We Must Protect Insurance Companies from Reform

Yes, I’ve been a fool. Will Ferrell once again has touched me with enlightenment. He’s like a modern Buddha, but covered with frizzy, ‘fro-like hair. Here I thought keeping costs down so the nation doesn’t go bankrupt, covering more of our citizens so they don’t go broke when they get sick, regulating insurers so they curb their most abusive practices, and improving quality were the chief aims of health reform. But I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong. Clearly, health insurance companies are the real victims of our broken health care system. After all, my favorite TV actors tell me so.

It’s no secret that 2008 was the year of the celebrity political YouTube video. They ranged from the inspirational (Will.i.am’s “Yes We Can”) to the funny (Paris Hilton challenging John McCain and Barack Obama to a debate, or Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlepp”) to the annoyingly preachy (the Leonardo DiCaprio “Don’t vote” video springs to mind). Heck, Obama girl launched an entire Web site. Sure, they were beyond superficial, but they kept people engaged. There haven’t been great celebrity videos since the election. We’ve made do with homegrown videos like “Boyfriend with Health Benefits” and “We’re Number 37.”

Into the breach steps Will Ferrell.

Of course it is in the nature of satire that I hear similar arguments being made by people who are quite serious. That insurance companies don’t make that much profit (UnitedHealth made $3 billion last year). That state regulations are what’s keeping really keeping insurance down -- an argument so preposterous, that even AHIP is in favor of new national regulations. We even hear Sen. Orrin Hatch say, with a straight face, that families making over $50,000 should be considered uninsured. It’s their choice not to spend 24% of their pre-tax income on insurance!

So listen to #1 on Maxim’s List of Hot Women, actress Olivia Wilde. When it comes to health insurance, “Believe me, that stuff’s not cheap!”