A public health insurance would be held accountable by...

...the taxpayers via Democracy.

Private health insurance is held accountable by how profitable it is.


Does that about sum it up?

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But I read here at DU that the PO would be run by health industry bosses. Can that be? I like the idea that nobody in the public life gets paid more than the president. That would save billions.

Kinda, sorta, maybe, however the underlying issue is being masked by the debate on a "Public Option." Obama is trying to offset the usary costs of health care by injecting some competition into the game. The monopolies who control American health care are lying to keep their profits up to the detriment of every American. The real issue is the existence of monopolies. We have anti-trust legislation for precisely this situation and have used them against Standard Oil and AT&T with great success.

Now it is not just one player but a cabal including a government agency, the FDA. It is also the ABA, AMA, Pharm and corporations who own our hospitals and hire the doctors, nurses down to janitors. Let me explain the reason for each;

-- The FDA is in bed with the pharmaceutical and instrument industries regulating which can monopolize a specific market. Often this is a revolving door where players move from the FDA to Pharm or vice versa. About 40% of the drugs being sold by Big Pharm are discoveries by universities under Federal Grant. There is no excuse for markups of 5,000%. Nor should the FDA be regulating our right to self medicate. The FDA should be an advisory agency such as Consumers Reports, not with the power to jail us for diagreement. One spokesperson for the FDA volunteered that if asprin were just now discovered that they'd make it a prescription drug. The FDA is trying to regulate vitamins, minerals and herbs forcing people to endure the cost of a doctor in order to purchase Pseudophedrine.

-- The ABA. Have you received any spam recently asking if you've taken a drug? Those are ambulance chasers trolling for a class action suit. Some earn hundreds of _millions_ of dollars for themselves with the victims often getting nothing. Think "Tort Reform".

-- The AMA. In many states midwives have been criminalized for "practicing medicine without a license" while dragging their feet or refusing to punish bad doctors. Doctors, clinics and hospitals should be listed under the FDA website with feedback like Ebay. Let us know who has our lives in their hands.

-- Pharm. This is a biggie. Were you aware that many drugs are available, from the same manufacturers, for 10x and 20x less outside the US? Why are we being forced to pay 10 or 20 times more? Because pharmaceuticals can extort from us with a monopoly. A standard excuse is that it takes $500,000,000 to bring a drug to market. Well, 40% of those have no research or development costs and regulations by the FDA not only run the price up but delay for years. Again, tort reform and consumer feedback would suffice. If a pharmaceutical knowingly puts out a bad drug then sue them to death but if they're trying to do things right then the round-robin with lawyers must be broken.

-- Lastly are the corporations who "insure" our health needs. It's evolved into a monopoly that shames the Mafia where it is essentially impossible to consult a doctor at anything approaching a reasonable price. $100 per 5 minutes isn't unreasonable, it's criminal. When we go to a doctor we go for a condition and are sold "proceedures" that few can decypher and even fewer need. More sanitary than Guido but no different in kind.

Until Obama unleashed the U.S. Attorney General to enforce the anti-trust laws, or Congress breaks the above through legislation, the "Public Option" is nothing but a bandaid on a sucking chest wound.

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