By Michael Erman
Reuters, September 1, 2017
U.S. health insurer Anthem Inc said on Friday that it will no longer offer Obamacare plans in 17 counties in Missouri but will remain in the bulk of the state, covering 68 counties that would not otherwise have Obamacare coverage for their residents.
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Comment:
By Don McCanne, M.D.
Boring. Boring. Boring. So Anthem eliminated coverage in 17 Missouri counties. That is so commonplace that it is a wonder that Reuters even reported it. But this is precisely the problem. We have accepted as routine the fact that Anthem and the other private insurers will take care of themselves first and use patients merely as a tool to achieve their own ends.
Contrast that with what an improved Medicare for all would be like. The public administrators would be making efforts to see that all regions are covered. Itās time that we put patients first rather than the rentier shareholders of the private insurers. Our Security and Exchange Commission protects the rentiers with the complicity of Health and Human Services – an agency that should be serving patients instead.
The voters can change that, but we keep hearing that the politics are too difficult. Really?
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