The problem in weighing the Health Care debate

Like most fights or debates the battle over Health Care reform revolves around a set of facts muddied and murky through the collective waters of political discourse, which is by the way the purpose of most politicking; to confuse the issue. Take this Associated Press article I stumbled upon a short while ago which does its best to confuse the issue and misrepresent the facts, a testament to the ignorance abound in this highly contested debate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fact_check_health_insurance

This article written by Calvin Woodward squarely focuses on the profit margins of the Health Insurance industry, arguing against those who say that health insurers reap too much profit by focusing on a hand full of numbers that support this claim. This would be fine except that anybody with even faint trace of a clue about business and economics knows that profit margins tell very little about the story of any business, on their own. Revenue gives a much more revealing story, especially when combined with knowledge of operating costs and of course salary expenditures, where most of the would be profits in this debate have gone. But this is America, you say, where anyone should be allowed to make whatever they can. Well this is America, and that's where your health insurance costs have gone.

See it's not about profit. It's not about the overall success of any one company or what the shareholders and other do nothings have been able to extract from the sidelines. It's about how much fat there is at the top. It's about the amount people dipping their hands into the pot, taking more than they ever could deserve for the nothing it is that they do, making profits for themselves off of the backs of the sick and needy. I know I'm being cynical here, but if you haven't noticed, these types of people, the CEO's and corporate executive types, they're a bit greedy, kind of like me being a bit sarcastic at times. That's where this economy has gone. Take this article for example which does a much better job focusing on the key issue in this debate, rather than a talking point founded in rhetoric.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/04/health_care_ceos_owe_us.html

Those are obscene salaries, and that was only for a few select CEO's in one particular state, which does not account for the many executives within those same companies who no doubt make much more than they're contributions to the general health of the public warrants. I would like to see how much money is bonused and paid out to the fat at the top before coming to any conclusions about Health Care reform. Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press would rather you not. It's much easier to buy into his claim when focusing on such an irrelevant area. Ah, but that's the essence of politics. It's no surprise then that it's also the essence of this debate!