tagged w/ Health Insurance Companies
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All of these companies paid their CEO millions while they refuse health care to children.
INDIANAPOLIS — Several health insurers say they will stop selling new child-only individual insurance policies as they face a health care reform provision that will prevent them from excluding children with potentially costly pre-existing conditions.
An insurance industry representative said the decision affects a relatively small population and is being made to keep costs down for all policyholders. But a Georgetown University researcher said some middle-class children could be left vulnerable by the ensuing lack of coverage options.
Several provisions of the health care overhaul went into effect Thursday, six months after it was signed into law.
One of those could help parents who have struggled to find coverage for children with expensive medical conditions. Under the provision, insurers will not be able to exclude children from coverage because of a pre-existing health condition. This means they will no longer be able to deny coverage or agree to cover the child except for services related to certain conditions.
However WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. — the five largest publicly traded health insurers based on enrollment — all have said recently they will stop selling child-only individual policies, although those children can still get coverage through a family plan in the individual market.
Individual insurance is coverage that is not offered through an employer and includes both single and family coverage.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39314403/ns/health-health_care/All of these companies paid their CEO millions while they refuse health care to... more
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from the web site:
"WHO WE ARE
Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system.
We'll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to health insurance, if we ain't broke, why fix it?"
More exciting news and information on web site....from the web site:
"WHO WE ARE
Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots... more
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WASHINGTON - Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, part of an increasingly bare-knuckled struggle over landmark health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama.
If enacted, the change would put an end to "price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice" insurance areas, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy said he would seek a vote on the plan when the Senate debates health care legislation in the next few weeks.
Leahy made his comments at the same time the House Judiciary Committee voted 20-9 to end an industry exemption that dates to 1945. Three Republicans supported the move.
Senior Democratic officials said the leadership was inclined to incorporate the measure into the broader health care bill expected to be brought to the floor for a vote within a few weeks. No final decision has been made, they added.
Taken together, the actions reflect the fury Democrats have shown in response to recent insurance industry attempts to influence the shape of legislation. The events occurred less than a week after the insurers' trade association issued a report saying a measure that cleared the Senate Finance Committee would produce sharp increases in premiums for millions who currently have insurance.
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Source: MSNBCWASHINGTON - Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to... more
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Health insurance stocks took a dive Tuesday, with the S&P Health Care Sector index becoming the worst-performing segment of the S&P 500, largely because of health insurance companies.
That followed a public declaration of war by the health insurance industry's lobbying arm against the White House's health care reform efforts.Health insurance stocks took a dive Tuesday, with the S&P Health Care Sector index... more
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In this video, Will Ferrel and others take a stand for the beleaguered health Insurance companies in America. About time someone told the truth...In this video, Will Ferrel and others take a stand for the beleaguered health... more
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In a House committee hearing last june, WellPoint's Blue Cross of California subsidiary and two other insurers were found to have saved more than $300 million in medical claims by canceling more than 20,000 sick policyholders. Through an industry practice called "Rescission" one Blue Cross employee earned a perfect score of "5" for "exceptional performance" on an evaluation that NOTED the employee's role in dropping THOUSANDS of policyholders and avoiding nearly $10 MILLION worth of medical care.
"The committee investigation uncovered several rescission practices that one lawmaker called egregious, including targeting every policyholder diagnosed with leukemia, breast cancer and 1,400 other serious illnesses. Such investigations involve scouring the policyholder's original application and years' worth of medical and pharmacy records in search of any discrepancies." [from LATimes article]In a House committee hearing last june, WellPoint's Blue Cross of California... more
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The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday.
Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica has asked California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate its claim that UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc. pushed workers to write their elected officials, attend town hall meetings and enlist family and friends to ensure an overhaul that matches their interests.
Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman in Brown's office, said the call for an investigation was being reviewed.
In a website message to the company's 75,000 employees, UnitedHealth's executive vice president and chief of medical affairs, Reed Tuckson, said he had "strong concerns" with some of the proposals and called for a bipartisan plan -- shorthand for heeding Republican opposition to any government-run option. He urged workers to contact an "advocacy specialist" with the company's lobbying group to "educate and assist" them in getting involved, including during working hours.
WellPoint, whose Anthem Blue Cross unit is the largest for-profit insurer in California and employs 8,000, took a more overtly negative tack.
"Regrettably, the congressional legislation, as currently passed by four of the five key committees in Congress, does not meet our definition of responsible and sustainable reform," Anthem said in a company e-mail last week. The proposals would hurt the company by "causing tens of millions of Americans to lose their private coverage and end up in a government-run plan."
The appeals amount to illegal coercion under California law, Consumer Watchdog research director Judy Dugan said. "While coercive communications with employees may be legal, if abhorrent, in most states, California's labor code appears to directly prohibit them," said Dugan, citing sections forbidding employers from "tending to control or direct" or "coercing or influencing" employees' political activities or affiliations.
The insurers denied their suggestions were inappropriate or aimed at defeating reform.The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby... more
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One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition – just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S.
Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals.
For Democrats, the answer is a public plan that would compete with private insurers. Republicans see that as a government power grab. President Barack Obama looks to be trapped in the middle of an argument that could sink his effort to overhaul the health care system.
Even lawmakers opposed to a government plan have problems with the growing clout of the big private companies.
"There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers," said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the highest-cost states. "The impact on the consumer is significant."
Wellpoint Inc. accounted for 71 percent of the Maine market, while runner-up Aetna had a 12 percent share, according to a 2008 report by the American Medical Association.
Proponents of a government plan say it could restore a competitive balance and lead to lower costs. For one thing, it wouldn't have to turn a profit.
A study by the Urban Institute public policy center estimated that a public plan could save taxpayers from $224 billion to $400 billion over 10 years by lowering the cost of proposed subsidies for the uninsured, while preserving private coverage for most people.
More info @ linkOne of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the... more
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