THE AMERICAN VISION

A SHINING IDEAL – A DARK REALITY

Many of us can still see it in our minds – green, abundant, so vast it seemed limitless. America! That pristine continent held in stewardship by native peoples, living from it, but walking so lightly that it seemed undisturbed by their presence. America! Unspoiled. Anything was possible here, or so it seemed to the breathless eyes of refugee Europeans. Unowned. Uncrowned. Belonging to us all. Plenty for each man and his family. That was how it must have seemed. That was the shining ideal. The New World’s promise.

And so it was for many. And so it was for a time. In spite of tremendous hardships most of the fragile colonies survived and prospered. People were free to determine their destiny with their own hands, hard work, and intelligence. This degree of freedom was perhaps unparalleled in the history of the human race. And when the ruling governments in Europe attempted often modest controls in order to secure their “rights” to a portion of this accumulating wealth, it led inevitably to resistance and finally revolution and ultimately to the United States of America. Once tasted, this kind of freedom would never bear encroachment again. Or so it seemed at the time.

Shortly thereafter, these freedoms were codified into the Constitution of the United States of America. It is my view that this much debated document provided for a historically unique balancing of the rights of individuals with the needs of society. The Constitution also specified countless provisions and procedures to attempt to assure that neither the government nor any entity or individual would ever again gain enough power over others to constrict these freedoms. And the United States prospered and over the years grew into the freest and wealthiest nation in the history of the planet. This unparalleled success was, I firmly believe, because of these freedoms, the vision they made possible, and the Constitution’s careful, deliberate, balancing of individual rights (in both personal and economic activities) with the essential needs of community.

Until very recently, that vision of America’s promise seemed lost. For most of us, it had even become unthinkable. It seemed like a wisp of smoke from some remote past. Of course we still mouthed the phrases, particularly on patriotic occasions, but most of us did not experience that kind of freedom and most of us no longer truly believed that becoming anything we dreamed was possible for us or our children. Furthermore, we no longer believed in the endless potential of our country. Even the simplest problems seemed to go without solution. Much of our nation still lies in tatters. Much of our infrastructure is still in decay.

We live with a deep down awareness of great and hidden forces that seem to thwart our every attempt to better ourselves through hard work and ingenuity, forces that subvert all our society’s solutions. Somehow someone else is running the show. We would like to find that someone and declare him an enemy. We see him everywhere, yet when we aggressively attempt to encounter him and end his terrorism, we sense that we are fighting ourselves as well. We have allowed our freedoms to languish, traded our birthrights for a few pieces of silver, acquired a surfeit of stuff, and wallow in the swill of cheap prices. Consumerism has become our purpose. We sense the truth, as the cartoon character, Pogo, once famously said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

What happened to our vision? What went wrong? My blogs will be an attempt to answer that question. Some of the posts will examine the framework that made unbelievable success for a time a reality. Others will show in some detail the rights and responsibilities of government, business, and society that were assured in the Constitution and the careful balancing that attempted to assure that one did not overwhelm the other. Other posts will look at specific aspects of the relationships of business to the government and to the society it is charged to protect. I hope to shed some light on the balance that worked and then the imbalance that led to our current dark reality.

Less than a year ago, over 85% of US citizens believed America was on the wrong track! My blogs are intended to not only show us the wrong turns we made, but to provide a map indicating some ways that can lead us back.

LIFE & DEATH IN THE MARKETPLACE

There have been many warnings lately that government is getting between you and your doctor. As a person who now receives Medicare, I can tell you, that is far better than having the health insurance industry in the middle. Far more of my expenses are being covered now than they were when I was paying my own self-employed insurance premiums. Furthermore, given the inflation of those premiums over the past decade, I would not even be able to afford that insurance today. And even if I could, I am sure the most expensive procedures would be denied as "pre-existing."

Let's consider a few facts about the health insurance industry. How do those companies make a profit? Like any other business, to make a profit, health insurance must achieve revenues that exceed expenses. So would it not seem reasonable for them to charge more for premiums than they pay out in claims? If in fact that was their only source of revenue, it would not only be reasonable, but just. The truth however is that much of their revenue comes from them investing your paid in advance premiums in supposedly safe ways to achieve additional returns from that investment. If their returns are good, they can lower premiums - or so goes the theory. And if they lose money on those investments, they can simply raise your premiums to make up the difference.

Wait a minute! Does that mean that they pass their market losses on to the customer? You bet. That is exactly why those premiums began skyrocketing right after the dot.com bubble burst. This is called the "insurance cycle." Who else gets to do that? Not you and me. If our 401K's lose money in the market, we simply have to work harder or longer or live less well. But these companies continue to make double digit profits for their shareholders and pay fat bonuses to their CEO's.

That's what it means to have the health insurance industry in the middle. The patient pays more for less. And the doctors and hospitals must pay outrageously higher premiums for malpractice insurance even though the sum total of payouts in malpractice claims have been level for over a decade. It ain't the lawyers and a few high price jury awards causing this, it's the Health Insurance Industry continuing to make money even when they have managed badly.

Their double digit profits are costing lives! When some poor sick insured person requires a course of expensive treatments ordered by their doctor, they may get "recinded."

Recently a New York Times editorial described this practice.

Insurance Company Schemes
June 28, 2009
"A House oversight subcommittee took a close look at a particularly shameful practice known as “rescission,” in which insurance companies cancel coverage for some sick policyholders rather than pay an expensive claim. The companies contend that rescissions are rare. But Congressional investigators found that three big insurers canceled about 20,000 individual policies over a five-year period — allowing them to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims."
For full story click here.

Given these facts, do you want The Marketplace, as some in Congress advocate, in between you and your life? Or your child's life? That's what's happening now!
Let's consider the ethics and legality of such human actions:
* If a parent fails to get medical help for a child who dies as a result, what are the consequences? They may have commited a felony and may be imprisoned for this lack of action. The ethics are sometimes mixed with contrary religious beliefs. That does not change the law.
* If a driver hits someone and leaves the scene, what are the consequences? We all know this is hit-and-run, and the consequences can be severe. The ethical problem is obvious.
* For a boater to fail to provide assistance to another boater in trouble is against the law.
* How would we judge a doctor who refused to provide treatment to a bleeding person who did not pay for it in cash first? The answer is obvious.
So, what are the consequences for a health insurance CEO who, to keep profits up and Wall Street happy, establishes an informal company policy to deny or delay as many claims as possible, or even worses, recind them, which sometimes results in the death of an insured person?
There is no consequence! It's just business! It's just the working of the marketplace!
So when did we decide to treat human life as a commodity?
America! How did we get here? What slick tounged satan sold us this "free market" poison apple? It wasn't Adam Smith.
And for those of you who have funds riding on the returns that come from these insurance companies, be aware that your profits may come at the expense of someone else's health.