CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
June 23, 2009 – 1:58 p.m.
Public Plan ‘Devastating’ In Any Form, Insurers Say
Lobbies representing the insurance industry said in a letter to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., that a “government plan” option in any form would have “devastating consequences” for current health insurance coverage as well as for the budget deficit and “existing provider systems.”
Friday’s letter from America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association of America also expresses concern about insurance exchanges proposed in a plan developed by Kennedy that is being marked up by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The “gateways,” as they are known in the proposal, could be overly regulatory and should not be the only place where people can get subsidies to help buy coverage under a system in which everyone is required to have health insurance, the letter says.
The letter follows growing efforts in the Senate to fashion a compromise on the controversial issue of creating a new government-run insurance plan as part of overhauling health care. Sen. Kent Conrad , D-N.D., for example, has suggested creating member-run health insurance co-operatives as a form of public plan instead of creating a government-run insurance alternative to private health insurance. But the insurers appeared to reject that attempt at compromise.
“A government-run plan — no matter how it is initially structured — would dismantle employer-based coverage, significantly increase costs for those who remain in private coverage, and add additional liabilities to the federal budget,” the letter says.
A public plan would pay providers less and therefore charge lower premiums, attracting growing numbers of enrollees, the letter says. Providers would charge private plans more to make up for the lower payments, “causing further declines in private coverage and leaving hundreds of billions of dollars to be covered by the federal budget.”
Comments
Devastating for them, boo hoo! Remember the congressional hearings on rescission, they'll take your money, and cancel you as quicker than you get a lifethreatening diagnosis. I hope the government takes over all health insurance, its not what this country needs, we need health CARE, and we'll never get that from the Death insurance business. Call and write your congressional representatives, tell them you know who's pocket their in!
Awww poor insurance companies...maybe if they were not built on a model of "let the customer die, it improves our bottom line" I would feel more sympathy for them. They had years to make their failed system work, back in 94 they said don't force us to compete and we will improve things...well prices are higher, coverage is lower, pre-existing conditions and rescissions still exist. You had your chance...go die in a corner, just like you tell your ill customers.
Lobbyists spew forth a "government plan" option in any form would have "devastating consequences" for current health insurance coverage. . ." Good riddance. These parasites should be lined up against the nearest wall and shot. The health care denial industry needs to be put down. We have suffered ENOUGH.
Of course they think it will be devastating, who would CHOOSE healthcare that won't be there when you need it. Public plan is the only way to go.
What's good for some of the wealthiest corporations in the world may not be what's best for Americans. Medicare for ALL!
Listen to the stuck pig squeal. Squeal, piggy piggy. Your days are numbered.
I thought competition was a good thing. Isn't that the basic premise of capitalism? Right now there is nothing to stop the insurance companies from charging whatever they wish. Furthermore, they are picking off all the low-hanging fruit (healthy individuals with no preexisting conditions), and therefore not spreading the risk around fairly. This is so much like the financial industries expecting to reap all the profits, but again, take very little of the risk. What kind of capitalism is that? The insurance companies should not even be at the table. They have repeatedly thwarted any effort to control costs, and more importantly to provide coverage for all individuals. The insurance companies are the single biggest obstacle to universal coverage. They've had their chance over the past 50 years to create a system for everyone and have failed miserably. Health care is not a privilege, it is a right. It's very clear why congress can't do anything either, because of the huge amount of money they receive from the insurance industry. It's time they start representing their constituents and not the greedy insurers who contribute to their re-election coffers.
...so the problem is?
It would be devastating-to the profit margins of the bloated, disgusting and care denying health insurance robber barons.
Devastating to the health "care" industry = Wonderful for the country. I hope these blood merchants choke on all their blood money.
Insurers : you reap what you sow. Perhaps you should have used some of your 400+% profits and huge CEO bonuses to actually provide health care for your policyholders when they got sick, instead of looking for excuses to retroactively cancel their policies, footdragging endlessly on payments, 'losing' their paperwork again and again, and other nasty tricks designed to avoid payments hoping that your sick policyholders would just die. Now it's your turn.
The insurance profiteers still don't get it. Didn't somebody once campaign on "change we can believe in"? And providing health care to all? We need a leader to point out to the profiteers that they're no longer necessary - they're a disaster to the country and the people in it, and they need to go, quietly. They won't be missed.
See... This is typical liberal stupidity. Lets get those insurance companies like we got those mean ole auto companies! Yeah! That's the ticket! We'll show them! Let's destroy an entire industry that employs millions of people that pay taxes. What a GREAT PLAN! And just think we won't need people servicing their computers... kiss those jobs goodbye... and all those forms... wont need to print those any more... kiss all those jobs goodbye.... And all that office furniture.... wont need to buy that any more.... kiss all those jobs goodbye. How we doing so far? You got some health coverage for your tennis elbow and it only costs 5 or 6 million more jobs!!!! Bravo! We have reach the level of utter liberal stupidity.
Diversify or die. Hey health insurance co.s, Fear not! I'd like to introduce you to the invisible hand. [ ] Market forces will somehow work everything out and one day, magically, y'all will wake up and have yourselves some spankin' new jobs. (You will need some skills however. I'm afraid robbing people blind doesn't count). Although, ...casinos, the military and energy companies are always looking for folks with fancy math skills. Try that first. Welcome to America
Duh! The whole point of a public option is to get the Predatory insurance companies out of the mix....what part of "we want you CROOKS DEVASTATED" don't they understand? These are the same societal paragons who make profits off the suffering of their fellow citizens by denying coverage of valid claims, paying bonuses to employees who can find a technical reason for rescinding coverage for supposed pre-existing conditions and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on corrupt lobbyists to bribe our politicians to forestall doing what's RIGHT FOR AMERICA. This link is to the web cast show we did on this subject earlier this week on the show "on the Liberal Edge"----http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1698428 Let these Predators and their crooked businesses starve--devastating them is EXACTLY what we have in mind...Karma comes home at last.
So the medical/insurance industrial complex doesn't want a single payer provision because it would run them out of business. BUT they have no problems with jacking up my premium payment 300% to 400% when I reached 50 just because statics indicate people over 50 have more medical problems. So do they think the government is going to let them insure only the health domain of the total US population so as to rake in exorbitant profits at the insuree's expense or will the government read them the riot act and carefully explain that insurance is a pooled resource shared by all participants in the pool?
A public option would devastate the insurance industry. You all think that this would be a good thing but it would not! In this economy why would we wipe out employment for hundreds of thousands of people that work in this industry? Do you all want to be on a Medicare type plan that limits what treatments are available to you?
We are supposed to feel sorry for you and the suffering you will go through? How much suffering did you do when you stopped coverage during the middle of radiation treatments for my friend who died of lung cancer in August? How much did you suffer when my granddaughter turned 18 and could no longer be covered by her mother's insurance at work? Did you suffer very much when I moved to another state, had to have heart surgery and it was not covered? I am certainly the wrong one to turn to for sympathy. Assisted suicide is still illegal, but the actions of the health insurance industry are comparable to assisted suicide or assisted murder depending on the point of view of the person whose policy is canceled the first time it is really needed. What other industry can take your money every year until you need their product, then refuse to give you the product when you need it?
POST A COMMENT
Oops! The following errors must be addressed: