Coburn: Private health insurance may end soon
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
10/12/10 at 3:47 PM
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Private health insurance in the U.S. will be dead in three years, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn said Tuesday.
"There will be no insurance industry left in three years," Coburn told the Republican Women's Club of Tulsa County.
"That is by design. You’re going to make insurance unaffordable for everyone -- which is what they want. Because if there’s no private insurance left, what’s left? Government-centered, government-run, single-payer health care.”
Coburn apparently based his prediction on reported hikes in private insurance premiums, increases he attributed to the new law.
Some insurers say they have raised premiums because of new mandates, including requirements they cover pre-existing conditions and allow parents to keep children on their policies up to age 26.
Senate Democrats last month accused the insurers of profiteering and demanded they justify the increases.
Coburn, facing re-election on Nov. 2, said it will be "the beginning of the end of America" if the reform bill's so-called individual mandate is not revoked or thrown out by the courts.
“This will be a major step in the elimination of the freedom of the American people,” Coburn said.
Associated Images:
Sen. Tom Coburn. RIP STELL/For the Tulsa World/File Photo
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