I Agree With Newt & Mitt: Well I Never Thought that Would Happen

O.K., so they don't agree with me that Universal Health Insurance should be the goal, but they do agree that the Ryan Plan is too radical. Thanks to the WSJ today, we now have some facts to support our view that it would lead to dying people in the streets like in the Middle Ages by letting wealth ration healthcare.

Paul Ryan (R. Wisconsin) said on Monday, "Our plan is to give seniors the power to deny business to inefficient providers." i.e. the private sector insurance companies that would be writing the new elderly health care insurance under the Ryan Plan.

Both Newt and Mitt called this too radical.  Well, not only do I agree with that, but I think it is impractical and will not work.  Many of the elderly do not have the mental ability to understand and differentiate between insurance policies and specific coverages.  I have a hard enough time doing this as a non-elderly person because the information is not readily available.  Now add in a little feeblemindedness or Alzheimers and no children, and who will make the informed decision for any specific elderly individual.  Will they even sign up for a policy or bank (or have someone steal) the money the government sends them.  Then the ambulance takes them to the hospital (as an uninsured), gives them treatment (that is passed onto all the insured) and we are back where we were in 2009 with the cost for the insured including the cost for the uninsured except this time it is the elderly as well as everyone else.  Or, the uninsured die in the street without treatment.

We have already seen the private sector Health Care Companies protect their profits by denying coverage to those with preexisting conditions.  We know they are in business to generate a profit and spend a lot of money to make sure that any claims they pay are valid (and shouldn't be paid by somebody else.)  So, they will price the policy to produce a profit and the way they will do that is by denying coverage for things. In other words,  ration.  Who is likely to be rationed?  Those who no longer have the intelligence or wealth to figure things out and get the proper coverage.  How is this different from a "Death Panel"?  Why is it so bad to have a government panel set national standard for coverage (yes, that will be a form of rationing at some level) and protect the population from the Health Insurance Company's profit protection actions.