Ben Nelson Fights For The Underdog – Health Insurance Companies

Via The Now! Blog:

Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday that he will oppose the creation of a government-run health insurance plan as part of a health care overhaul, contrary to the position held by many of his fellow Democrats.

Nelson, D-Neb., said he may try to assemble a coalition of like-minded centrists opposed to the creation of a public plan, as a counterweight to Democrats pushing for it. He said he does not believe a majority of the Senate supports the idea.

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But Nelson sides with opponents, who say a government-run plan would undermine the nation’s existing system of employer-sponsored health insurance.

Republicans, insurers and business groups say private insurers could not compete with a government-run plan, which presumably wouldn’t have to spend money on activities such as marketing or developing networks of participating physicians and hospitals. Eventually, opponents say, most consumers would join the public plan, either because its prices are lower or because their employers stop offering insurance.

“At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game,” Nelson said. He called the inclusion of a public plan in legislation a “deal-breaker” for him.

Never mind the reason Insurance Companies find themselves in such a predicament.  Forget about how they’ve offered a crappy product for top dollar.  Who cares that these companies chose to gouge their customers rather than read the writing on the wall of public opinion and change their ways.  Why should they alter their methods of doing business when they have people like Ben Nelson (who, as a Senator, enjoys government health care) willing to fight for their profits and lack of care.

And if what most anti-government health care advocates claim is true – that the government plan will stink and we’ll all die sitting in a hospital waiting room – why would they say “At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game.”   Wins what game?  The game of competition?  Why would they lose against a voluntary program?  Given the nightmare scenarios they like to trot out in relation to government run heath care it seems to me that health insurance companies would hold onto their existing customers, cherry-picking would become a-okay, and they wouldn’t have to worry (not that they ever did) about the millions of uninsured Americans.  But they are worried… with good reason.

Luckily, health insurance companies have politicians like Ben Nelson in their pockets corner.