“We really have to move someday towards a not-for-profit system where the insurance companies aren’t dictating the kind of health care we’re going to have in America.”

Appearing on Fox News on Friday, Dennis Kucinich said in conjunction with any Republican effort to kill the health care reform bill:

“The bottom line is: they’re going to make whatever pleas they can to try to cut the limitations that are coming in place in this new bill,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is, beyond all of this is that we really have to move someday towards a not-for-profit system where the insurance companies aren’t dictating the kind of health care we’re going to have in America.”

I guess there is no end to the nonsensical rhetoric.  At a time when Medicare is trying to do exactly that (dictate what kind of health care we are going to have), it is disingenuous to say that insurance companies dictate much of anything.  More than a third of all Americans are covered by health plans that are either government run or are self-insured employer plans where insurance companies do as they are told when it comes to providing the benefits and paying the claims. Pointing to a not for profit system as the ideal is either down right dumb or extremely idealistic.  How well run is Medicare in terms of managing costs or claims?  How well does Medicaid work in terms of delivering high quality health care and paying for it?

The fact remains that beyond the Washington Beltway, it is obvious that our health care system is not health insurance, but the process of obtaining and delivering health care which is then paid for through insurance.  If we could only get a common perspective on the essence of true insurance we would be much better equipped to deal with the health care crisis that is still with us. 

The idea that Americans can’t afford health care is a questionable argument.  Look at it this way (although few people do).  Your gross income is X, take from that savings of 10%, then the basics for food and shelter, then paying for health care and then everything else.   What that means is that paying for a $75 office visit comes before going out to eat, or three times this month going to the movies or a new pair of designer jeans.   Many people will see this as s silly argument.  After all, politicians have decided that Americans should not have to pay for preventive services that are both predictable and manageable, and the average person with coverage goes bonkers when the co-pay goes up $5.00.  These are the same folks who can’t wait to get their hands on the latest cell phone, DVD or iPad. 

These common perspectives and reactions to paying any health care bill are the primary reason we cannot solve the health care problem in America.  We are incapable of viewing a health care expense as any other expense.  We cannot apply the traditional purpose and application of insurance to health insurance.