POWER CORRUPTS . . .

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." With these words I begin my discussion of the insurance industry.

When the concept of insurance began with companies insuring ships and their cargoes against loss in the early eighteenth century (OK my exact timing may be off, but not the concept), there was a risk reward ratio that allowed insurers to make specific deals with ship owners. It was a great moment in the development of trade because people and companies were more likely to ship needed goods to distant places, secure in the knowledge that they would not loose everything if the ship was attacked by pirates, or lost in a storm. This expanded to include insurance of many difference kinds, but the overriding characteristic of each policy written, and each thing insured, was choice. People and companies were free to obtain insurance, or take their chances.

IN EACH CASE, THE INSURED SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH THE INSURER, AND A CONTRACT IS A MUTUALLY AGREED UPON AGREEMENT WHERE THERE IS A PROMISE FOR CONSIDERATION. To be valid, it must be freely entered upon and have "mutuality."

Compare that with today. We are told that if we do not carry insurance, we cannot drive our cars. Physicians are told that if they do not carry malpractice insurance, they will lose their medical licenses, and be unable to make a living. Increasingly, legislatures are mandating that we each buy insurance, we will lose some personal privilege that we depend upon. In essence, the governments of the various states are acting as sales people for the insurance companies, but giving their constituents little choice. This is real power. To have the government mandate that you purchase a commercial product, essentially at whatever price the companies chose to charge, or lose some privilege that you are unable to function without. Is there another industry in the entire country that has been able to accomplish this?

The insurance industry is among the most profitable in the world. Even in the face of disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the end result will be higher rates and substantially larger profits for the companies in the long run. The insurance industry has the single most powerful lobby both in Washington, D.C., and in each state. Once they were our saviors, now they are our bosses. We looked away and they now control most aspects of our lives with little oversight except having to apply to the very people they control for rate increases. They have even managed, through a law called ERISA, to insulate themselves from liability for their actions. If you have health insurance through an employer sponsored plan, you are covered under ERISA and, if the insurance company denies you testing or treatment, and you are severely injured or die because of their actions, the only things you OR YOUR HEIRS can recover in a lawsuit is the cost of the test.

Isn't it time we told our legislators that if they don't fix this problem, we won't vote for them again? Isn't it time we stood up for out own rights and took back OUR government?

It IS time we remembered what the politicians who are taking all of the "contributions" from lobbyists understand better than we seem to – that they are dependent for their jobs upon WE THE PEOPLE.