The Health Insurance Leviathan

Consumers Union reports: " In the last 10 years, your family's health insurance bill has more than doubled."

Have our salaries and wages doubled in the last 10 years? Has your retirement account or 401 K doubled? For most of us, the answer is a resounding NO. The exceptions, of course, are the health insurance/pharmaceutical and Wall Street Oligarchs.

In an effort to break this pattern, the leading health reform bill would put an end to this cycle. It would require some common-sense measures that are now lacking:

1) insurance companies would have to spend 85% of our premiums on health care. (This hardly seems revolutionary.)

2) health insurance companies would have to compete against each other based on price and level of care. ( They would no longer enjoy their monopoly status.)

3) they would be required to clearly list their charges and coverage allowing the consumer to shop for the plan that best serves his interests.

Can we afford to allow the present health care leviathan to double its costs every 10 years and hold our economy and potential growth hostage?