Jim Hightower

Insurance companies scoffed at the public s cry for health-care reform oh, until about midnight, November 3, 1992. That s when Bill Clinton beat their man Bush ... and they knew that some kind of reform was headed their way.

One month later, the companies came out strong for their own (quote) reform package. Why? The head of their lobby group put it bluntly: To ensure our place at the table.

TROUGH is more like it.

Private insurance companies suck $33 billion out of our health-care system each year. That goes to the bureaucracies, paperwork, lawyers and accountants million-dollar executive salaries and perqs, piles of profits ... even campaign contributions and lobbying expenses. Yeah, we pay for them to lobby against us!

Insurance companies call their reform package managed competition which is to say they d still manage just fine, thank you ... and pass that $33 billion over, please.

Even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked, right? Who needs these guys?

With insurance companies in the deal, 25 cents of every single health care dollar you spend goes to them. That adds up to $500 a year per person out of your pocket ... into theirs.

In contrast, Canada s national health-care system, which excludes the middle man, takes little more than a dime to administer. And everyone gets covered, and gets to go to the doctor of their choice.

This is Jim Hightower asking, do we really want to keep doling out 33 billion of our health-care dollars for the care and feeding of insurance companies? Right.