tort reform and medicare vs hmos

The insurance industry itself has declared that caps on damages will not lead to lower premiums and, in fact, states with caps do not pay lower premiums nor have premiums fallen in states recently adopting caps. Why? Greed comes to mind. In fact, many insurance industry watchdogs feel the insurance companies are flat out lying when it comes to the profitability of medical malpractice insurance. Through the use of various accounting "tricks", insurance companies manipulate their profits and losses.

Right now I’m suing my insurance company just for the “uninsured motorist” portion of the policy I paid for. Proponents of tort reform would have me believe that out of the goodness of their hearts these kinds of companies will cut into their profits to lower their premiums if only we give up our right to sue for whatever amount we can get.

I am always amazed at the touching conservative concern for the plight of billionaires. Here's an interesting couple of facts to remember:

Medicare takes about 3% of the money in administrative costs. This means 97% (give or take 1% depending on whom you ask) goes to the actual health care of the recipients.

Health insurance companies take about 15-30% of the collected premiums for their administrative costs.

Why the big difference? Federal programs don't have to spend billions on advertising, corporate lobbyists, free trips for Tom Delay and Bill Frizt, giant bonuses and private jets for CEOs and board members etc. They don’t skim profits for their shareholders.

For people who won't admit that some things are better handled by the government I would suggest maybe a private military. Maybe Star Wars and the war in Iraq could be funded by private donations? How about we privatize the Police force? Heck right now we already have a privately owned congress. Don’t believe me? Just wiki Abramoff.

I don't shed a tear for the poor over-regulated billion dollar health care industry. It's the "over-regulation" of business that separates us from places like Mexico and apparently the Caiman Islands. But feel free, find me a country with smaller government and fewer social programs and less government regulation of business where it’s better to live than here. If you do I’ll change my mind.