“Those who are protecting the profit-takers in healthcare will say or do anything. You know, the old saw, ‘Don’t let the government get between you and your healthcare,’ they threaten as ammunition to scare you away from progressively financed, guaranteed healthcare for all — like those scary Canadians or Scandinavians have. But do you know what the reality is in Canada and many of the nations where healthcare is actually valued as a human right? In Canada, it is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison for a government bureaucrat to interfere in any way in a patient care issue or decision.

“While here in the United States, we let insurance companies not only get in between our doctors and patients but actually block them ever seeing one another. This week we heard testimony in a Congressional committee that the insurance companies our President and Congress want so desperately to protect have no intention of stopping the practice of policy rescissions. Rescissions happen when you get sick, file an insurance claim and then the insurance company searches your records to find reasons they would have denied you coverage before your illness and then retroactively drops your coverage. And their favorite targets? The committee found, according to the Los Angeles Times, ‘WellPoint’s Blue Cross targeted individuals with more than 1,400 conditions, including breast cancer, lymphoma, pregnancy and high blood pressure.’ Ugly stuff. And talk about getting between you and your doctor…”
— Donna Smith, “Well, WellGoing to Healthcare Hell,” Common Dreams, June 18, 2009.