BP Oil DEBACLE, Bureaucracy & Effective Lobbyists – A Preview of the Health Insurance Industry?

The Human and Environmental tragedies of the current BP Oil DEBACLE in the Gulf is Heart-Breaking. Regardless of the specific causes and decisions, BP and the Oil Industry essentially operated on an unregulated basis due to the “coziness” of their relationship with the US Government. Whether it is due to the Lobbyists, “Old Friends” scratching each other’s backs or just “the way business is conducted in Washington,” I fear these same practices took place in “negotiating” with the Health Insurance & Pharmaceutical Industries prior to the passage of the recent Health Care Reform.

If that is the case, the short-term Reform “fix” may have come at a future BP Oil Spill-like price which Patients will have to pay to what are loosely regulated Health Insurance Companies concerned only with Profit and NOT Patient Care.

We need REAL Regulation and Overseeing Agencies which can monitor Compliance with these regulations. The longstanding “coziness” of the Oil Industries with the Minerals Management Service (“MMS”) Agency should NOT set the example. As Patients, our futures can not be dependent upon cold impersonal Corporations concerned only with Profit and side-stepping or minimally complying with Government “Regulations.”

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