Commentary: Health insurance companies should be non-profit

By Paul Reitan

Buffalo, NY – A while ago I hoped for the inclusion of a public option in the health care reform bill. I thought, why not let a non-profit plan compete with the others? What harm in that?

But the public option has been rejected. The health care reform bill has taken shape without it.

Quite the opposite of nonprofit, we've learned recently that some of the health plans have proposed huge increases for coverage and that their managers are very handsomely paid.. And conditions to qualify for coverage have become more stringent. What's up? Are they filling their coffers in advance of health care reform?

I think it's reasonable to look at all health insurance companies as providers of a necessary social good that must be available to everyone. Whether they have it or not, everybody needs health insurance. Kind of comparable to fire protection - police protection - we all need it. None of us are immune to the possibility of fire, not only in our homes but in the places we go, nor are we immune to the possibility of crimes being committed against us. And we're not immune to the possibility of illness that develop in our bodies or that we might contract from others. Living in a society puts each of us at risk; we all have the potential of needing health care and, of course, none of us should be excluded from care if we have a health problem. We never can know when or if we'll have a serious, major health problem. That means our society needs health insurance just as our society needs fire and police protection - and, of course lots of other shared services. And in our country health insurance is provided by companies.

With the public option off the table we are bound to depend on private insurance organizations to provide coverage. But should they be free to provide that necessary social good to whomever they wish and at whatever profit they possibly can milk from us? No. Do you disagree with me?

So I would like my representative in Congress and my Senators to fight for the inclusion of the following provision: all health insurance companies must be not-for-profit.

And in order to keep overhead within bounds I'd like to see executive compensation limited. Limited to how much? Well, on the assumption that what they do is no more important to society than what the President of the United States does, why not require that their maximum salaries be no more than equal to that of the President?

Not-for-profit health insurance companies run by executives who earn no more than the president. Sounds reasonable to me.

Listener-Commentator Paul Reitan is an emeritus professor at the University at Buffalo.

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