Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

The Real Health Care Contenders, Pt.2 – The title bout.

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So, by ‘The health insurance industry’ choosing the symbolic name "Campaign for an American Solution”, it appears as though the implication is that the suggestion of adopting other similar countries’ models, working or not, is somehow ‘un-American’. Now, coming from the other corner is ‘The loose confederation of labor unions and various liberal nonprofits’ group. They are on the attack with a combination they developed last month called ‘Health Care for America NOW!’ It is coupled with “a $25 million advertising campaign that demonizes private health insurers with ingenuity and wit,” as coined by Mr. Nash in his article. This combination/coalition is proving formidable, having already co-crafted the successful package proposing that “everybody would get to choose either private or public health insurance. Let the market decide which is better!”, again, in the words of Mr. Noah. This package has been so well-received, that Other champions like John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Mr. Obama have adopted it in their own arenas.

What makes this combination so hard to stop is that it employs some of the best techniques used by the opponents, themselves. ‘Let the market decide’, being one of the best strategies employed by ‘The health insurance industry’ from the first corner is being turned back on them by the opposition. In this case ‘The market’ will decide against them, gravitating to the better goods.  Or as Mr. Noah puts it “it's a foregone conclusion that the public plan would be more generous—and more efficient, too.” In the case of health insurance, it has been shown that “private insurance has consistently been found less cost-effective than big-government health insurance provided through programs like Medicare and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.”

The movement has picked up momentum now, because of the growing public awareness of how much deeper the health insurance/care problems really are. The emphasis in wording at the end of the second opponent’s motif ‘Health Care for America NOW!’ is being felt by, not only the 47 million without health insurance and the 27 million ‘underinsured’ who are often worse off than the uninsured, but also the widespread experience of long waiting lines and exorbitant health care costs that deliver the worst results. Momentum is a funny thing. We may cannot see it, but it can move mountains. So as these behemoths go into the ring against each other, all we can say is ‘may the best momentum win’.