Since my editorial today is about health care reform, I decided to include this link to a story about how the actual legislation is progressing. Creating this type of legislation is extremely complex. Making a change to one part of the legislation will have a ripple effect on other parts requiring adjustment. The good news, I think, is a continued focus on long term reduction of costs coupled with widened coverage.

Here’s a link to the article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31962831/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

Watching Wendell Potter, former head of Public Relations for Cigna Insurance, talk about health insurance’s attempts to save itself from reform reminded me of Spike Lee’s movie about Malcolm X. Denzel Washington has a scene as Malcolm X where he is giving a speech and tells the audience, "You been conned. You been cheated. You been hoodwinked!"

My personal opinion is you cannot watch that episode of Bill Moyers Journal featuring Potter without feeling you’ve been conned, cheated and hoodwinked. Health care insurance as we know it has reached the place where cattle drives were in the 19^{th century. We eventually reached a place where the cattle drives were no longer necessary. There was still a trade in beef, but the way that trade was conducted changed completely. (You can see the Moyers episode for yourself at www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html )}

We Americans profess an undying love for free enterprise and the making of profit. The fact is, however, not everything is best done with a private enterprise approach. Over time, we have found this to be true. At one time, fire protection was a for-profit enterprise, but no longer. And so may the same be true of for profit health insurance, at least in the model used today.

Consider the difference in dynamics, for example, between . . .