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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (507105)	8/22/2009 12:30:03 AM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577265

>At least the profit motive is tempered by competition. Try to screw over your customers, and they'll go with someone else. You do realize that in many states, there's essentially no competition in the health insurance sector, no? -Z

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (507105)	8/22/2009 6:09:54 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1577265

Ted, > The problem, of course, is that those of us on the outside never know how much their decisions are determined by their profit motivation. It's the same way with government. Those of us on the "outside" never know how much political decisions are determined by selfish motivations. Yes, but with gov't at least we have some control. In fact, that control has grown in the last few years. With a private company we don't have any control. The BOD was supposed to provide shareholder oversight but that has proven to be a bust, and even if it was successful, it would only serve the interests of the shareholders and not the insuree. At least the profit motive is tempered by competition. Try to screw over your customers, and they'll go with someone else. Not really....that's the point people are making. If you are an individual, its hard to find an insurance company that will take you and if you have an pre existing condition or are in poor health or are a senior, it gets even harder. Not always true with government. Screw over your constituents, and they might vote for someone else, unless you convince your constituents that the alternative is worse. You keep your position, the status quo is upheld, and nothing is ever improved. It's not a very fluid system of self-correction. Tell that to the Rs who got voted out of office in 2006 and 2008.