{"id":153,"date":"2009-10-19T13:24:58","date_gmt":"2009-10-19T18:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=153"},"modified":"2009-10-19T13:24:58","modified_gmt":"2009-10-19T18:24:58","slug":"kerrys-healthcare-ignorance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Kerry’s Healthcare Ignorance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The closed-door sessions to redistribute wealth in the name of healthcare reform continue today while our President who campaigned on greater transparency maneuvers behind the scenes. Amidst this hypocrisy, Senator John Kerry uttered one of the most profoundly ignorant statements I’ve heard in a long time.<\/p>\n

Like those with preexisting conditions, older Americans pay more for health insurance because their claims are much higher, for obvious reasons. As a result, their premiums can be as much as 11 times those of young Americans. Democrats want to reduce the 11:1 ratio to at least 4:1, and some even want to reduce it to 2:1. A 2:1 ratio means that older Americans could be charged no more than twice as much for coverage than young Americans regardless of differences in risks or claims.<\/p>\n

Speaking on this topic, Senator Kerry said the following: “Allowing insurers to charge older Americans vastly higher premiums simply because of their age is discrimination, pure and simple. Insurers must compete based on price, value and customer satisfaction, not by avoiding Americans based on their age or health.”<\/p>\n

(Read the entire piece in the Washington Times<\/em> if you like at http:\/\/washingtontimes.com\/news\/2009\/oct\/18\/health-reform-bills-target-young-old-cost-gap\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n

His ignorance begins with the first word, as it is not the business of the federal government to ALLOW any company\u2014insurance or otherwise\u2014to charge\u00a0a given price for their products or services. His reference to AGE DISCRIMINATION is perplexing as well. Because bad drivers on average have higher auto insurance claims, they pay higher premiums. Likewise, life insurance premiums are based on a variety of factors. Age is one of them because all things equal, an older person is more likely to die within a given time period than a younger person. This is not very complicated.<\/p>\n

Kerry also insists on telling insurance companies HOW they should compete, allegedly on “price, value, and customer satisfaction.” Requiring an insurance company to insure all applicants while restricting them from basing premiums on projected claims guarantees that the young and healthy will be overcharged and the old and sick will be undercharged. The old and sick would represent financial losses, so insurance companies would seek to ration their care as much as possible. There is no way around it.<\/p>\n

If you support a “public option,” Senator Kerry’s ignorance illustrates precisely why the government should not be in the insurance business. Replete with the power to tax, redistribute wealth, and regulate insurance companies, the government provider is holding all of the cards. Whenever the marketplace is deemed unfair\u2014which is whenever private companies make a profit\u2014the Marxists in Washington can and will change the rules of the game.<\/p>\n

It’s obvious that Senator Kerry hasn’t a clue how to run a business in a relatively free market where winners and losers are not picked by customers, not politicians. Just think…he was almost elected President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The closed-door sessions to redistribute wealth in the name of healthcare reform continue today while our President who campaigned on greater transparency maneuvers behind the scenes. Amidst this hypocrisy, Senator John Kerry uttered one of the most profoundly ignorant statements I’ve heard in a long time. Like those with preexisting conditions, older Americans pay more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}