Many things are VERY wrong about the following picture, more precisely the following series of snapshots:

          SNAPSHOT NO. 1

          Three of the largest insurance companies in the country have just reported extraordinary profits for third quarter, 2010.  Contrasting third quarter, 2010 with third quarter, 2009:

                    Aetna enjoyed an increase in its third quarter profits of $170 million, up to $500 million–or profits of about $2 billion per year!

                    Wellpoint/Anthem Blue Cross enjoyed an increase in its third quarter profits of $15 million, up to  $750 million–or profits of  about $3 billion per year!

                    Healthnet enjoyed an increase in its third quarter profits of $129 million, up to $63 million (from a loss of $66 million)–or profits of about $126 million per year!

          SNAPSHOT NO. 2

          In 2009, the California Insurance Department approved premium rate increases for these three carriers ranging from 19% to 29%.

          Let’s put this in perspective.  On an annualized basis, these three insurance companies alone are realizing aggregate profits of about $5 billion dollars per year.  Yet regulators just allowed them to increase their premium rates by 19-29%!!!  How much did your wages increase over the past year?

          So, times are tough–for doctors and patients, but not for insurance companies!

          Doctors are earning less and less while patients are paying more and more.  Before you express a lack of sympathy for those “wealthy,” fat cat doctors, understand that record numbers of them are having to close down their practices because Obamacare is tightening the screws on them so much that they are losing money.  They are concluding that they are better off not working (something that many welfare recipients figured out a long time ago).  If that’s not enough to make you to think a bit more about this, who’s going to be providing you with all of these medical services now that Obamacare is making sure you have medical insurance?  And while we’re on Obamacare, the Los Angeles Times reported today on studies that show that record number of insureds are opting for greater deductibles in order to lower these exoribitant premiums permitted by Obamacare and those regulators.  In turn, we the people are going without medical services because we can’t afford to pay the higher deductibles required to lower our premiums!

          Let’s summarize.  We “all” have insurance now, we just can’t afford the higher premiums and the insurance does us little good because because we can’t afford the deductibles we have to agree to in order to offset somewhat the increasing premiums our representatives are permitting.  The result:  Actual overall medical costs are rising dramatically because instead of sound preventitive medicine at relatively lower (but still expensive) costs, only catastrophic medical emergencies are being addressed.  Kind of like the auto owner who could have paid $100 for a lube job, but who holds off until he is then forced to pay $5,000 for a new transmission!

          So, who’s benefitting by this wonderful Obamacare we now have?

          Not we the people, who need better and more strategic early preventitive medical service because we aren’t able to afford the deductibles for that on top of the “lower” catastrophy coverage premiums we are also paying.  The data reported by the Los Angeles Times today is compelling in the demonstration that use of advisable preventitive medical services is plummeting.

          And not the doctors either, they’re going broke subsidizing the record profits of the insurance companies in the form of reduced payments to the doctors for their services that no longer allow them to meet their rent, utilities, liability insurance, employee salaries and benefits, and other overhead, let alone take home a decent wage.

          The answer, then, is that only the insurance companies are making out under Obamacare.  First, they are being allowed to pay the doctors less for services.  Second, they are being allowed to charge increased premiums to we the people.  In other words, they are being allowed to charge more even though they are paying less.  This is why they are enjoying perfectly predictable record profits.

          And why is this happening?  Because, of course, the lobbyists for the insurance industry know whose bread to butter–that of our wonderful political representatives.  You know, those folks who, instead of properly regulating the insurance companies, are too busy spending time with their PR advisors–telling we the people what heros they all are for enacting Obamacare and making sure that we the people all now (supposedly) have insurance coverage we didn’t have before.

          So, how about you–are you feeling better now, and more serviced by your doctors now–now that you are covered under Obamacare?

          Make no bones about it, folks.  You aren’t benefitting by Obamacare and you aren’t going to in the future.  And who do you really have to “thank” for this?  The insurance companies?  Not as far as I’m concerned.  Snakes do what snakes do (with apologies to the snakes).  Give them the chance to make too much and they will.  So would you and so would I (or at least you:)).  The ones you really have to “thank” for all of this are our political representatives who passed and signed Obamacare into law and failed to put any limits on resulting profits for the insurance companies.  Instead of really thinking through the consequences of what they were doing, they were too busy patting themselves on the back and telling we the people what a great job they were doing for us.

          By the way, lest we forget, our political representatives don’t have to worry about all this like you and I do.  Most of them, first and foremost our U.S. Congress, have enacted their own special governmental medical plans–just for themselves–that provide them much greater coverage at little, if any, premiums and with little, if any, deductibles!  Just serving we the people they are!

          What our political representatives do have to worry about is we the people–IF we stay on top of them until we force them to go back and revise Obamacare so we end up with something that works.  Oh, yeah, and until they pass an excess profit tax to reduce those absurd profits the insurance companies are taking home in these “tough” times.  Here’s a novel idea:  If the insurance companies don’t voluntarily subsidize the cost of medicine today out of their obnoxious profits, our political representatives can just increase their taxes (ala President Obama) and use the resulting tax revenues to subsidize the cost of medicine today.  Or they can just limit excess profits directly and lower our premium and deductible costs–and maybe their take from those insurance company lobbyists!