Letter to the Editor: Insurance industry to blame
Last week, my state Rep. Lance Harvell appeared to go off the deep end. During a recent address to the Legislature (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bTIqxRMTvM), Lance wondered why should his “20-year-old son have to get a mandate for insurance that would require him to have a pap smear?” Lance went on to rail against “insurance for autistic children” and even appeared to suggest that folks in Maine that are over 46 years old “lack good health.” I won’t comment on Lance’s age and paunch, but is this guy for real?
Lance goes on to say that “one of the reasons they don’t have health insurance, the youth of this country, is because they’re having to pay for everyone else’s bad health.” Really Lance? I actually thought the reason youth consistently lacked health care is because the jobs they manage to find nowadays have no health care benefits. Even if the young employed manage to find a decent paying job, by the time they pay off a student loan, housing, and food this pretty much rules out their funding the out of control insurance industry.
Lance, your anger is misplaced. You and your political party need to calm down a bit and take a hard look at the insurance companies that you so ardently support. The Maine Republican Party thinks that government intervention and price oversight is unnecessary in a competitive market and that health insurance premiums are self-regulating. Recently, Anthem Blue Cross in Maine wanted to increase premium rates by 18.5 percent on their 12,000 individual insurance policy and have been in litigation with the state to get it. In California, Anthem Blue Cross spent $2 million lobbying their legislature and another $1.6 million on campaign contributions between 2009 and 2010. That’s not competition.
The sad truth is that the youth of Maine and even us folks over the median age of 46 want health insurance, but we are all too often priced out of it by an insurance industry that is more interested in the wellness of their shareholders.
Dennis R. Haszko
Farmington
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OMG! Just when you think Haszco,who has been grinding his ax away right down to the wooden handle because Lance beat the bejeezus out of him at the ballot box years ago, here he comes again. Lance did not go off the "deep end" Haszco. He did what he always does,which is bring up some very good points and speak plainly about them to his constituents and fellow Representatives.Just listening to your rediculous rants makes you look even more of a sore loser everytime you post a letter. Its hard to believe you dont have the sense to stop making a fool of yourself, but, on the other hand, you are a "progressive" liberal, so, I guess its to be expected. Getting beat for a House seat badly by a mere papermaker has really galled you over the years hasn't it Haszco? Too bad for you. I cannot imagine how ill represented the people in the Farmington and Industry area would be with somebody like you in Augusta,looking out for their needs. Lance is honest,hard working,and is more knowledgeable about how things work In Augusta than you ever will be, and more importantly,sees whats bad and has the backbone to try to fix it. His family has been here for GENERATIONS, and has DEEP roots in the area,unlike you who has moved here from where?New Jersey? And then Canada, and then here? Or is it the other way around? Who cares? Bye the way ,Haszco. Besides your letter being so full of horseplop I can smell it thru my monitor,your cheap shot at Lance's age and "paunch" is as lame and pathetic as can be. Isn't it time for another move to another state or country Haszco, so you can run for office there, and show everyone in your new digs how things should be run according to Dennis? So you can show them how "smart "you are? Good luck with that. Unless the town you move to has a voting population less than the total number of adults in your family, I would say you will come up short,........................again. BTW Dennis, please,please support the person running against Lance this fall, cause it should be worth a 200 or more votes for him at least. I am sure Lance will be gracious enough to send you a "thank you" card.
What about seniors (Over 60) who have chronic ilnesses that in order to have insurance have to pay over $700.? Whose fault is that? It comes hard every month!
I find it endlessly entertaining that Dennis Haszko would accuse anyone of "going off the deep end". The dictionary has a new entry under the word "irony".
Here we go with Haszk's diatribe against Lance as always bitter. The issue being debated was LD882 which sought to merely bring Maine down to the standards required by Obamacare. If he has issues with Lance then his real issues are with President Obama. But greater than that the real issue is always choice who will decide your health care, you or the government? Dennis thinks you should have no choice to decide what you pay to cover Lance thinks that you should be allowed to make what choices you still can in regards to your status i.e. single, married, with children, without, male, female, the obvious. The economic reality is that health care choices are always going to be made but will the individual with his doctor and insurance company or the government decide?
The second point made is that with an aging society any attempt to increase mandates on coverage for health care will disproportionately fall on the youth. This is inevitable i an aging society the young are left with two bad choices higher premiums for insurance or no coverage because they have been priced out of the market.
Interesting how not a single detractor of Lance will answer the simple question he asked: "why should his “20-year-old son have to get a mandate for insurance that would require him to have a pap smear?”
Are the Democrats staking out a claim to be the party of sexual confusion? Guys don't get pap smears. Honest. Making them pay for insurance to receive pap smears is larceny, plain and simple. And forcing young people to buy insurance to subsidize wealthier older people is bogus. We've already arranged to crush their life with debt, state, federal, local and college loan, you name it.
The logical progression of this "soak the young and healthy" mindset will be forced organ transplants. If we should "share the wealth", why not "share the health"? They could use the Monty Python skit on the liver donor card as an introduction to the new "service".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tmLvzubP3I
Senior one of the reasons your insurance is so high is due to the excessive mandates being added by politicians. Lance was opposing this. Take a look at a recent finding by the CBO Ccongressional Budget Office ) findings on what the cost and effects will be of the Affordable health care act (Obama Care)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/74119.html
somewhere between 3-20 million people will loose their current health care and be forced onto a government run program. The entire issue Lance spoke of was an attempt to lesson the damage here in Maine that this will cause.
Dennis,
You do realize that the reason insurance is so high in Maine is because the past administrations have put so many mandates on what MUST be covered that the competition has been forced out right??? We've been held hostage by a "one size fits all" Anthem policy that covers everything for everyone with a huge premium attached! Your Right Dennis....that isn't competition but where you fall a little short is when you don't acknowledge that it's been the party in power for the last 40 years and their policies that have driven the competition out of this state.
For any who would choose to think for themselves and not have the government do their thinking for them, you would see that what Lance said is a perfect analogy of what is wrong with our choice today....we are being forced to pay exorbitant prices for coverage that many of us will never use AND....because the cost is so high, many Maine folks cannot afford to pay for the insurance they need to ensure they get the preventative care necessary that would help avoid more expensive services down the road.
Yes....Republicans support insurance "Companies".....plural....competition in Maine. Anthem wanted to increase premiums by 18.5% why???? Because they can! There are NO OTHER OPTIONS for Maine people to choose from. Lance is right, there should be competition in the market and people should be able to pick a plan which best fits their needs. A 50 year old man should not have to purchase a policy which covers gynecological care any more than a single woman should have to have coverage for testicular cancer or a prostate exam.
Competition will necessarily ensure that insurance companies who chose to do business in Maine must do so by offering people a quality choice in the level of coverage they need at a fair price. If they don't, they'll go out of business. It's that simple Dennis.
What boggles the mind is.... folks who share you're ideology don't seem to understand that consumer choice will always put a natural check and balance on evil corporate empires and profiteering insurance companies.
Keep up the good work Lance. You and your colleagues have made great strides in Augusta!
"Even if the young employed manage to find a decent paying job, by the time they pay off a student loan, housing, and food this pretty much rules out their funding the out of control insurance industry.".
I'm with Dennis now, clearly people can no longer afford food and housing under Obama, and you need both to actually have good health, the government should be paying for this as well! The should pay for my birth control, water, housing, my gym membership, my food, my car, my cell phone, my Internet, my guns and ammo, my computer, my health insurance, my life insurance, my retirement, my toothpaste, my soap, and my toilet paper.
They need to do this so I can quit my job to pursue my dream of becoming an artist or writer, or even a local golf pro.
We have rights people, and the goverment should provide for us all.
Our Dennis has surfaced again---popping up from the deep end where he spends his days---to hurl his rhetorical thunderbolts at the man who thwarted his political ambitions.
And the insurance companies as well, offering the odd theory that they aim to profit by turning away customers. Worse, far worse, he exposes their wicked motive---profit. If they had any decency they would do business for charity alone.
As we all know Dennis got a job for the primary purpose of paying taxes.
Folks really need to start doing more of their own thinking about what is going on around all of “US”
The obvious answer to the question re L H’s son need or not for a Pap Smear should between him and his personal health care provider (doctor?) and *not* an insurance company
No one really knows how "Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act" will effect any of us as much of it doesn't take effect until 2014
The staff of the Washington Post has put together a very well written paper back outlining what probably some of the impact, both pro and con of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act" will have on the collective "US" which I have yet to hear from any of our "honorable politicians, for sure the pro part!.
The arguments of Sarah Palin’s “Death Quads” and the dreaded/loathed and feared "socialized” medicine scheme that was touted to be then end of the world seemed to have died down
Socialized medicine has been part of the national health care delivery system for quite a while and no one objects to it
The "Act" has no direct effect on the Veterans Affairs and includes a permanent (Land WP Landmark, p 105 authorization of the "Indian Health Care Improvement Act"; both of these health care provider systems are classic textbook functional/appreciated examples of "socialized” medicine scheme" that was argued as being foisted on the rest of "US".
The VA does have negotiating clout with the pharmaceutical “empire (free market anyone?) to keep their costs in check
The rest of us when we have a prescription filled can routinely twice pay as much and as up to 10x what the same pill made in the same factory as a Brit or German (H.R. Reid, p 35) ………….I doubt very much that they are “loss leaders” for the drug company or the pharmacy filling the prescription
Most federal workers will continue to be covered under the "Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.
One change the “Act” will provide is Congress members and their staffs will be required to obtain coverage on the state-based exchanges.
"LANDMARK", by the Staff of the Washington Post
The first rule for people who want to do their own thinking: There is not single, authoritative, objective source of information and analysis. If such a source existed, it would not be found in the Washington Post. Independent thinking requires a comparison on contrary views. The views expressed in the Landmark essays are a part of the dialogue, but hardly sufficient.
Constant reiteration about the extravagance of American Health Costs raises questions, but provide no basis, in themselves, for a systematic response. I remember, if no else does, that when the Medicare/Medicaid program was instituted conservative analysts predicted that they would enormously inflate health care costs. It might be useful to review these critiques, but no is interested and it will never happen.
GET INSURANCE COMPLETELY OUT OF ALL PHASES OF HEALTH CARE !!!!!
THIS INCLUDES "COVER THEIR BUTT" INSURANCE FOR DOCTORS
THE PAY ROLL JUST FOR HANDLING INSURANCE IN HOSPITALS, DOCTORS OFFICES,DENTAL CLINICS IS ENORMOUS ----- PROBABLY AS HIGH OR HIGHER THAN THE PAY ROLL FOR DOCTORS AND NURSES.
HEALTH COSTS WERE SET ARTIFICALY HIGH BECAUSE THEY WERE NEGOTIATED WITH INSURANCE CO AT THE START AND INSURANCE WOULD PAY.and then ncrease premiums to maintain profits for the insurancce companies.
Drop all insurance and we can pay health costs from our pocket same as
our other living expenses without funding the fat insurance companies.