Why Ohio Needs a Green Party Governor and Single-Payer Health Care

[irishbobcat]

Why Ohio Needs a Green Party Governor and Single-Payer Health Care

A new analysis of the health insurance market by Goldman Sachs shows big insurance companies are taking advantage of limited competition by aggressively raising premiums and other costs on consumers. Over the last several years, the health insurance industry has become increasingly concentrated–giving consumers fewer and fewer meaningful choices in shopping for health insurance. According to a recent study by the AMA, there have been more than 400 mergers among health insurers in the past 14 years.

In fact, Goldman Sachs is recommending that investors buy shares in two big insurance companies – the UnitedHealth Group and Cigna – because the potential for profit is high.

This report comes on top of recent news reports showing insurance company monthly premium increases in the double-digits in several states–just yesterday, Illinois residents discovered they will be paying as much as 60 percent more. As part of the larger effort to reform health insurance industry practices, the House passed the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act last month to repeal the blanket antitrust exemption afforded to health insurance companies. Under the bill, health insurers will no longer be shielded from legal accountability for price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, sabotaging their competitors in order to gain monopoly power, and other such anti-competitive practices.

This is why Ohio needs a Green Party Governor who will fight for the Health Care for All Ohioans Act. We need protection from insurance companies, but Ted Strickland is in bed with the Insurance Lobbyists who fill his re-election coffers with huge campaign donations. Ted Strickland will keep Health Insurance Companies in business to keep raising premiums and costs for Ohio Consumers.