A diagnosis that fits

More than a year ago I wrote about the incompatibility between the profit motive and health care. I have no trouble finding the link because I thought that post was one of my better ones and put a link to it in the margin of my blog.

Blogger/Essayist Terrence Heath takes that incompatibility another long step. He provides a lengthy (though far from complete) list of instances and their consequences of health insurers refusing to pay for treatment or canceling coverage completely. The numbers: 45 thousand die each year because a lack of insurance. 700 thousand go bankrupt every year because of medical expenses.

What kind of person will not only endure, but agree to -- alright insist on -- 45K deaths and 700K bankruptcies? Heath says: a sociopath. Too harsh? Definitions please:

* A sociopathic person: no conscience, no feelings of remorse or shame, no concern for the well-being of anyone else, no sense of responsibility, and coupled with the ability to conceal that from other people.

* A sociopathic corporation: failure to conform to social norms, repeated lying, reckless disregard for the safety and well-being (including financial) of others, lack of remorse for damage.

In the case of health care insurance it turns out the more sociopathic they are the more profitable they are. Abuse, anyone?

Heath expanded on the ability to conceal mentioned above. Sociopaths are usually able to keep that mask in place until it is too late for the victim. On occasion the mask will slip and the victim will get away, usually leading to the perpetrator's downfall.

Heath says the health insurance industry has let the mask slip. The industry was all for the new reform bills because the way to universal care was to force everyone to buy insurance. Up go profits. What about the consumer protections that don't let insurers drop coverage? Um, those seem to be missing. Besides, these companies could have followed those guidelines over the last 30 years and didn't; will a law stop them? Prevent a public option and profits go up some more.

Here's the slipped mask: A new report funded by the insurance industry says that if several provisions in the Baucus health plan becomes law health care rates will go up. That sounds like extortion. Give us what we want or we'll charge more (they'll charge more anyway, because they can).

An abuser will reveal a true face long before the first punch has been thrown. That's the time to sever the relationship. The abuser usually response, "If you leave, you'll regret it!" Actually, you'll regret it more if you stay.

So, why are we still trying to negotiate with -- appease -- health insurers? Better to cut our relationship and proceed without them. Alas, even the wonderful congressional health plan doesn't cover spine stiffening.