Ritter Insurance Marketing

Here are a couple of photos from my trip to Washington DC:

This is a photo of about 1/2 of the reception room for the cocktail reception.  Estimates were that about 1,400 insurance agents participated in the Health Care Reform “Fly In”.

Here I am outside of my hotel on Tuesday evening with the Capitol building in the background.

This is a photograph of the breakfast meeting for the particpants of the “Fly in”.  Here is a video which we watched about Beth Ashmore’s mother who languished in England and eventually passed away from kidney failure because the English Government run system deemed she was “too old” to receive kidney dialysis (the guideline is over 55 years old).

Here I am outside of my US House of Representative Tim Holden’s office.  I, along with 6 other agents met with Representative Holden for about 40 minutes to discuss Health Care Reform.  Rep. Holden is a “Blue Dog Democrat” and, although not serving directly on committee’s relating to Health Care Reform, he recently signed a letter to Nancy Pelosi expressing his concerns about the bill under consideration.

I encourage all agents to express their concerns to their Representatives and Senators.  The agent’s role in the delivery of Health Insurance must be preserved.  Agent’s are the primary mediator between the insurance companies, clients, doctors and other medical providers.  Our services are vital not only in helping consumers understand their choices and choose the right plan, but also, in servicing their clients after the sale, helping with administrative issues, claims issues, etc.  A Government run option will not be a fair competitor to Private Insurance for a number of reasons and would eventually drive Private Insurance out of the Health Insurance Business.  Some reasons are:  Government run insurance will dictate lower reimbursements to Medical Providers and Hospitals which will shift costs on to Private Insurers, Government run insurance will likely not pay the 2% premium taxes which Private Insurers pay to the states, Government run insurance has zero cost of capital (in the short run) since it would have the United States Taxpayers as a “back stop” (in the long run, there is a cost here. . .witness Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.), Government run insurance would be able to “hide” it’s true administrative costs by passing costs onto other Federal Agencies or mandating services, Government run insurance would likely be exempt from Health Insurance mandates which are imposed on Private Insurance at the state level (I’m sure there are more reasons, but you get the idea. . .)

A cool picture of the Capitol Building!