What Value Does Private Insurance Add to US Health?

Most Americans I know really don't like to get ripped off. We don't
mind paying for something that is what we thought we were paying for.
We just hate the feeling of having been taken. And boy, are we being
taken en masse by the private health insurance industry.

Doubt that? Then answer for me what value private health insurance
brings to the U.S. healthcare system? I asked this yesterday when I was
a guest on GRITtv.

Wendell Potter, insurance industry whistleblower, was also a guest on
the program. But Wendell, as much as I like him and respect his efforts
in recent months, continues to somehow believe that because the
insurance industry is so deeply entrenched in the U.S. healthcare system
and about to become even more deeply so that we will have to keep
fighting to reign them in and control them. He doesn't think we can
remove them from our system.

GRITtv: Donna Smith: What Value Does Private Insurance Add?
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To me, it's like asking a con-artist to reform. It's not going to
happen. I don't trust the private health insurance industry to do what
is best for me or for my nation. I trust the private health insurance
industry to do what's best for the health insurance industry. To the
extent that doing some of the right things is necessary to doing
business with other profit centers in the healthcare industry, I trust
the private health insurance industry to know how to work all the
angles.

Private health insurance is not a health product or provider. Private health insurance is a financial product.

I was standing in line yesterday at a taxi stand in New York City and
heard the classic street corner pitch person walking behind. "Buy a
discounted computer from me today and a full warranty applies just like
in the stores," he said. I suppose it was the modern day version of the
trench-coat watch display and the appeal of "Hey buddy, wanna buy a
watch?"

I feel the same way about private health insurance. It's sold to the
nation as a tangible healthcare product but actually is a financial
product with the same amount of stability as other financial products.
Scary stuff. Dangerous stuff. Even misleading stuff. Ripping off
millions of people without regard for the trauma caused.

So, would someone, anyone, please tell me what value the private health
insurance industry brings to the U.S. healthcare system? Does private
health insurance control costs? Clearly not. Does private health
insurance assure better health outcomes? Clearly not. Does private
health insurance prevent personal financial collapse? No.

So, let me say again that private health insurance is a financial
product sold to you and sold to me to protect our health and wealth
which may well do neither. That's a defective product, in my view.

And let's keep asking one another and our elected officials: What value
does private health insurance bring to the U.S. healthcare system? And
until we get a sufficient answer, keep asking. If we never do get a
sufficient answer, let's do what the rest of the civilized world already
does and find a progressively financed way to provide a single standard
of high quality care for all. Let's create value where none exists.