This Frontline video truly opened up my eyes and mind to how flawed and pathetic the United States health care system is. I’ve heard of the process of medical underwriting before but I always assumed the people were rejected as a result of their high-risk lifestyle or a problem they had brought upon themselves, such as atherosclerosis or Type II diabetes. I was stunned when the lady interviewed emphasized the point that the health insurance companies could reject an applicant simply because they had acne and the applicant couldn’t do anything because of state law.
As a result of this, American citizens, like you and me, are forced to play a game of Russian roulette where they gamble with their lives on whether or not they would get sick again and, unfortunately, most times they lose. In the Declaration of Independence, one of the inalienable rights is the right to life. The fact that some people are waving this most basic and important right due to their inability to afford life-saving procedures shows that something is terribly wrong with this process.
In contrast, the private market insurance companies seemed to benefit the most out of this ridiculous game; not only are they the opposing team, they are also the referee and the commissioner. If they can’t win, they can change the rules so that they do. I understand the principle of insurance is to gamble on healthy people with they hope they don’t get sick while also minimizing taking on the risks of unhealthy people. With the process of underwriting and rescission, it seems the insurance companies have pushed their odds of winning to nearly 100%. I know there are laws in place in Nevada where the casinos need their slot machines to pay out a certain percentage and I’m pretty sure we can apply this law to the insurance companies since it’s essentially the same thing. Unfortunately, I have no idea how this can be proven in an ethical and fair matter though I believe the first step to fixing this flawed system is to inform everyone of their rights and how the system works and going from there.
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Gambling is a perfect analogy for the current state of US healthcare. Everyone is doing it, from consumers to the health insurance companies. And when you gamble, you always lose more than you win...because it's rigged. The odds are stacked against you. And as you pointed out, gambling regulations would seem to be much stricter.
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't know someone with a story similar to those portrayed in the video? Or been there personally? At the heart of this video is the message that these people are or could be you, me, our family or our friends.
Of course the evidence and research clearly points to the need for reform, but what shocks me the most is that there is any debate at all about this?!? There seems to be a consensus in the video that money and rising health costs are the key underlying issues but the solution is much more contentious. Yet a discussion of how to reform health care is conspicuously absent from the video.
But frankly, the whole health reform dialouge being played out in the media seems to bring out the worst in us - it reveals a less flattering side of our collective psyche that is greedy, self-centered, and bigoted. Our society needs to take a good look in the mirror and we need to ask ourselves what principles do we really believe in?