AIG is getting hammered in the court of public opinion with the latest views of the resort getaway for financial advisers and others who SELL INSURANCE. Again we're getting distracted.
The bailout dollars were given to corporations to prevent them from going under. Was it wise? Well, we had everyone yelling fire and expecting the government to come in and rescue. So, bailout dollars have become the proverbial finger in the hole of the dike. It's ridiculous.
Reestablishing TRUST is number one, whether AIG knows it or not. And burning through bailout dollars by honoring huge CEO pay and conducting its meetings in lavish settings does not build trust.
Same for our government. The government and Congressmen can whine about the lack of ethics shown by AIG or the naive ignorance of having "assumed" that grateful corporations would modify themselves now that they are spending other people's money, but REALLY what happened is that AIG played a game of chicken...without bailout dollars we go under and then see what happens. The government caved and now GM, Ford and other "unnamed" recipients will hop on AIG's back.
The government is scared and corporations are reaping the benefits. Insurance companies have used this tactic to singlehandedly unravel any legitimate health services industry. As President elect Obama works on the less controversial aspects of health services reform, specifically the red herring of "technology", our system of health services is going through another "election of benefits" season with no relief for consumers.
This morning Best Buy came in as the latest fiasco in business performance. Here's an idea: Retailers should start programs of health insurance for their customers instead of their employees. In bad economic times employers want to pay less because they earn less. However, to lure in consumer dollars, start making frequent shopper insurance plans. Best Buy could negotiate with one of the health insurance companies and offer customers who spend at least $2500 a year in their stores a "GROUP RATE" on health insurance. The $2500 would have to be paid up front and a gift card issued to purchasers and then purchasers could have access to the health insurance benefits negotiated by Best Buy. The quality of the GROUP PLAN would dictate which retailer consumers committed to. Yes, this is mildly tongue in cheek but it would solve something!
As for health insurance companies, until we incentivize progress in this area by bringing our governmental reps and other governmental workers into the real world by a) suspending access to current civilian government employee benefits plans that provide such superior benefits to those available to the rest of us and level out the stunning disparity between government employee and other citizen plans and incentivize health insurers to behave in a fiscally responsible way instead of reducing coverages and raising prices to cover their appetites by b) enacting legislation requiring that every health insurer use at least 65% of premium dollars to pay for medical services instead of hiding the money in puffed up salaries, and expenses like the AIG spa retreat, all the technology in the world will not save consumers a dollar.
