Insurance CEO to the sick: "Line up at the cliff"

Health reform scare tactics are working

The scare tactics are working, and people are lined up to protect those who would throw them over the cliff.

I'm ashamed to admit I worked for the insurance industry for 10 years. Want to know where your money goes? To pay for sales reps and their families to spend a week in Hawaii, culminated by a private concert by the Beach Boys. Or a spa in some CEO's home, because it was inconvenient for his nanny to take his injured daughter to physical therapy.

And don't get sick -- our job was to find any means possible to get you off the plan. The company considered an early death a stroke of financial good luck.

Don't be fooled. The insurance industry is using its talking heads to keep the status quo. We pay more for health care than any country in the world, yet our quality of care ranks 38th. Our life expectancy is lower than in countries that have universal care; our infant mortality rate is higher. Don't be fooled -- as long as there's no real competition, there will be no reform. Support the public option. Or you could always line up at the cliff.

Susan Traugh

Vista