will still exist for everyone else.