Missouri State Legislature doesn't want you to have lower health insurance costs

Here we go again.

Yet another example of legislators--this time in Jefferson City--wasting their time and our money on issues they shouldn't be. There are all kinds of things they should be working on--like fixing I-70 all across the state, as I've said before but what do they work on instead? Blocking health care reform:

Coming To A Missouri Ballot This Fall: Another Health Care Referendum

"This fall, voters in Missouri will face a number of decisions: picking state and congressional representatives, the President. But also on the ballot will be a measure that like two years ago, has to do with the federal health law.

It follows months of political tension over a key component.

The federal health law envisions that by 2014, each state will have an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can buy health insurance plans – plans that meet certain criteria and are more easily comparable. These marketplaces are also known as health insurance exchanges, and they can be run by either the state or the federal government. As it stands, an exchange does not exist in Missouri. Yet. And if it’s up to Missouri’s House majority leader Tim Jones, never will."

Sure, our health care system is broken--badly broken, at that. More than 50 million Americans have no health insurance coverage, we have the most expensive health care system in the world yet we are ranked 37th, at least, internationally in mortality rates (meaning you're more likely to die sooner, here in the US than 36 other nations) but the wise guys in Jefferson City want to block health care reform.

What gets me about this move, described here, is that what they're in effect doing is blocking lower health insurance premiums for you and me.

Yes, that's right.

This, in effect, protects health insurance companies from any further competition which should lower insurance rates.

Isn't that lovely?

Under the auspices of protecting Misourians from this President and his health care reform, they are, instead, protecting the very-wealthy-thank-you-very-much insurance companies.

And we're letting this happen.

We just don't seem to be that bright, do we?

Link: http://kcur.org/post/coming-missouri-ballot-fall-another-health-care-referendum