The ever-disgusting Health Insurance industry......

[marmar]

from Health Care for America Now!:




Several health insurance companies have announced that they are ending insurance coverage for children because the new law won’t let them turn away the sick ones anymore. That's right – WellPoint, CoventryOne and others are refusing to issue new child-only policies because the companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to children with “pre-existing conditions.” They blame their actions on the new health care law, not their own greed. Even for the insurance industry this behavior is surprisingly brazen. They don’t like the rules, so they’re going to take their ball and go home.

The insurance companies announced their plans to turn away sick kids only days before Sept. 23, when important parts of the health insurance law take effect. These include consumer protections that end the worst of insurance company abuses. The law puts an end to odious practices like dropping people because they got sick, putting annual and lifetime limits on how much coverage you can get from the insurance policy you rightly thought covered everything, and denying children coverage because they're sick.

Once the law is fully implemented, insurance companies will not be able to deny any of us coverage because we have an illness, or drop us when we do, or force us into bankruptcy because of caps on how much of our health care they'll pay for (you can read a summary here). That's why this law really is a BFD, and that’s why this latest move by the insurance companies is so over the top.

In explaining its action, and blaming the new law (which apparently they just got around to reading), Anthem cited “uncertainty as to how the rules will be implemented and what the impacts might be on participating insurers.” They also whined about “an unlevel competitive environment.” Seriously?

CoventryOne said its inability to discriminate against sick children "poses undue risks that could undermine our ability to offer value and meet our continued obligations to existing policyholders." It's not clear what those obligations are since it appears that as soon as Coventry has any obligations toward you they may drop you as a policyholder – or drop your entire line of coverage. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2010/09/20/insurers-abandon-sick-children/

[The Magistrate]

1. The Industry, Sir, Will Drive Us To Single Payer Within A Decade....

[inna]

3. from your keyboard to God's ears

Personally, I believe that Universal Health care is inevitable.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. + a googolplex!! I hope he/she/it is listening.

[jtuck004]

5. 17% yearly increase in premiums until they are capped in 2014 - LOL

They are doing their damndest to get us to demand single payer...

[jannyk]

13. I thought we already did?

"They are doing their damndest to get us to demand single payer..."

:banghead:

[boppers]

14. Some people wanted to keep their current plans.

Those numbers, I suspect, may be dwindling.

[jtuck004]

15. Maybe we didn't demand it

loud enough ;)

[MedicalAdmin]

30. We are not getting single payer in the US.

It won't happen in my lifetime.

Why am I so cynical today. Because the insurance companies own the ball, the ref, the field, the FDA (joint ownership shared with PharmaCo) and the league. And if we don't like it then we are too poor to bother with. They are saying very clearly that they are not playing by our rules and that if we demand that the few concesions that this law gives us, then they will find the loopholes and drive our children off a cliff through them.

Premiums will skyrocket over the next 4 years. Count on your premiums to at least double.

They are already clearing off their books of anyone who might be expensive in any way (so much for the concept of shared risk). Count on being dropped in the next 4 years if you or anyone you cover has any problem that is the least bit "problematic."

They will continue to practice recission until '14. Count on being dropped if you get sick or use your policy more than some undefined set of "norms."





Yes - insurance companies are evil parasites. None-the-less we will, as a country, keep them because they already own the health care field lock, stock, and barrel. And because we are fearful and they will use that fear to keep us afraid and apart and arguing over minutia instead of targeting them and their evil minions.

So no, we will not see single payer in my lifetime in the US. However, that is OK, because the majority of the world is moving in that direction and they will ensure that most people are OK. If you love your family and want the best for your grandchildren, etc., then I suggest moving.



All of these gloomy comments are submitted by a medical clinic administrator who sees first hand just how evil insurance companies are. For those of you who don't ever deal with them, you have no clue of how evil they are. The SAW movies are childs play.

[Cal Carpenter]

31. "...arguing over minutia instead of targeting them and their evil minions..."

And this could apply to many 'industries' today, not just health care insurance.

Great post :thumbsup:

[MedicalAdmin]

35. Thanks. I was pretty gloomy when I posted yesterday.

But I see what the insurance companies do everyday and there is nothing in this bill's "restrictions" that will even slow them down. They still have plenty of tricks they already use daily. And now this bill, as the OP clearly states, gives those companies all the financial incentives they need to go from their normal horrible behavior to pure evil.

The companies are now experimenting in the 4 year window we have given them to see just how far they can push things. They will gauge the publics reaction and then after the few restrictions are enacted on 2014 they will know exactly how far to push it without us pushing back. Experiment 1- wellpoint raises rates by 39% in CA and we freak out. They won't try for an across the board increase of such size again - they seem to have settled on 20% and we do nothing.

Seminar sat with a 50yo male patient who was dropped after getting cancer, obstentially because of reasons other than his diagnosis. In the meantime his life if over and his wife and kids are in the place of losing their dad and husband from a cancer that can be treated easily IF treatments are paid for. And we get to sit with the family and try to find other options for our patient. It sickens me.

If you work for an insurance company then you are either part of the evil or a good little German.

[Cal Carpenter]

36. You see first hand

how manipulative this industry is, and it must be frustrating seeing people want to give them (or the politicians, for that matter) the benefit of the doubt when it is so clear that the people are getting screwed and it will only get worse.

But I have found that once I can break through the gloom on stuff like this I actually feel more hopeful and focused about it because at least you are starting form a place of truth, and not of false hopes or naive assumptions. Starting from the truth, no matter how ugly it may be, is the only way to get anywhere.

We see it with health care, with privatized utilities and crumbling infrastructure, we see it in our food supply, in our war-industry, privatizing schools, there is a pattern here and health care is a huge example of it - as bad as it is, maybe, just maybe, it will continue to become so clear that we actually act - more than party-oriented, legislation-oriented votes and phone calls...I don't know, but I'd rather start from the truth and not know what to do, than to do the same things over and over and get no results...

[MedicalAdmin]

38. I do try to stay positive ...

... but after having to sit with a family in grief and looking to lose a member (but win the law suit after he is dead because he can't afford his treatments out of pocket - FYI - we are a family practice mostly and are NOT set up to do this kind of cancer treatments or we would do the treatment and then wait to get paid after he wins his suit, or gets a settlement, which he will).

I just, I don't know, get so frustrated I could ... I don't know, something. Here we sit in the clinic with the patient, spouse and 2 kids while they try to figure out what to do. The insurance companies basically told the patient to go home and die (quietly please). He can find a place to get treatment and have a fighting chance or he can die soon. His kids and spouse are faced with the loss. It's devestating and it's only one incident in more than I can count.




So yes, even the best intentioned insurance employee is a Good German, a willing cog in the legal termination of productive, meaningful life. I don't care how well intentioned you are. If you work for a health insurance company then you have blood on your hands.

And I still don't see this weak assed give away to the corporations health care deform law will change anything. And yes, I've read the damn thing front to back. And yes, I've participated in state wide committees to analyse it's impact. And yes, it has loopholes you could drive a hearse through. And they will. Yes, they will.

<>

[bluethruandthru]

19. Fingers crossed! n/t

[DesertFlower]

23. i hope you're right.

[onethatcares]

25. I think that's why the start is a good thing.

you only have to listen to the amount of complaining from the insurers to understand how good it will be as it picks up steam.

[PufPuf23]

28. May you be correct! nt

[Trajan]

2. We need to get Insurance companies OUT from between us and Health Care ....

It is a ridiculous proposition .... We don't need bottomfeeders in the middle ....

[jtuck004]

16. + + + + + + + + + + You got that right! n/t/n

[BlueCheese]

4. They're not in this for their health... or your health.

But seriously--what did you expect? If you tell a company that they have to take a loss on a certain line of business, you shouldn't be surprised when they decide to get out of that line of business.

[daleanime]

6. Which is why....

they need to go away.:freak:

[marmar]

7. They need to get out of health care altogether.

nt

[laughingliberal]

9. What I expected was a bill that really addressed the health care crisis we face in this nation.

I don't suppose I have to tell anyone here what we got.

[truedelphi]

10. Not only are there so many built in weaknesses to the bill,

It has meant that an entire group of people, ages fifty to sixty two, are no longer employable.

Employers have a huge selection of applicants to choose from during this uh recession. So they are choosing not to hire people whose premiums are so much higher than those of younger workers.

[laughingliberal]

11. Tell me about it. Me-55. Husband-63

Crossing our fingers husband will live 2 more years when he will qualify for Medicare. Me? Not much hope.

If I had been asked what the single most important thing to reforming our system would be, I would have said to divorce it from the employer based system. Employer based health care, as you said, makes those over a certain age unemployable. It keeps people enslaved to jobs they hate just to keep their health care thereby destroying initiative and entrepreneurship. How much better would our lives be if, when looking for a job, our only considerations would be what we like to do and how much it pays? Lastly, it has destroyed the competiveness of American companies, driving our jobs overseas and our wages down.

[DesertFlower]

24. my friend is 65. she's eligible for medicare,

but her husband is only 62. it's costing her almost $700 a month to cover both of them. the sad thing is her health is not good, but she can't stop working. her husband is self employed and doesn't make that much.

[obxhead]

12. Cost Benefit Analysis.

The same thing will come up when they start denying coverage.

An insurance company can still deny coverage to anyone. They will now just be fined for it when they do. Those decisions will be made by a team crunching the numbers and some of the people who need insurance the most will still be denied because it will be decided that it's cheaper to pay a fine than medical bills.

[laughingliberal]

18. Yep. That's exactly what we'll see. nt

[bullwinkle428]

17. Why didn't the WH realize that every one of these mega-firms

has teams of sharks looking to figure out ways of weaseling around all of the attempted positive elements of HCR? "Medicare for All" could have closed most of those loopholes...

[truth2power]

22. What makes you think the WH didn't realize that? ...

What did you want, a pony? Just be grateful Obama has health care for his daughters.

:sarcasm:`

[sabrina 1]

33. If we realized it, they realized it. This was a bill that was meant to SAVE

the corrupt, failing Insurance Industry. It was never meant to be real HC Reform. The only way to reform the corrupt, fatal HC system in this country is to remove the immoral, predatory Insurance Corps from the system.

Healthcare is a right. It is not and should not be for-profit.

[chill_wind]

20. K & R. n/t

[Lyric]

21. Fine. Then I hope anyone who has a policy with them

drops them and chooses another insurance company, and if it's employer-based, I hope the employees give their employers nine kinds of hell in order to switch insurance companies.

[perdita9]

26. Best Argument Yet for the Public Option

The Insurance Companies are all about greed. THIS is why we need the government to take it over.

[ThatsMyBarack]

27. Mothra. Fockers.

:mad:

[beforeyoureyes]

29. If I hear one more democrat point out the victory of health insurance reform

I will toss my cookies.

This is ENSLAVEMENT.

Horrible

[pattmarty]

32. The Democratic party will forever hate the day this POS was passed..............

............Little by little the shit is seeping out on this "reform" and the way it's going I can't wait until 2014.

[roamer65]

34. Nationalize them.

[TBF]

37. +1000 - it's the only sane choice. nt

[Time for change]

39. That's what we get for leaving out the public option

It should have been obvious to our elected leaders that the insurance companies would do whatever they could get away with, as long as they considered it advantageous for them to do that. By leaving out the public option, these people now have nowhere to go.