Anthem Of Greed

Rethuglicans like to say that their aim in "reforming" health insurance is to return decision making over to patients and their doctors. That, of course, is arrant horseshit. First, their TrumpCare proposal is a massive transfer of wealth to the richest Americans, through a massive $275 billion tax break, as Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, has pointed out. Second, the proposal hands decision making back (and considerable money) to the health insurance business, in particular to their chief executives. So it's not very surprising that the CEO of the U.S.' s second largest health insurance conglomerate, Anthem, just wrote a letter to Congressional leaders urging swift passage of the TrumpCare proposal. Last year, Anthem threatened to leave the insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act apparently because they weren't making enough billions in profit. News that they are also seeking to acquire another health insurance giant for $54 billion adds a key rationale for their money grab under TrumpCare.

Our health insurance system isn't faltering because of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion or allowing people with pre-existing conditions to be insured. It's faltering under the intense greed of the Anthems of the world, whose favorite operation is extracting more and more money from your wallet while giving nothing in return.