Replying to a message of Bob Klahn to John Massey:

 BK>>>  Your opinion. When you figure out how we maintain a health care
 BK>>>  system in this country without the insurance industry please let 
 BK>>> us all know.

 JM>> What happens to the insurance industry is not the
 JM>> Governments problem. The problem with the insurance
 JM>> industry IS the government.

 BK>  Just like the mortgage meltdown is not the govt's problem?

It isn't.  The problem is that banks issued mortgages to people who didn't
have the ability to pay them off, and now having 'just discovered' that are
crying to the government to bail them out.

 BK> Just like the banks being overextended is not the govt's problem?

It wouldn't be if Joe Taxpayer wasn't on the hook for the tab.

I note that the feds recently - within the past month or two - shut down
two banks which reopened as 'Mutual of Omaha Bank.'  Apparently Omaha's
leading insurance company has decided to get into banking.  There is 
already a 'State Farm Bank' owned by that insuror.

 BK>  Much of the current problem can be traced to repealing the
 BK>  regulations put in place after the depression. Banks were
 BK>  regulated to keep them from over extending themselves, and they
 BK>  did not have those problems again, until the regulations were
 BK>  repealed.

That, I think, is the crux of the problem.

 BK>  The S&L crises arose because the S&Ls were not regulated as well  as
 BK> the banks. I don't see any S&Ls around here at all anymore,  but lots
 BK> of banks.

 BK>  Yes, what happens to the insurance industry is going to be the
 BK>  government's problem. The failure of the medical insurance
 BK>  industry could leave the medical field with nothing to pay the
 BK>  bills. Gonna be a hell of a mess if any large companies drop
 BK>  their medical coverage. Which is very likely to happen.

The government has already made it nearly impossible for companies to
write medical insurance safely.  Despite its name, the company I used to
work for, Central States Health & Life Insurance of Omaha, quit writing
health insurance in 2004 and sold off its existing policies to another
carrier.  Come to think of it, they don't write much in the way of life
insurance, either, AFAIK they mostly cover installment loans (not credit
cards).

--- FleetStreet 1.19+