Originally posted by: blanghorst
Originally posted by: shadow9d9
Originally posted by: blanghorst
Originally posted by: shadow9d9
As soon as the actual facts and evidence come in, the shills disappear. Shocker!
Again, we'll take the word of the CBO over you. Sorry for your luck.
They weren't my words. They were all quoted from multiple sources. Don't let facts get in the way of what you want to hear!
You are the one letting facts get in the way. The CBO clearly says costs are an issue, which you say are not.
I say we pay double what other countries pay and get less. I say there are more important issues than costs in the end.
It is a FACT that insurances have made 400-1000% profit over 5 years while covering less.
"Profits at 10 of the country?s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less
coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a new study, is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry that has led to
near monopoly conditions in many markets."
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/05...-create-near-monopoly/
Take a look at a recent report "Insuring Health or Ensuring Profit?; A look at the Financial Gains of Washington's Health Insurers." According to the
report, the big three carriers in Washington, Regence BlueShield, Premera Blue Cross and Group Health Cooperative saw profits increase from $11 million
in 2002 to $243 million in 2003 and $431 million in 2006. Their cash surplus went from $833 million in 2002 to $2.2 billion (with a "B") in 2006.
Interestingly enough they did it while covering less people. Over 2.37 million people were covered by the three in 2002 compared to 1.9 million in 2006.
http://vancouver.injuryboard.c...r.aspx?googleid=230780
Potter, who spent 15 years at CIGNA, said health plans have a financial incentive to cancel the policies of their most costly members and have
implemented strategies to do so. ?They look carefully to see if a sick policyholder may have omitted a minor illness, a pre-existing condition, when
applying for coverage, and then they use that as justification to cancel the policy,? he testified. And canceling policies for even a small number of
such members can have ?a big effect? on the bottom line, he added. ?Where is the logic and the humanity of having pre-existing conditions not covered in
our society?? Potter asked. He noted that his testimony wasn?t aimed at CIGNA specifically, but rather at an industry that he said is ?taking this
country in the wrong direction.?
http://www.aishealth.com/Bnow/hbd070909.html
""They confuse their customers and dump the sick ? all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors," said Wendell Potter, who retired as CIGNA's vice
president of corporate communications last year. He spent nearly 15 years at the company and four years at Humana."
"Potter, for instance, recalled a trip on a corporate jet from Philadelphia, where CIGNA is headquartered, to Connecticut, where the company's health
insurance business is based in Bloomfield. During the flight, he was served lunch on gold-rimmed china with a gold-plated knife and fork.
"I realized for the first time that someone's insurance premiums were paying for me to travel in such luxury," he said on his blog."
"He condemned insurers' efforts to get rid of unprofitable customers, sell policies that can mislead consumers and offer very limited coverage, and pay
out as small a portion of premiums as possible for claims in order to boost profits and please Wall Street."
"Potter described in written testimony how insurers use "purging" ? unrealistic rate increases ? to drive off less profitable employers. Citing a USA
Today report, he recalled how CIGNA boosted rates in 2006 for the Entertainment Industry Group Insurance Trust so much that for some family plans,
premiums would have topped $44,000 a year."
"CIGNA, responding to Potter's testimony, said Wednesday, "Although we respect that there are different opinions on the solutions, we strongly disagree
with the suggestion that, motivated by profits, the insurance industry has deliberately attempted to confuse or unfairly treat covered individuals.""
http://www.courant.com/busines...tjun25,0,4107201.story
"Among the other testimony heard by the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation was that of Robin Beaton. It reflected some of the insurance
company tactics condemned by Potter.
It was a nightmare scenario. The day before she was scheduled to undergo a double mastectomy for invasive breast cancer, Robin Beaton's health insurance
company informed her that she was "red flagged" and they wouldn't pay for her surgery. The hospital wanted a $30,000 deposit before they would move
forward. Beaton had no choice but to forgo the life-saving surgery.
Beaton had dutifully signed up for individual insurance when she retired from nursing to start a small business. She had never missed a payment, but that
didn't matter. Blue Cross cited two earlier, unrelated conditions that she hadn't reported to them when signing up ? acne and a fast beating heart ? and
rescinded her policy.
Beaton pleaded with the company and had her doctors write letters on her behalf to no avail. It was not until Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) personally called
Blue Cross that her policy was reinstated and she could undergo surgery. In that year, Beaton's tumor doubled in size, leading to further complications
necessitating the removal of her lymph glands as well."
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html
Of course, if you actually read the sources, you'd know that.
And no, if we pay DOUBLE every other country and still have 50 million uninsured and countless millions with pre-existing conditions exempted while
profits go up 1000%, costs are not related.
"The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700."
The median income of this country is 40k. That $12,700 to a profit company is essentially a tax paid, without counting for costs of everything denied or
exempted from you.
http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml -according to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual Survey. September 2008.
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