Getting Sick

By Lou Segal

Government and the U.S. Healthcare Insurance Industry

Recently, a rich, coddled, spoiled brat gunned down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Insurance, the largest healthcare insurance company in the US, outside a hotel in NYC, according to charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. It was a cold-blooded murder – captured on video – worthy of any mafia hitman. The perp claimed he did it to get back at the healthcare insurance industry for denying claims and access to routine lifesaving healthcare in the U.S.

My reason for writing about this is not because I care about the suspect’s motivation – he is obviously deranged – but because a sizeable percentage of the American public is apparently lionizing him; they think he did something worthwhile.

I can’t believe I need to spell this out but first, considering the reaction to this awful event by some, I guess it’s necessary to point out that no matter what grievances you may have or how unfair you feel you have been treated by corporate America, it’s never okay to assassinate the people running these corporations or make excuses for homicidal maniacs.

Secondly, the idiots who think this guy did something noble are displaying their ignorance about how health insurance works in America. It’s not private healthcare insurance companies that are the problem in America; it’s the government that regulates and controls almost every aspect of what they do.

Making Healthcare Delivery Less Accessible

Government has always had a heavy hand in regulating the healthcare industry and insurance companies, but they took it to another level in 2014 when Obamacare – with the Orwellian nomenclature of the “Affordable Care Act”– made it infinitely less accessible and far more expensive for millions of Americans.

First our inglorious president at the time spouted one of the most outrageous lies that has ever been recorded by a government official. Obama claimed that people shouldn’t fear the act’s implementation because (I’m paraphrasing), “if you like your healthcare plan and doctor, you can keep them.” Untold numbers of unsuspecting Americans soon realized to their dismay he made this up out of whole cloth.

If that were the worst thing that transpired when Obamacare was dumped on us, we probably would not be discussing the sorry mess we find ourselves in regarding the state of healthcare today. However, Obamacare increased premiums by two to three times for millions of Americans and, using narrow provider networks, restricted the doctors, hospitals, and drugs available to people on these Obamacare plans. It was double whammy for the unsuspecting consumer who not only had to pay significantly more for health insurance but who also couldn’t see the doctors they trusted and knew.

People who naively thought government was going to fix the healthcare system were genuinely surprised when they experienced the worst inconveniences of Obamacare. Unfortunately, today, these same people still blame all the flaws of our healthcare system on private insurance companies instead of the government that micromanages this industry. Although private companies are not entirely blameless for the deficiencies we encounter when attempting to access the system, it’s government that is chiefly to blame for this inscrutable hodgepodge of healthcare-related dysfunctional dynamics.

We know today that healthcare is expensive, but we also know it is becoming more inaccessible for many of us. In Santa Barbara, you sometimes have to wait many months to see a doctor or get a medical procedure. As bad as it is in our country, it isn’t remotely as bad as in countries where government has a stranglehold on the entire healthcare system, as in England and Canada. In those countries people sometimes wait years to receive medical attention for elective procedures.

For many who don’t understand the reason why government generally makes medical care less accessible, it’s as simple as understanding the laws of supply and demand. If you underprice a product – which government does for healthcare (ask any doctor if they think Medicare reimbursements are fair) – and are subsidizing the cost of insurance for millions of Americans, you end up with imbalance between supply and demand. You get an explosion of demand and far less supply, hence greater wait times to see a doctor or receive lifesaving medical attention.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

The reason why the brazen murder of a healthcare insurance industry executive is so dangerous is not because of the callous reaction of so many people to it (although that

is very troubling), it’s because the reaction will push our ignorant political leaders to call for even more government intervention in the system, which will just exacerbate the problems we presently encounter.

Blaming private companies for what ails us is a recipe for socialized medicine, which has caused more misery and suffering for the sick and infirm wherever it has been tried. I know it’s counterintuitive for some, but less government intrusion in the free market is far preferable than more.

And finally, although I shouldn’t have to say this, killing people because you’re unhappy with the status quo is never okay.