What do Democrats do when premiums shoot up 40%?

[kentuck]

That is what the lobbyist for the insurance companies, Ignani, suggested was going to happen. She was on the Chuck Todd show an hour or two ago.

If the insurance companies decide to sock it to the insured, do the Democrats have a plan? Will they finally do away with the anti-trust exemption? What options do they have if the insurance companies decide to screw us all?

[Fumesucker]

1. Lose at the voting booth.. n/t

[ShortnFiery]

7. +1000.

:(

[polpilot]

8. Plead stupidity?

[rudy23]

35. That's exactly what they want to do. Dems in DC want permanent minority status.

Makes their jobs very cushy, what with no expectation that they'll butt heads with the lobbyists who are making them rich.

Why in the world would the Dems, as a body, want to keep the majority in Congress? Look at all the energy they've expended trying to convince us that they're still a minority!

[Junkdrawer]

44. Noticed that too, did you? And note how the Blue Dogs are not being forced...

to put themselves at risk.

[Occulus]

61. The one with the blue dog painting in his sig line here at DU changed it to Obama and Duncan.

IOW, public education is the next thing we have to try to protect from the blue dogs.

They're moving too fast even for those of us who pay attention, and they're winning. Not because they have public support, but precisely because they don't.

[Gman2]

2. Treat the fuckers just lke the right treats ACORN!

[mmonk]

3. Blame it on liberals.

[G_j]

18. count on it!

[TheWraith]

4. Under the new bill companies will have to get their rate increases approved. nt

[beardown]

20. Real life examples show this to be a slam dunk.

Many states have commissions in place that have to approve increases like this. The basic dance is the insurance (utility, whatever) comes to the commission and asks for a 30 percent raise and then get a 20 percent raise which is what they wanted in the first place.

Besides, it's like the old joke of the cop stopping a driver who rolled through a stop sign and then starting to hit the driver with a club and asking the driver "now do you want me to slow down hitting you are stop hitting you?".

[uponit7771]

22. It wont be state controlled any longer

[guitar man]

59. That shouldn't be a problem

If they'll rubber stamp a trillion dollar war in Iraq , a rate increase shouldn't be a problem, no? :shrug:

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. They'll FINE us when we don't pay

I believe it's already in the bill.

[Mari333]

6. Im going to sit and laugh heartily. nt

[dionysus]

13. just shows how selfish and immature you are.

"i didn't get my way so i want everyone to suffer!!" *blubber, sniff*

dennis changing his vote really hit you hard huh?
:shrug:

[WI_DEM]

9. Hell, premiums are going up this much even without HCR in many cases.

[Whisp]

48. yes, so I don't quite get the OPs point

and what if those premiums still keep going up if HCR does not pass in any form at all?

I know, blame Obama, he should have .... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

[NC_Nurse]

10. The same thing they would do when it rises with or without the bill. Whine

ineffectively. It's going up no matter what we do. That's where people seem to be stuck. This bill will
get more people insurance and regulate what that insurance must provide. It's not going to stop healthcare inflation.

Much more has to be done to rehaul the actual delivery system if we are going to rein in costs - but nobody wants to talk about that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. My brother the doctor went into private practice because the groups he was in

put him under pressure to rotate patients in and out every 15 minutes, all day, every day, regardless of how much attention each person's case actually needed, and also to refer as many people as possible for surgery. In one group, the partners split $2 million in profits in addition to their salaries.

When he went into private practice, he figured out how many patients he needed to see per day to make a profit, and it was EIGHT. That's all he takes. He's found a lot of people who were misdiagnosed because the doctor just wrote them a prescription without doing a thorough history and lifestyle evaluation.

Although the British system has its problems (due to underfunding and bureaucratic meddling), one of its advantages is that doctors are paid a generous salary and so have no incentive to overtreat or to brush patients off with a prescription for pain pills.

[NC_Nurse]

27. Our system is based on profit rather than patients. Bottom line. Americans

are conditioned to want the most expensive treatments or they think they aren't getting "good" care. We are constantly bombarded with
ads for new conditions that Big Pharma has invented so we will demand expensive new drugs. Physicians are pressured to spend little time with patients and move them through the expensive specialist and diagnostic test maze to find a problem which may not even exist. Patients want the treatment that requires the least of them and the most dollars spent - forget diet changes, exercise and lifestyle changes, give me surgery and drugs. Don't ask me to quit smoking, give me inhalers and steroids and home oxygen.

It's a frustrating mess.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. Point to it as proof that we need a government takeover in health care

And that the public option and/or single payer is and always was necessary. And they'll have a lot more support for that than they do today if this comes to pass.

[BeFree]

15. Exactly

They were going to raise rates regardless.

The best we could do with these private companies in this CONgress is put a lasso around their necks. It's finally been done. Now we can at least reign them in and begin to break these wild ponies of capitalism.

[msongs]

12. collect their payoffs from big medical....ooops thats campaign contributions lol nt

[lonestarnot]

14. No doubt they will try to screw even the pooch! That's what CONs like to do.

[Individualist]

16. They'll probably repeat the lame "if I knew then what I know now" excuse.

[kenny blankenship]

23. No one could have foreseen that premiums would rise so much!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. If my premiums go up when I hit my milestone birthday in June

I will drop my insurance. I've had a bad year in my business, so even with the tax break I get, paying the premiums every month is making it nearly impossible to pay for the treatment of my broken elbow--which is below the deductible, but still more than I can really afford now. If I had not paid the ins. co. every month, I would have more than enough money in the bank to pay for every bit of medical care that I have used in the six years since I moved to Minneapolis, as well as some that I didn't get.

We all need to do some serious math: add up our insurance premiums for the year for the year and figure out how much actual care we could have bought. For example, say that you need a prescription that costs $100 a month and your insurance company gives it to you for $4.

But what if you're paying $300 a month for insurance? You're paying $300 to get $96 worth of benefits.

What if you have, as one online friend does, a $1000 a month insurance bill with a $10,000 deductible? In other words, that person is $22,000 out of pocket, and $22,000 in sudden debt would bankrupt most people. $12,000 a year (the premiums) would buy an awful lot of routine care.

My out-of-pocket is $10,000. I would be bankrupt. Might as well be bankrupt for $1,000,000 as for $10,000.

I'm beginning to feel that, as a recent DU thread had it, it's time to STOP BEING AFRAID!

Now I realize that some people do need insurance, because they have to have dialysis or something and it's covered.

But the rest of us should do the math. And if the numbers work in our favor, if the amount we pay in premiums is more than what we need for CARE, then we should seriously ask ourselves why we have insurance.

I enrolled when I moved to Minneapolis because I'd had a pretty good Kaiser policy in Portland that, at the time, had no deductibles and $25 copays for office visits and tests. (I guess that has changed.)

But now I'm wondering whether I would have been better off with those hefty five figures in my savings account.

[uponit7771]

21. ****************PREMIUMS CAN'T GO UP WITHOUT APPROVAL*****************

How about reading the bill people?!

[mzmolly]

29. Those silly lobbyists, lying to scare people again. First we heard "death panels"

now we hear this crud. ;)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. My birthday is in two months

My premiums have gone up a minimum of 10% every year, even though I have never used my deductible. My monthly premium is now double what it was when I first enrolled, and that's WITH raising my deductible from $1000 to $5000.

As bad as it is, my premium is still less than what the Senate bill tells me I can "afford" to pay.

You tell me they won't raise it. Where is the well-funded enforcement mechanism? Where is the application of any of the provisions of the bill to existing policies? All I see is provisions about NEW policies.

[kenny blankenship]

33. SO THEY'LL BE REGULATED - JUST LIKE BANKS****OMG, IT'S GONNA BE SO SWEEEEEET**********

Seriously, are you this gullible in everything, or just politics?

[Tailormyst]

39. Starting when?

[Raineyb]

43. And based on the behavior of our government of late we can count on them to not

rubber-stamp an approval based on....

Never mind.

[dflprincess]

53. ****HEALTH INSURANCE RATE REVIEW AUTHORITY KICKED OUT OF HOUSE RECONCILIATION BILL****

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7943580

It just gets better and better.

[deaniac21]

24. 500 billion out of medicare. I am screwed.

[karynnj]

25. Now why would Ignani say that now?

The plan actually gives the exchanges powers they now don't have today. Did she give a reason why operating under the provisions would justify asking for higher rates?

If they do, there would be enough powerful anger to pass a bill adding a public option.

It is very strange when the lobbyist for an industry wants to increase hatred toward it.

[Winterblues]

26. They seem pretty good at "strongly worded letters"

Actually I am serious. When a few strongly worded letters hit the MSM it puts tremendous pressure on CEOs and the Corporations as a whole. They do not want Congressional interference in their business.

[mzmolly]

28. 70% of Americans will see a reduction in premiums.

"Using the strict, unsubsidized figures, 60 percent of Americans in the private insurance market should see their premiums fall. And taking into account the subsidies, a full 70 percent would see their premiums fall. And almost 94 percent would see their premiums either fall or stay the same. No matter how you slice it, the overwhelming majority are likely to see a decline."

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/mar/04/michele-bachmann/bachmann-says-democratic-health-care-bill-wont-low/

I don't much trust the lobbyists.

[depakid]

56. When pigs fly...

[laughingliberal]

62. +1000

And when we complain about paying through the nose for our 'bronze' level coverage and not having the money to start our chemo for our cancer that was found at one of our covered visits with our doctor, we'll be asked if we thought we were getting a pony.

[GreenArrow]

30. Send out solicitation letters

asking for money and help in the upcoming election.

[salguine]

31. They'll take it as a sign they need to move further to the right, like they always do.

[bamacrat]

34. I think the removal of anti trust laws will happen soon.

Then there would be ways to limit that. But if they started to increase their rates I think a public option would be the logical choice.

[jtrockville]

36. *IF* the insurance companies decide to screw us all?

What do you mean IF?

They decided to screw us all ages ago. They have been screwing us, they are screwing us, and they will screw us. No IFs, ANDs, or BUTs about it.

Count on it.

[bvar22]

37. You WILL hear a whole lot of THIS:

"The Democrats RAISED your Insurance Premiums.
We (the Republicans) tried to stop it,
but they rammed it down your throats.
YEP. We opposed it!
Vote Republican!"

Thats EXACTLY what you will hear.
They will also have a long parade (Millions) of Americans who were MANDATED into "The Exchange" and FORCED to BUY "Insurance" they won't be able to use due to High Co-Pay/High Deductible.
THEY won't be happy, and WILL be blaming the Democrats too."

This WILL play very well with Americans whose wallets are thinner AFTER the "Democratic Reforms".
The photos of the Health Insurance Execs standing in front of their NEW Summer Homes in Aspen won't help The Democrats either.

All I will say is "Told Ya".


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. "---Paul Wellstone

[Tailormyst]

41. Spot on

[Raineyb]

45. Exactly!

And I'll be right there with you saying "I told you so"

I don't understand why we watch the patterns that our representatives fall into and think that THIS time it will be different.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. That is exactly what I expect to happen

The Dem-leaning people I've talked to, the ones who get all their news from the MSM, THINK they're getting a European-style health care bill, because the Republicanites keep talking about "government health care." They say things like, "The bill has to pass, because we need to catch up with the rest of the world and provide affordable health care for everyone."

When they find out that this bill doesn't do that, they're going to be either pissed off or totally discouraged, unless they're complete party hacks who think that ANYTHING a Democrat does is wonderful.

The Republicans and Big Insurance and Big Pharma are purposely fighting this bill not on the basis of what it is (guaranteed profits for them) but for what it ISN'T.

It's as if they're saying, "Oh, PLEASE don't throw me into that briar patch!" when they know full well that mandated insurance coverage will more than pay for all the millions they spent on lobbying, especially if all the policies have either high premiums or high deductibles and many come with a government subsidy as well! Mandated private insurance with loose or non-existent controls is precisely the briar patch they want.

[Tailormyst]

38. They lose in Nov

That's what will happen if rates jump up like that.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. What they're best at. Make excuses.

[bvar22]

50. "It was ALL Lieberman's fault !!!!!!"

:cry:
We only had the White House

A veto-proof majority in the Senate

A LARGE Majority in the House

A HUGE MANDATE for "Change".....

THIS is the BEST we could do against those overwhelming odds.
Its not OUR fault.
:cry:

If you send us some more $MONEY$, we promise to do better next time.
.
.
Honest.
.
.
.
You can take to the BANK!
.
.
Oops.
My bad.

[in_cog_ni_to]

42. An insurance lobbyist admitted that?

Then it's a lie. Why would you believe an Insurance Lobbyist? That's like believing something a repuke says. They NEVER tell the truth. EVER.

[laughingliberal]

46. Well, without the public option to give people somewhere else to go...

they'll do nothing and collect their campaign contributions.

[gulliver]

47. Simple. They create a public option.

We've been paying hikes like that 40% anyway. My premium has gone up almost 100% since I bought the plan about six years ago.

Now, the insurance companies know there is a hammer waiting to come down on them. The public option was "that close." I don't think they are going to be raising rates 40%. I think they are going to stop raising rates. I take whatever the insurance lobbyists say, reverse it, and accept the result as the truth.

[provis99]

52. further health insurance reform is finished for at least a generation

The insurance companies have now been given a license from the DemocRat party to do whatever they please.

[provis99]

51. It will be the Democrats fault. Thats the way they wanted it.

I won't blame the Republicans on this one; this is entirely the fault of Democrats, DLC and progressives alike.

[Better Believe It]

54. Repeal the bailout to the insurance industry?

Nothing like being locked into and handcuffed by the private insurance industry for at least a decade.

[Ignis]

55. Wring hands. Make pretty speeches. Blame the left wing.

Same as it ever was.

[lwcon]

57. Just shoot up more hopium! n/t

[pitohui]

58. "when" ? they've already shot up way more than that

why don't you stop trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? insurance co's have been robbing the insured absolutely blind for over a decade at this point

we can't be threatened by a "what if" that has already come to pass, you know

i'm tired of hearing guff and threats from insurance companies, obv. they don't want this bill passed, which tells me all i need to know about how much it really "subsidizes" them

[SoCalDem]

60. Look down at their shoes, mutter "Aww Shucks, they promised"

and then wander off into the weeds to join a prayer circle with Sen Mumbles Mushmouth..