Eye on Iowa


From an excellent editorial in the Des Moines Register calling out Senator Grassley’s stand against giving everyone the choice of a public health insurance plan:

Myth No. 2: The private sector is the best solution.

Private insurance companies are beholden to stockholders and driven by profits. And it’s not profitable to insure Americans with serious health problems, which leaves millions who have pre-existing conditions unable to buy affordable coverage in the private sector.

Government-run programs don’t try to make money for shareholders. They don’t pay big CEO salaries or dividends. And because seniors remain on Medicare for years, the government has an interest in improving quality of care – which doesn’t exist in the private sector when Americans switch from plan to plan.

Medicare and Medicaid spend a fraction of what private companies do on administration.

After health-care reform efforts failed in the early 1990s during President Bill Clinton’s administration, the so-called free market has been allowed to prove its worth. The result: Skyrocketing health-care costs and millions of Americans without health insurance.

Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.

Also from the Register:

White House: Donations won’t pay for health forum

Gov. Chet Culver’s office has dropped a plan to have health-care interest groups pay $5,000 apiece to “sponsor” a health-reform summit meeting in Des Moines next Monday.

(…)

Kate Walton, Culver’s top health-care adviser, sent an e-mail to health-care interests last Friday, asking them to help pay for the forum.

“We are hoping sponsors could participate at the $5,000 level, but are certainly open to discussion if that amount is in excess of what you are able to do, but you would still like to be included as a sponsor,” she wrote. “Event sponsors will be visibly acknowledged at the event, so we would appreciate you sharing your organization’s logo if you choose to participate.”

(…)

Here are the groups that the governor’s office said it solicited for donations to pay for a health-care summit in Des Moines:

AARP; American Cancer Society; Child and Family Policy Center; Delta Dental; Federation of Iowa Insurers; Greater Des Moines Partnership; Iowa Foundation for Medical Care; Iowa Health System; Iowa Hospital Association; Iowa Medical Society; Iowa Pharmacy Association; Mercy Medical Center; Principal Financial Group; Service Employees International Union; United Way of Central Iowa; University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics; Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

I hate to knock a Dem, but talk about tone deaf.

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