tagged w/ health care insurance
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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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http://anotherfinemessyougotusinto.blogspot.com/2010/07/medical-software-problems.html
Dr. Gregory House nails it again. We need FOSS alternatives to the commercial expensive stuff being crammed down our throats. We need open standards so third parties can compete and connect to other medical organizations.
Also why health insurance reform, even if passed, may not take effect right away and the reason why.
Maybe we just need a different doctor, but Doctor Who? A doctor who would know enough to fix these things, a Doctor of Everything, I guess? One with advanced science knowledge and technology and a very good problem solver. But does such a person exist, or did the BBC make it up to earn the money to pay for the UK health care system? :)http://anotherfinemessyougotusinto.blogspot.com/2010/07/medical-software-problems.html... more
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It extends coverage to 32 million Americans who didn't have it, and will likely cut the federal deficit by $138 billion over 10 years.It extends coverage to 32 million Americans who didn't have it, and will likely... more
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The pro-plan sentiment is that this is better than nothing. A few million of the many uninsured will be covered. Corporate corrupt practices, fraud, abuse, and much of the insurance industry's inhumanity will be held in check. Pre-existing conditions will no longer exist. But don't be surprised if they find loop holes around some of it, or find ways to con people. That's typical corporate America (We see it now with the new credit card laws. banks are asking people to allow them to bypass the over-limit fees.).
Anti-plan sentiment says that this is an insurance industry bailout. It forces people to pay for health care insurance. But who isn't paying already? I agree what we really need is a single payer plan like Medicare for all. but that's not on the table. Perhaps if we give in now we can return to fight another day for single payer.
What do you think? Should we support Obama's plan?
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/02/22/obama-health-plan/The pro-plan sentiment is that this is better than nothing. A few million of the many... more
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In the U.S., women are dying of pregnancy related complications despite the fact that we spend more than any other country on health care, or should I say, we spend more on health care insurance, which is hardly health care. Nearly 13 million women between the ages of 15 and 44 – that's one in five women of reproductive age – have no insurance at all.
The story only gets worse when you look at the rates of pregnancy-related deaths among minority women. African-American women are nearly four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white women. In high-risk pregnancies, the disparities are even greater; African-American women are five and a half times more likely to die than white women.
Amnesty International USA has launched a campaign to address this issue.In the U.S., women are dying of pregnancy related complications despite the fact that... more
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As for the 39% California premium boost, the House subcommittee released e-mails in which WellPoint executives discussed how to moderate rate increases by creating "look-alike plans . . . with a benefit or two removed" so they would seem cheaper, like a cereal company dropping its prices by a few nickels but putting less cereal in the same size box. Is there any surprise that, in this era of intolerable premium increases, the average deductible on WellPoint's policies has risen by 20% over the last two years? (One WellPoint policy in California carries a family deductible totaling up to $40,000 -- that's not a misprint.)
Braly in her testimony assured the subcommittee that even with the latest California rate increases, "a 40-year-old woman in Los Angeles can obtain coverage with a $1,500 deductible for as low as $156 per month."
She didn't specify what kind of coverage. So let's check out what her company offers. Leaving aside whether that 40-year-old woman might have a preexisting condition that would drive up her premium or make her uninsurable -- anything from diabetes to a history of hay fever -- the insurer's California package with a $1,500 deductible requires the customer to pay up to 70% of the cost of "covered services," including routine mammograms and Pap tests, plus as much as $500 a day for hospital stays.
Maternity isn't covered at all, so our 40-year-old Angelena better have gotten her lifetime childbearing out of the way before picking up the phone to sign up.
"Our plans fit the way you live," the CoreGuard brochure says. What it really means is: You better fit the plan, or you're out of luck.
Shouldn't that have been on the agenda at the Washington summit?
Michael Hiltzik's column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes.com, read previous columns at www.latimes.com/hiltzik, and follow @latimeshiltzik on Twitter.
(copied from an email blast by Dr. Irma Strantz, also a participant in the feature documentary film, Got Healthcare? http://gothealthcaremovie.com)As for the 39% California premium boost, the House subcommittee released e-mails in... more
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News organization Raw Story has obtained an exclusive analysis that shows President Obama received a staggering $20,175,303 from the healthcare industry during the 2008 election cycle.News organization Raw Story has obtained an exclusive analysis that shows President... more
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MoveOn has a new ad campaign that exposes Republican payoffs from the health care insurance industry.MoveOn has a new ad campaign that exposes Republican payoffs from the health care... more
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Just how will we reduce the costs of health care? Some recent trends point towards a future of outsourced medical care –and it may be here sooner than you think.Just how will we reduce the costs of health care? Some recent trends point towards a... more
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Government-sponsored nonprofit health care may seem like a worthy alternative to the public option – but it doesn’t really guarantee lower costs for anybody.Government-sponsored nonprofit health care may seem like a worthy alternative to the... more
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