“Everybody loves to hate insurers, and the story of a girl who died after being denied a liver transplant probably won’t help. In fact, third-party payers are part of the solution, not the problem. You hear it all the time on the campaign trail: Everything would be OK in American healthcare if it weren’t for the power and greed of drug and insurance companies. Of these two kingpins of Democratic Party demonology, the insurers have it worse with the public. At least the drug makers have millions of customers more or less satisfied with their products, even if they complain the pills cost too much. The insurance industry really has no natural friends, given its role as the enforcer of economic discipline on medical care.” [editor’s note: This is mostly a defense of (a somewhat idealized version of) the insurance industry, although the points made are quite valid - SAT] (12/24/07)