Health-insurance pirates: 'Go ahead and die!'

 

Pirates of the Health Care-ibbean.
Music by the Austin Lounge Lizards.

This is brilliant! Why hasn't it gone viral?

Embed it in your blog! Digg it! Post it on Del.ico.us. Please, somebody, put it on national TV!

Chicagoans, of course, will be reminded of the legendary Steve Goodman. Yes, the health-insurance industry is nothing less than the "Lincoln Park Pirates," all growed up:

"I've got mine, and I feel fine, so go ahead and die!"

How Chicago is that? As the late Mike Royko used to say, "Ubi Est Mea."

Funny as it is, though, it's also frighteningly true:

"Senators and congressmen make up my scurvy crew
They swab my decks and cash my checks
And cast a vote or two.
When the universal health-care serpent rears its ugly head
My press gang fires broadsides
And my crew ensures it's dead."

According to the Washington Post:

"Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer's debate.... Their total health-care holdings could be worth $27 million, because congressional financial disclosure forms released yesterday require reporting of only broad ranges of holdings rather than precise values of assets."

Do they really think we're so dumb as to believe that people with such investments in the status quo will vote fairly on reform? And over and above that, of course, are millions in direct donations from insurers and pharmaceutical companies and their PACs accepted by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and other key players in the heath-care reform debate. Plus other close relationships, such as the wife of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who, the Post points out, has remunerative positions on the boards of four health-care companies.

Weigh, hey, let's tow 'em away!