Letter: Health insurance needs reform according to : Northwest Herald

The current system of health insurance is at loggerheads with the public good. To the Editor:Health insurance is a gambling contract that would not be enforced in a court of law except for the notion that enforcement of such a contract is a matter of public policy. It is an uncertain business that may yet be tamed by an inception of an agreement among our sovereign states that provides for less risk with a broader range of patrons, a coherent legal foundation and common set of principles and practices – a Uniform Health Insurance Code. While consumers seek predictable benefits to cover medical expenses at reasonable rates, the "house" attempts to safeguard or even improve its odds by jiggering premiums and deductibles, slow walking litigation and meddling in medical care. However, insurance venues have grown from the ale houses of London where men formed syndicates to book coverage of dangerous sea voyages to towers housing actuaries and ad men who help normalize the enterprise with all accompanying aversions to risk and an eye to sustainable profit margins.




Revenue from core health care and insurance services at UPMC, the dominant health care system in Western Pennsylvania, rose 8.9 percent to $6.8 billion for the six months ending Dec. 31. UPMC's Insurance Services Division drove the system's revenue gain for the period, with $800 million or 14 percent growth and total membership in all service lines to 3.1 million. Total revenue and assets for the system was $12.2 billion, up from 6.6 percent from $11.4 billion in June. It trails Highmark, which had 168,953 members, according to the UPMC analysis. In Western Pennsylvania, UPMC dominates the government-subsidized exchange market with 95,916 members and ranks second behind rival insurer Highmark for shares of the Medicare Advantage plan market with 140,815 members.

Health insurance fix: Medicare-for-all

It may seem like we are mired in a hopeless situation, but there is a way to create better more affordable health insurance: Medicare-for-all. In the coming weeks, I will be contacting my Congressional representatives' office and voicing my support for a Medicare-for-all insurance program. This, then, presents the new Congress with an opportunity to vastly improve the health insurance infrastructure in America. It requires the elimination of for-profit health insurance companies in favor of a nonprofit government entity that covers all medical expenses. Conversely, since health insurance wouldn't be tied to your job, workers could change careers without worrying about losing their coverage.



collected by :Lucy William

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