E Pluribus Unum

The Republicans used tort reform and smaller government as a way of firing up their base. So if the Democrats need an issue to fire up their base, insurance reform would be my first pick.

Here's just the latest two examples of what makes my blood boil:

[State Farm Insurance,] the nation's largest residential insurer said Wednesday that it would stop selling new homeowners and commercial policies in storm-damaged Mississippi because of lawsuits and legislative saber-rattling over the company's handling of claims from Hurricane Katrina.

The decision ... is the latest by a major insurance company to reduce its risks by retreating from the nation's coastlines. Allstate Insurance has canceled or weakened coverage, or refused to write new policies in more than a dozen coastal states including Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas.

"We've reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is no longer prudent for us to take on additional risk given the uncertain legal and business climate" in Mississippi, said Fraser Engerman, a spokesman for the Bloomington, Ill.-based insurance giant.

Translation: we're getting sued big time and the legislature is about to force us to pay up. So we're taking our ball and going home. So there.

This is part of an ongoing trend of insurance companies cherry picking the easiest, lowest-risk accounts in order to maximize their profits. And not only that: they have ALWAYS dragged their feet when it is time to pay a claim. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita we had to nag and nag and nag our insurance company to come up with a settlement that would actually make our home whole again -- and then they raised the rates as though it was a shock to them that hurricanes happen in Lousiana.

Hel-lo? What is insurance for anyway? Don't they have any actuaries who can actually, you know, read a weather table?

Then there's this:

United Health Group, its United HealthCare and Oxford subsidiaries and several United and Oxford executives, including former United CEO William Maguire, are accused of violating the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in a law suit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court...by Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center.

The hospitals...accuse United Health Group...of implementing a “rogue business plan” on a “national level” that, for more than three years, “has contributed to UHG’s profits, which, in turn, have been utilized in attempts to justify outlandish compensation to Maguire and to enhance the value of illegally backdated options for UHG stock” which were given to Maguire, other UHG senior executives and to managers of its business units.

[...]

David Rosen, president and CEO of both hospitals, said: “UHG, United and Oxford have clearly established and refined a pattern of deceitful practices and myriad means to improperly retain money they owe to service providers, and to arbitrarily and unjustifiably deny payment for their members’ medical services under their plans.

This is why I believe that the government should be the sole provider of health insurance for everyone: at least you have a voice in how the system gets run. With insurance companies, the best you can do is be a shareholder and then it's one share equals one vote. The big guys control the system and dictate who gets covered and who doesn't. It's all about the bottom line and devil take the hindmost.

I'd be happy to see Medicare for all and an end to all health insurance companies. Period.

P.S. Read more on the United Health lawsuit.