In defense of the health insurance industry

Will Ferrell (and celebrity friends) recently created a spoof video speaking out against insurance companies and in support of the public option: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B98muhufAGE

It uses sarcasm to portray the insurance industry as the arch enemy of health care reform, claiming that greedy insurance companies make billions of dollars in profit while intentionally taking advantage of those who cannot pay for care. While it's easy to scapegoat insurance companies, it got me thinking that it's important to get the facts. In actuality, for every dollar spent on healthcare in America, 99¢ goes to hospitals, doctors, pharma, other medical services, and other health related spending. Only 1¢ goes to health plan profits. And we need to remember that employees are generally satisfied with their coverage - about 2/3 of employees rated their employer-based insurance coverage as “excellent” or “very good” in a recent survey (National Business Group on Health Employer-based Health Benefits Survey, 2007). Also, the insurance industry has formally supported many of the reform proposals.

Private insurance companies are making profits, but they are certainly slim. Finger-pointing at health plans to portray them as immoral, corrupt, and money-hungry will get us no closer to progress on health reform. I acknowledge there are MANY problems with insurance companies, but I argue that the American system of care is designed to make this the case, not the alleged greed of for-profit insurance CEO's.

Comments? Other opinions?