No public option means insurers win?

If insurers could have found a way to make a profit on insuring the 47 million uninsured, they would have done this years ago. So having no public option can only mean a huge spike in premiums if all the bill says is that insurers must be mandated to provide insurance to everyone. Have I got this correct? We all go bankrupt paying insurance premiums in five years?

--only those who pay. That's not going to change.

is for all low income people to be SUBSIDIZED by the government. that way, we'll all be covered after a fashion and all the money will got to the ins corps. nothing to stop them from colluding on premiums, deep pocket, you get it. that's my take anyway.

People will have a policy that says they are "covered" but there are no "mandates" to actually cover any health care cost - only to buy the policy in the first place.

Insurers have agreed to stop doing three things: 1) canceling coverage due to pre-existing conditions, 2) canceling coverage due to information that was not revealed, i.e. rescission, and 3) limiting coverage to certain lifetime caps. If one of the bills seriously being considered in Congress passes substantially in its current form, then these are the only three things insurance companies will be "mandated" to do. They will not be mandated to provide insurance coverage to all Americans.

The mandate applies to the people. Individuals will be mandated, i.e. ordered, to buy and have health insurance at all times. Individuals who fail to purchase insurance will be criminals and will be fined.

Many of us may still be bankrupted by this system, but for a reason that's different from the one described in the OP.

:dem:

-Laelth

The 47 million uninsured will get cumulatively massive government subsidies that will be forwarded directly to the insurance companies to make coverage "affordable". This is a huge injection of taxpayer cash for the industry. Families that don't qualify for subsidies will be coerced into buying coverage or face financial penalties. The insurance industry will end up with 47 million subsidized and/or coerced new customers, and they won't have to change the way they do business in any meaningful way.

No public option is a win-win-win-win jackpot for the insurance industry. Period.