Conservatives for Patients Rights [mouthpiece for the insurance industry] is running ads claiming that a “Government-run plan” will force “119 million off their current insurance coverage, leaving no choices in health insurance and government in control of your health care.”    This is categorically misleading.  What the group fails to say and what the author of the study cited in the ads, John Shields of the Lewin Group, explains is that those 119 million Americans will VOLUNTARILY move to the more economical government plan because it is cheaper not because consumers are being forced to switch.   Shields further explains that private insurers will lose 119 million customers because such customers will opt for the much lower priced public plan premiums.  Think about it, if a customer is offered the exact same product for less money why would anyone choose the higher priced product.  However, the company offering the higher priced products will be forced to lower its prices.  A public plan will force the insurance industry to become more competitive and that is exactly what it is afraid of.  

Between 2000  and 2007, U.S. health insurance premiums rose a whopping 98 percent.  Wages rose a mere 23 percent.  In addition, even though premiums rose so drastically, coverage for illnesses decreased dramatically forcing many American families into bankruptcy due to a denial of coverage.  Without viable competition, a few companies in each state will continue to dominate the market sending health care cost to astronomical levels and health care coverage dwindling even further.  Are you a serious illness and coverage denial away from bankruptcy?

Insurance companies must be held accountable and be forced to provide quality services for competitive prices.  If you think the GOP idea of allowing the private insurance industry to reform itself  is the best way to go, I have 75  years of history that suggest otherwise.  The only way to make the insurance industry competitive and make it more accountable  is to offer a government-run option to American consumers.  The Lewin Group ad is clearly an attempt by private insurance companies to stifle competion because the industry knows that a government-run plan is the best way to drive down health care cost and thus will affect the billions in profits they earn off the backs of working and middle class Americans.  Call your Congressman here and your Senator here.