Randall Arnold

Time to Rethink Our View of Private Health Insurers?

Selene: you are mostly right, but not 100%. My employer also puts money into our FSA if we complete a health survey every year. The amount doubled this year. So, yes, *some* employer funds can be included.

Whisper: your solution is often touted by grandstanding politicians, which is enough to make me skeptical (only slightly tongue-in-cheek). Seriously, it sounds great in theory but won't work for the rank-and-file. Look at today's DOW drop-- stocks across the board were eviscerated. And that's just one bad day in a long steady decline. Plus, the average consumer really has no clue how to invest. Also, savings accounts are a joke-- paying about 3% if you're lucky compared to the real inflation rate of 10% or more (remember, the figures the government use for CPI leave out energy costs, housing, and conveniently, health care). Bottom line: no savings in savings. Just an illusion.

The real solution is to go back to a not-for-profit model across the board. Yes, there were inefficiencies, but they sure the heck beat the monstrosity we've allowed to grow over the past decades. Give me a church-owned-and-run hospital full of cranky old nuns over the nightmare that for-profit hospitals have become...