Former Insurance Industry 'Hitman' Lee Einer, who appeared in
'SiCKO,' is now a contributor at
HonestMedicine.com.
As you saw in 'SiCKO,' Lee adds an important insider's perspective of how the insurance industry does whatever it takes to find an excuse not to cover its customers. His new column should help publicize more flaws in our private, profit-driven health care system.
One of the great failures of our current American healthcare system is that it does not -- and cannot -- provide true health insurance to most self-employed Americans.
Why not?
The core concept of health insurance is shared risk, and this is what we have with employer group insurance. With employer groups, the insurance company is insuring not an individual, but rather, a group of individuals. The larger the group, the more predictable the risk the company is taking – with “risk” referring to the likely future healthcare costs of this particular group.
CLiCK here to read more from the 'Hitman'...Labels: Lee Einer
The Democratic candidates should listen closely...
While the Democratic presidential candidates squabble over the details of their flawed plans, they are missing the bigger picture.
The Democratic presidential candidates have been disappointing, if not derelict, in reforming the system. In their misguided efforts to avoid too much controversy and to build a "centrist consensus," they are completely missing the target even before starting. Although Democrats in Congress united behind reauthorization of an expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), that effort has diverted them from the real challenge -- how to reform the system to make accessible and comprehensive health care affordable for all Americans. That would require taking on powerful stakeholders, especially the insurance and drug industries, in the medical-industrial complex, now one-sixth of our economy...
CLiCK here to read the entire article on AlterNet...
First Universalist Church in Denver
Members and guests of the First Universalist Church Social Justice Committee attend a screening of SiCKO. Donna and Larry Smith, featured in SiCKO, were in the audience.
Denver, Colorado was the latest city to get the chance to attend a free screening of 'SiCKO.' American SiCKO's Donna and Larry Smith were in attendance and took questions from the audience afterwards. From Donna's blog entry:
The pillars did not crumble and the crosses did not quake as Michael Moore's documentary 'SiCKO' played on the screen in the sanctuary of the First Universalist Church of Denver. More than 100 people attended the forum hosted by the churches Social Justice Committee, and the group lingered for more than an hour after the film to talk with two of the film's subjects, Larry and Donna Smith, of Aurora, Colorado.
The First Universalist's Social Justice Committee has already endorsed single-payer (publicly funded, privately delivered), universal health care, and the forum was one in a series held to give the community an opportunity to explore the issues. Dave Bean, webmaster for Health Care for All Colorado, was also invited to speak about state efforts to pass a single-payer plan.
CLiCK here to read more of Donna Smith's blog...
