21 January 2008

Insurance's goal: products & participation

This is telling:
Q: Indiana has roughly 750,000 people who are uninsured. As the state's largest commercial health insurer, does Anthem share in the blame for the large number of people who find health coverage unaffordable and unattainable?
A: I don't think there's any single payer that's to blame. We're all operating in the system that we're operating in, which is the private payer system, which is an employer-based system. No employer is required to offer health insurance, nor is any (insurer) required to offer health insurance.
What I do think we have an obligation to do, and it's a challenge, is to try to develop products that are affordable and that provide value to employers and their employees so they want to participate in the private-payer system.
We have an obligation to cooperate whenever we can and however we can with government, like we have cooperated with Gov. Daniels and his Healthy Indiana program.
They have an obligation to:
1. Develop products that are affordable (This isn't health care. It's 'products.') and that
2. Provide value to employers and their employees (Still no health care.)
3. So that they want to participate in the private-payer system. (Still no health care.)

Not so that lives will be saved, families strengthened, etc.

The reason is so that employers and employees will want to participate in the private payer system. As if there's a choice.

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