"F. George McDuffee" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 7 Feb 2010 17:57:45 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

snip a bunch of good stuff

Not yet. But I believe in the power of lobbies, so it's maybe never. They
seem to have frightened Congress into inaction. And they've worked the
anti-socialism angle exceedingly well. They've got the Tea Party coming
and
going: they want to put a lid on bank bailouts, but not if it means more
government involvement in business.

sigh....

--
Ed Huntress
====================

Some of the highest return on investment you can get is for
lobbying/bribery.

Now that the boogieman of a governmental single payer system has
been vanquished, its back to business as usual, and time to
recoup the lobbying and bribery costs.

As California goes, so goes the nation...

http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/2516013.html
snip
010 - 8:35 am

LOS ANGELES -- Anthem Blue Cross has told some customers it will
raise their health insurance premiums as much as 39 percent
beginning March 1.

The increases, reported Friday by the Los Angeles Times, involve
as many as 800,000 customers who buy individual coverage. People
with group coverage aren't affected.

In a statement, the Woodland Hills-based insurer declined to
specify the size of the rate changes or how many people will be
affected. The company - which is the largest for-profit health
insurer in California - blames the increases on rising health
care costs. It says its prices may be adjusted more frequently
than its typical annual increases.
snip

Unka George (George McDuffee)

And awaaaay we go! Now we'll start to see the consequences of not putting
health insurance companies into a straightjacket. Let the free market
reign -- it's runaway insurance inflation for everyone!

The reason group coverage isn't affected yet is that group policies are the
one remaining competitive sector of the market, and it's done on longer-term
contracts. And as far as Fortune 500 companies go, most of them are
self-insured, anyway. The insurance company name on your card is just the
management and consulting firm. The big companies pay for their employees'
insurance claims, one by one. Blue Cross/Blue shield, etc., are just along
for the ride -- and a healthy fee.

The insurance companies now will bleed the individual policy holders as much
as they can, until there is some kind of rebellion.

--
Ed Huntress