Hypocritical Insurance Companies: Stop Us Before We Kill Again!
Paul Waldman in the American Prospect:
"Illness doesn't care where you live," the narrator says sympathetically, "or if you're already sick, or if you lose your job. Your health insurance shouldn't either." The ad ends with the hope that "the words ‘pre-existing condition' [become] a thing of the past." So say the people who won't insure you if you have a pre-existing condition and who will cut you off if you get a serious illness. It's kind of like a gang of home invaders expressing the fervent hope that people will get better alarm systems and stronger deadbolts.
What's going on? In simple terms, they cut a deal. It may not be written down on paper, but it goes like this: If the government imposes an individual mandate, forcing all Americans to buy health insurance – and thus guaranteeing us millions of new customers – we won't stand in the way of new regulations curbing some of our worst abuses. And this is their defense when those abuses are brought up. We've already agreed to those new regulations, they'll say, so why do we need to talk about it anymore? Let's just make sure there's no public option people can choose, because that would just be a step too far.
But here's a question: If the insurance companies have finally come to understand that it's wrong to kick people off their coverage when they get sick; and it's wrong to deny coverage to people who have previously been sick; and it's wrong to hide lifetime limits in the fine print, forcing people into bankruptcy if they face a serious illness; and it's wrong to discriminate against pregnant women and their families; why don't they stop doing these things? Like, how about today? Why are they waiting for Congress to outlaw their most abominable practices?
They won't do that, of course. They're hoping to squeeze every dollar they can out of patients in the current system, up until the last possible day they can. And things are going great for them at the moment. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average premium for a family plan in 1999 was $5,791. By 2008, the average premium was $12,680. So over a decade in which inflation increased prices by 29 percent, the price of family health insurance went up 119 percent. UnitedHealth, probably the most despicable of America's health insurers (look at any health-insurance industry scandal, and UnitedHealth is likely leading the way) just announced that in the second quarter of 2009, they made a profit of $859 million, every dollar squeezed from patient premiums and through the avoidance of what the industry calls "medical losses," meaning when they reluctantly pay for care.
So somewhere today, a family is being told by one insurer after another that they can't have coverage because of their pre-existing conditions. Somewhere today, a woman who was just diagnosed with cancer has been informed that her insurer is dropping her from her plan, because when she got the diagnosis, they began an investigation of her to see if they could come up with a pretext for kicking her off, and they struck gold when they discovered she forgot to tell them about a years-ago visit to a dermatologist for acne. Somewhere today, a family is filing for bankruptcy, because even though they had insurance, once one of them got sick, they quickly reached their "lifetime cap" of coverage, so the company to which they've dutifully paid premiums will no longer pay for their care. Somewhere today, a couple celebrating the birth of their child just got a call from a collection agency, because even though they had insurance, the fine print of their plan contained a series of riders detailing how the insurance company will essentially refuse to pay for all but a tiny portion of the costs of a pregnancy (read Sarah Wildman's horrifying and revealing tale of how her insurance company did this to her).
So if the insurance industry really wants to demonstrate its good faith on health-care reform, here's what it could do: End these practices now. Don't wait to see what's in the final bill. Do it now. Stop denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Stop rescinding the policies of people who get sick. Let people keep their coverage when they leave a job if they keep paying the premiums. Stop discriminating against pregnant women. You want to atone for your sins? Changing these policies would be a good place to start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkeHtSuWiIs
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
For their family
for their friends
for the wealthy
and the heck with anyone else.
Call these numbers today. Put this text on index cards and post them at libraries and post offices and anywhere on real bulletin boards.
Boycott Tyson Foods of Arkansas. Call lobbyist for Tyson Foods Chuck Penry 202 393 3921 and tell him politely that you refuse to buy Tyson chicken until Mike Ross D-Arkansas the leader of the Blue Dogs on health care gets the entire house and senate conservative Democrats to help get HR 676 enacted into law. Tell others to call. Send me email after you call to info@democratz.org
Boycott American Express who gave Max Baucus $50,000 for his campaigns. Call Joanna Lambert at 212 640 9668 and politely tell her you will not use any American Express cards until Max Baucus gets HR 676 enacted into law. Email me after you call.
We spend lots of money through American Express, both personally and for business expenses.
Now I want you to spread the word to as many people as you can.
I don't have American Express. You have to do better than this.
Even if you don't buy those products or use the credit card call them and tell them what I wrote.
Silent boycotting does not do enough.
Read our blog http://blog.democratz.org
Why are they waiting for Congress to outlaw their most abominable practices?
Because if it's not expressly forbidden, it's legal.
In other words, if Mom says you can't have a cookie, ask Dad.
If Mom & Dad both say you can't have a cookie, take one anyway, because unless they catch you, they'll never know.
If Mom says you can't have a cookie today, tomorrow is a different case.
companies? As corporations, what is their one legal obligation? All together now, "To make a profit for their shareholders." Tank the whole thing, I tell you. They are trying to rush it through to lock it in for years and years, and maybe forever. Then, everyone will be happy, except those who have to pay for it. BHO will have gotten a bill passed. The insurance companies will have gotten a major "gimme.". The GOP will just sit back and collect their bribes. Business as usual. All will be well in DC. Suckers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation
why don't they stop doing these things? Like, how about today? Why are they waiting for Congress to outlaw their most abominable practices?
This is the reason "Business ethics" is an oxymoron. The CorpoRats claim the right to do anything to make a buck that is not explicitly AGAINST some law--and even if it is, and they can find a loophole.
Kapitalist "bidness" is essentially a corrupt, criminal enterprise barely constrained by the regulations crafted by the paid minions, satraps, and lickspittles the CorpoRats install to protect their interests...
If something is illegal, but it is illegal for a corporation to NOT do that something, because to not do it means they fail to fulfill their legal obligation to maximize profits, then how could they NOT act to maximum profits? This will keep the whole thing tied up in the courts for years, and the money spent on judges will prove to be well spent.
Pre-existing conditions can only be covered if there is concurrently a universal mandate. Otherwise, people would wait until they become sick or pregnant to buy insurance, then drop the insurance later. That happened in Washington State with they forced the insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. It was a failure. We need insurance companies that are financially sound. None of us expect to buy fire insurance after our home catches fire, nor buy car collision insurance after the crunch.
A simple definition of insurance is that many pay a small loss (their insurance premium) so no one has a large loss. Without thousands of relatively healthy people paying into the pool, the few very expensively sick people can't be covered at reasonable rates.
If we retain health insurance companies at all, they should be regulated public utilities.
I'd like to see Medicare-done-right For All. Pay for it by raising the middle income tax rate one point, the next two points, the highest three points.
This is one of the reasons why our system is in such disarray.
The issue isn't whether or not *insurance* should be feasible, but rather *healthcare* should be affordable.
Single payer is pretty much the only way to avoid a financially ruinous insurance industry vs financially ruined healthcare payee situation. We can't treat healthcare like a business, because it's not. It's an essential service, and the sooner we realize that, the better off we'll be.
of all food.
Glad to know I'm not the only one concerned about that. They've tried with Africa and Africa refused, they are trying here with various bills against small farmers. Its coming, no doubt it is. Which frankly, that Congress would pass such bills shows how absolutely bankrupt they are.
Our system of government is a complete sham and revolution is the only way it will change. I don't expect that in my lifetime.
> It's an essential service, and the sooner we realize that, the better off we'll be.
Somewhat like the rest of the developed world then !
This BS is the main reason I switched to an organic 99% vegetarian diet a month ago. Oh yeah, since I'm self employed I started buying more lottery tickets to, I figure my odds of ever seeing any health plan I can afford are worse
Generally speaking I don't trust anyone making over 150K a year.
you: Beware of "green washing." Google it. Places like Mal-Wart sell food they claim is organic, but is not. They charge the higher organic price for it, but if you look closely, the only claim that is made is that it is "natural." "Natural" has no legal definition. Bugs are natural. Dirt is natural. Chemicals can be of natural origin. Even the governments "certified organic" rating is not legit, as they allow manufacturers to have the certification if they state that having all certified ingredients was too expensive. I am not kidding or even exaggerating. The FDA is owned by corporations, mainly Monsanto.
that's why I have been taking extra time to get my physical fitness back up so I can do the things I want to do before I die. I figure since I haven't had coverage for most of my adult life, I could have any variety of pre-existing conditions I don't even know about, cancer could be rotting me inside right now.
So, the hell with it.
Which, when I write this really seems to be the way they (the corporate behemoths and their minions) want it isn't it? For us to just resign ourselves to checking our lottery tickets each week and not voting?
Why are they waiting for Congress to outlaw their most abominable practices?
Because the only reason they exist is greed!
republicanism is a mental illness!
What value do insurance companies bring into improving healthcare cost?
What are Health Insurance Companies doing to improve the quality of health care?
What are Health Insurance Companies doing to lower health care costs?
What are Health Insurance Companies doing to improve accessibility to health care?
What are
Health Insurance CompaniesPoliticians doing to improve the quality of health care?What are
Health Insurance CompaniesPoliticians doing to lower health care costs?What are
Health Insurance CompaniesPoliticians doing to improve accessibility to health care?Will it be affordable for all? I think not.
with Joe Scarborough Tuesday, Rep. Weiner asked Scarborough, "What is it that the insurance companies bring to the health care equation?"
Scarborough was SPEECHLESS. Because he knew the answer was, "NOTHING!!!" but he didn't dare blurt out the truth.
Rep. Weiner makes it crystal clear why he and millions of other Americans support H.R. 676. We need Medicare for ALL and the insurance companies need to be kicked to the f'ing curb.
I REFUSE to ever buy for-profit insurance from ANY rotten insurance company!
And the day they try to PENALIZE ME for not playing games with them, I'm outta here.
If the Congress passes any bill that keeps the insurance corporations in the game AND it includes a FINE if we don't buy into it, I think my head will f'ing explode.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
why don't they stop doing these things? Like, how about today? Why are they waiting for Congress to outlaw their most abominable practices?
This is a ridiculous question that completely ignores or fails to perceive the real problem here. There are not evil people in insurance who just refuse to act in accordance with typical regard for human life. These are institutions - the people within them, particularly at the top, have internalized all of the institutional values and behaviors. The institution is required by law to be profitable at basically any cost. When it is more profitable to break the law and pay a meager fine, a corporation will do that. It's sociopathic, but it is its institutional behavior.
The problem is simply that we have come to rely on these corporate institutions as being indispensable to our way of life, and that's simply unacceptable. People need to learn that there are more ways that you can organize collective human endeavors of production and distribution of goods, services, and resources that will encourage people to be productive and creative than the American corporation. These kinds of questions just tend to perpetuate this myth that the system is fine, it's just the people at the top who are corrupt. That is false. The system rewards those who internalize a certain set of values and exhibit certain behaviors. The institutions that make up that system are the problem.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_go_...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
These capitalists Sickos are strange bunch aren't they.
Your gonna DIE if you don't pay!
Your gonna get sick anyway soon or later resistance is FUTILE.
I am currently pricing health insurance plans. Our BCBS policy will go up 22% Oct. 1st, raising our monthly premiums (for 2 of us) to over $900 a month. My husband is self-employed and I am not currently working. We are paying for insurance out of our quickly dwindling savings.
We used an online tool to get quotes from 5-6 companies and have already heard from 4 that they will not insure us due to pre-existing conditions (high cholesterol/him, high blood pressure/me.) Assurant Health is going through the motions of checking our medical history. I have a feeling that they will be calling soon to tell us they have rejected us.
BCBS is our only option in Michigan, but I doubt that we will be able to afford their policy.
Soon you can add us to the growing list of the uninsured.
at least we're free.
I don't know about that......
You are fooling yourself. There is no freedom in knowing that you are one major illness or accident away from financial ruin.
"What? The land of the free? Whoever told you that is your enemy!"
~ Know Your Enemy (Rage Against the Machine)
They refuse to use their $2.4 BILLION SURPLUS to offset rate hikes!
Could the excessive salaries be the problems?
http://blogpublic.lib.msu.edu/index.php/2008/...
have divvied up the country, so as not to have to compete with each other. Apparently, you are in a BCBS territory. You have my condolences.
The insurance companies can't stop these practices, even if they wanted to. Any CEO who tried to do so would be promptly removed from his post and replaced by the company's investors. Why? Because he made a decision that dramatically reduced the company's profits. Because his company would then be at a disadvantage compared to all the other companies who still booted sick people.
That's the way it works.
Would someone please explain to me what on Earth they've cooked up now in the halls of Congress?
We'd probably all be better off if they'd just go on vacation and stay on vacation. I don't trust ANY legislation they're working on. If the insurance corporations are paying for Harry and Louise to sell us on "health reform" it's GOT to be really bad for the American People.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1250725738481...
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Never read on the lines what lies between the lines. From the WSJ article:
Which polls, they don't tell us yet they state this as a fact.
The polls can be rigged to suggest the loss of public support. Ergo:…………
Just as faux journalism shifts the focus to a discussion about the process rather than the purpose.
Once again Nader has great insight here
The Republicans have all the incentive for action they need, the dictate of their Corporate masters.
Unfortunately that is the same incentive for too many of the Democrats.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Plan" . . . Only $12,000 a year!
Wow! What a deal mister! My $12,000 a year salary will cover that!
One time I had a job in L.A. working at an HMO hospital, Maxicare. I had full coverage for me and my kids and they took $20 out of every check to pay my portion.
Of course the doctors weren't too swift. I chose a pediatrician at random and when we walked into the office there were dead animals all over the walls. I told the receptionist I was disgusted and that I'd never let a jerk like that touch my children and we left.
Maxicare folded and every other job I've had since did not offer the benefit of medical insurance.
So I've lived witihout it and paid out of pocket for the few little problems I've had (knock on wood).
The truth for me is, I hate these blood-sucking, rotten health insurance corporations so much that I'd rather DIE than pay them a penny of my money. Screw em'. I'm gonna die someday anyhow (that's the existentialist in me talking).
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
not giving ONE MORE CENT to these greedy corrupt bastards.
our daughter was born with a incomplete cleft lip and a massive cleft of the palate. We would have been completely fucked/as would she without our insurance. It would have decimated us financially both swiftly and completely. Due to the pre-existing condition b.s. we have always had to keep her covered. However, she looks great, has an awesome set of teeth and speaks with no obvious speech impediments. I don't regret one minute of it. We've done without lots of things over the years, but she's been able to keep her self-esteem intact and sings like an angel. Oh, my insurers know not to even try to fuck with me, I know the laws, I stay on their asses and I call and write letters when necessary.
Unfortunately there are millions of children whose parents could never afford any kind of private insurance. Their only option is to reduce their income to such a low level that their child can get on full social security disability coverage and get Medicaid.
Thus, there are a huge contingent of poor Americans who are forced to stay poor simply because they've been relegated to the halls of SSDI for need of mental or health services they could never get through the private system.
"Time is running out"
I've always thought this was such a strange word. Either something exists or it doesn't exist. Always wondered how something could pre-exist.
Now This is a pre-existing condition:
First God made heaven & earth 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. 6 And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 7 And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. 9 And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
I think the insurance companies are about to screw us over big time.....
If you have insurance they already are. Just wait until you actually need it (and I'm hoping you don't and won't).
Opt out now, don't give them stinking crooks another penny.
I saw this commercial the other day and thought, didn't YOU come up with the term "pre-existing" condition? What f'ing douchebags!
I had a plumber to my house last week to fix a sewer problem and he told me how, as an independent business man, he cannot afford health insurance even though he works full time. A few years back he had a heart attack, was sent into intensive care, and was left with $75K in medical expenses that he will never be able to pay. He was just thankful that the hospital allows him pay "installments."
But at least he has his "freedom," right? I never realized how prophetic and profound Janice Joplin actually was...
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
because reform our bad behavior now...
is most inconvienent.
http://www.readprint.com/chapter-19754/Sylvie-and-Bruno-Lewis-Carroll
Corporations' primary goal is to maximize profits. More profit is right and less profit is wrong. Plain and simple. They are externalizing machines meaning that any cost that they can foist on someone else that results in an increased profit is a cost they won't have to subtract from their profit and therefore they will externalize it. Without government intervention corporate competition becomes a race to the bottom that benefits no one except the owners of the corporations themselves. By the way, because corporations are amoral, sociopaths often find rewarding jobs in corporations (see Atlantic Monthly winter'08/09).
Indeed, the ethical levels of corporations by comparison to people is that of the worst sociopath going. It's been researched and documented for ages, Regan knew it, Thatcher knew it and the US has known it all along, short term greed at the cost of the extinction of what ever fules it.
In this case, that is sick people, and when they become poor sick people, they become poor dead people.
Hence why I work for a non-profit and always choose to deal with them when I can.
We can't change what "they" are only what we choose and then wait for them to die.
The law requires that. Ask who made the laws, and allows them to continue, and direct your anger there.
Don't have to, not *that* angry, and luckily I don't live in the US.
As for where I put my energies, I feel it's better to pull for what I do want, opposing what I don't.
Fighting something, especially corps which are designed for it, gives them validity in their position and leads to little change.
Making them irrelevant buy building the other option is more my approach.
Lets see according to the Insurance Liars, I have no choice since it affects there BOTTOM Line. Yet they MANDATE and force and Strip me of MY COICE, am I missing something.
If I can pay LOWER why would I want to RISK paying a for Profit INSURANCE company to STRIP me of my Medical Insurance when I need it the most. Increase my PREMIUMS and Prepays.
I only have to worry about a ONE PAYER SYSTEM versus this BROKEN for PROFIT RIP OFF called Private INSURANCE.
is the only option. "public option" is basically the ground laying for single payer and the democrats and the POTUS know it. Which is why the blue dogs and the Republicans won't budge with it.
The insurance companies are fighting for their lives and will fight to the bitter end to see that nothing changes. We are screwed.
This article assumes that, without regulations and laws, people would simply just not do bad things. That is a rose-colored view towards the world. We need regulations like we need curbs and stoplights on the freeway. I do not believe money is evil by itself; but the love of money certainly is. It motivates CEO's, who are accountable to their shareholders, to look for whatever it takes to make more money. Screw the single mother with cancer and the guy on heart medicine who just got laid off. This is the way the world works, folks. It is not pretty. Health care needs to be reformed to ensure responsibility and accountability in the industry. As Teddy Roosevelt said, "Great corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony with these institutions."
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