We expect private health insurers to be anti Medicare For All (M4A). Criticizing M4A proposals is just time and money to them, and they have plenty of both. They have no desire to reduce the cost and complexity of health insurance or health care. Besides, you can’t solve a problem that you do not think exists. Attacking something without coming up with a better solution is easy and unfair, but even these tactics would not work for private health insurers without the support of their major corporate clients. So why do major corporations back the health care status quo, and why do we reward corporations that don’t support affordable health care for all?

It’s A Bro Thing, A Control Thing, And A Money Thing

It was just over one year ago that Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced their joint health care venture. The three business giants said they were combining forces to “provide low-cost, high quality service from a (health care) company ‘free from profit-making incentives and constraints.” But soon after the announcement one of the Big 3, JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, promised not to compete with private health insurers and would instead restrict the new venture’s efforts to helping the employees of the three companies. We know why Jamie tried to walk back his threat to upend private health insurance—some of his company’s clients are in the health care industry—but why do other major companies support the industry, and do not publicly support Medicare For All?

I can think of a few reasons.

Despite surveys showing that health care costs are a major concern of all private companies, large companies seem to prefer private health insurance to a government-run or universal system. No major corporation has cut all ties with the health insurance status quo. Instead, corporations work with major health insurers to support each other's profits and shareholder returns at the expense of the country. Also, many leaders of “American industry” believe that they know more about health insurance and health care than health care policy analysts, government officials, and economists. They think the private sector is just generally better at running any business even if it has public policy implications. Continue Reading...

Tags: health insurance , health insurance costs, Tax-exempt health insurance, employer sponsored healthinsurance, Medicare For All