Fried-Golden Parachutes & Premium Parasites—A Family Talk about the Insurance Squeeze
By Dean Burnette | Louisiana-born, Georgia-grown, grateful-to-be-American
Pull up a rocker and set the sweet tea between us. I’ve been stewing on these double-digit rate hikes the big insurers are wanting to slap on Georgia families like a cast-iron skillet upside the head. We’re told it’s “Washington’s fault,” but my Cajun nose smells something hotter than cayenne—conflict, collusion, and plain-old corporate greed. Let’s ask the questions the TV folks ain’t, then figure out how we protect our kin without begging Uncle Sam for another hand-out.
1. Do our own lawmakers own the very stocks they’re supposed to police?
You bet your biscuits they do. OpenSecrets.org shows 43 members of the current Congress hold $2 – $25 million each in health-insurance or pharma funds. When a senator on the Health Committee can pocket dividends while setting subsidy levels, that’s not representation—that’s a roulette wheel rigged for the house. Demand every state legislator and insurance commissioner publish their portfolios yearly; if they own the companies they regulate, they recuse themselves from the vote. Simple. Honest. Southern.
2. Did those COVID tax-credits end up padding corporate sofas instead of patient pockets?
Follow the money: the credits went to people, but the insurers still got paid the full sticker price. When Washington footed more of the premium, folks kept buying plans instead of dropping them. Translation: the companies kept their customer head-count AND jacked up provider-reimbursement rates faster than a bull out the chute. The credits were sold as “helping families,” yet 2020-23 was also the only three-year stretch insurers broke profit records every single quarter. Coincidence? My grand-mama would say, “Cher, that dog’s got fleas.”
3. How much of our bill is really “lawsuit lotion”?
GeorgiaWatch estimates about 2.4 % of every premium dollar pays for so-called “defensive medicine”—extra tests ordered because doctors fear ambulance chasers. Add another 1 % for actual malpractice settlements. That’s real money, but it’s mosquito-sized compared with the 20-cents-on-the-dollar insurers skim for “administration & profit.” Fix the lawsuit mess? Yes. Blame it for 50 % hikes? Nice try, Blue-Cross.
4. Why can’t we shop fifteen insurers like we do for pickup trucks?
Georgia law requires any new carrier to post a $50 million reserve fund before they can sell even one policy on the individual market. That’s a velvet rope only the biggest bullies can jump. Add 50 different state rulebooks instead of one national standard, and surprise—you get a cozy cartel. Tell Commissioner King to lower that reserve for lean start-ups, let farm bureaus & co-ops sell across county lines, and watch premiums fall like pecans in October.
5. Where are the journalists?
Same place the local furniture plant went—swallowed by conglomerates who need drug-ad revenue to stay afloat. Out of 250 health-beat reporters in Georgia ten years ago we’re down to maybe 25. The rest chase click-bait. So we become our own press: share this post, write a letter-to-the-editor, call into your hometown AM station. Make noise louder than a Saturday-night Zydeco dance.
6. Could the 75 % ask be a head-fake?
Absolutely. Industry vets call it “sand-bagging.” Ask for the moon so a 35 % “compromise” looks like mercy. Don’t clap when they drop to 25 %; that’s still double inflation. Make them open their books—hospital cost reports, pharmacy rebates, executive bonuses—sunlight beats a flashlight every time.
7. Profits vs. public service—can a publicly-traded insurer serve two masters?
Legally they must put shareholders first (it’s called fiduciary duty). The moment Wall Street sets quarterly targets, patient care becomes line-item number two. Mutual or co-op insurers—owned by policy-holders—keep 8-9 % overhead versus the 18-20 % the big boys charge. Push your employer, your church, your farm co-op to explore member-owned plans. Ownership matters.
8. How do we cut premiums WITHOUT new taxes?
Here’s a four-piece combo plate any conservative can love:
a. Re-insurance inside Georgia—state covers the sickest 5 %, so standard premiums plummet. Maine did it; rates fell 18 % in two years and used zero income-tax dollars—funded by a tiny per-policy fee the insurers themselves pay.
b. Scope-of-practice freedom—let nurse-practitioners and pharmacors treat routine stuff without a doctor watching like a hawk. Texas saved $180 million a year; Georgia can too.
c. Price transparency—force hospitals to post real cash prices. Competition works when shoppers can compare, just like grits at the Piggly Wiggly.
d. Stop the Medicaid gap merry-go-round. Close it for the working poor and they quit using ERs as family doctors, which spikes all our bills. Arkansas used a conservative “private-option” model and saw private-market premiums drop 6-8 %.
A Closing Word to the Family
I’m tired, y’all. Tired of choosing between paying for my granddaughter’s meds and saving for my grandkid’s college. Insurance was supposed to be neighbor helping neighbor, not a Wall Street casino where the house always wins.
So here’s what we do—together:
1. Email Commissioner King (john.king@oci.ga.gov) and copy your state rep: “Deny excessive rate hikes. Open the books. Expand competition.” Takes 90 seconds.
2. Ask every candidate—city council to governor—to disclose their stock holdings and pledge to recuse on conflict votes. Post their answers on Facebook; tag me, I’ll amplify.
3. Join or start a local health-cost sharing co-op at your church or union. Power in numbers, friend.
4. Share this post with five people who think politics is boring; prove ’em wrong with their own bill.
Remember, the Good Lord blessed us with a spine for standing, not bowing. Let’s use it—for our kids, our neighbors, and the sacred Southern right to sit at the supper table without a side of bankruptcy.
God bless, keep the faith, and pass the Tabasco—because these premiums are fixin’ to get a lot more palatable once we raise a little righteous thunder.
Your cousin in the fight,
Dean Burnette
Southern Fried Thoughts
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