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Politics : BuSab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (754)6/23/2009 3:36:39 PM
From: SmoothSail  Respond to of 23934
 
All good points.

The government already has health insurance programs in place like Medicare - and don't forget the Black Lung program that provides coverage to coal miners. Both the Medicare and Black Lung programs are administered by private companies, who compete for the business through the RFQ/RFP process. There's nothing to prevent insurance companies from competing for that business too. All depends on who submits the best proposal. The government isn't going to run these programs - They're just providing the financing.

Companies who have no track record in the insurance business can submit a proposal and win the business. EDS is an example. They had no experience whatsoever with insurance but submitted a proposal based on their ability to manage computer systems to run the Medicare program in California and beat out another company, CSC, who had been running the program for 10 years. When they took over, they kept the same building and hired all the same workers - all that changed were the managers.

Not to simplify it too much, it comes down to who can best manage the processes, who has the best computer systems and who will have the most money to fund those activities. The government has the money and will end up paying the very same insurance companies to manage the programs but most likely at a higher cost. Smoke and mirrors.