White House blasts insurance industry

[kpete]

Source: Daily Kos

White House blasts insurance industry
Posted Oct 13, 2009, 9:22 AM PT by Jed Lewison • First broadcast: Oct 13, 2009

Linda Douglass, White House communications director for health policy, says the insurance industry’s "report" on the cost of the Baucus Bill suggests insurers are actually opposed to reform:

Transcript:

We know the history here, though. The insurance industry has routinely, consistently, and aggressively long opposed health reform, and one has to wonder, when you look at this report, whether the insurance industry is seeking reasons, excuses not to employ the kinds of protections for consumers, such as protecting you against pre-existing condidtions, or protecting you against the insurance company yanking your insurance away when you get sick.

So part of what this report appears to be is an exercise in trying to find a reason not to provide the insurance protections, the consumer protections that are at the heart of health insurance reform.



Read more: http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002246/

[hay rick]

1. If I was an insurance company...

I'd be scared to death of health care reform. Sooner or later people are going to figure out that health insurance is by far the largest source of waste in our health care system.

[Old Codger]

3. If you

Take time to really look at health insurance you will see a middle man that adds nothing whatsoever to the actual process of health care... they collect money, they keep part of it for doing so and pay the hosp dr bill if they cannot figure a way out of it... that is the extent of what they bring to the process

[AllyCat]

8. Yup

Whenever I mention this to some pro-insurance medical provider at my hospital (and there aren't that many!), they say "but they contain costs!!!" To which I reply: How do they contain costs? And they usually reply "by stopping duplication of service". And then I mention that they stop ANY service, let alone duplication. Most of them don't believe that insurance companies deny coverage. I guess we can't change them all. However, I usually get the attention of others listening to the short debate who then ask me lots of questions about single payer, public option, or other options.

[GinaMaria]

21. A public option could contain costs

and stop duplication of services. Medicare does the same and it costs a lot less because there are no fat cats grabbing massive profits.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Actually, insurance companies DON't deny services.

They only deny payment for services.

[AllyCat]

33. I stand corrected :)

[laughingliberal]

29. So many idiots, so little time

"but they contain costs!!" Lol. Yes, collecting money and not providing anything for it is a great way to increase profits and, I guess, it contains some costs. You just can't make this stuff up.


:rofl:

[Bonobo]

2. Doesn't sound like they were blindsided to me despite what some DU'ers pushed yesterday.

Words like "blindsided" and "scrambling" were pushed and passed around here at DU. More willing accomplices to the MSM's brainwashing.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. Health insurance companies can merge with hospital systems

FF to the year 2011

and the fused health insurance company/hospital systems we can called 'health trusts' can be part of the single payer health system.

This would prevent large numbers of lay offs if health insurance companies get the boot. Workers would be utilized in the government collection side and the new trusts.

[hay rick]

6. An optimists' problem.

What to do with all those health insurance employees when we graduate to single-payer. Sadly, many of them won't be needed. Also, Doctor's offices will be able to trim their staffs.

The real organized political barrier is in the corporate suites. Maybe we could just buy the health care company stocks. Sometimes, paying blackmailers is the way to go. The savings in health care costs would pay for the "investment" inside a few years.

[AllyCat]

9. Those people can go to work administering the new system

Some of them anyway. The rest, i.e. those at the top, should go to jail.

[hay rick]

10. Go directly to jail.

Do not collect $200,000,000.

[AllyCat]

11. lol!

[WriteDown]

18. Probably a little less than half....

There is going to be a lot of redundancy.

[AllyCat]

23. WriteDown, we've been through this on other threads and I know you sympathize

with the insurance industry. However, these are not good jobs. Stealing from people or helping people to steal from others is not a job. It's a crime. They'll find other work just like the rest of us. Someday.

Not having to pay insurance will free up a lot of new business I bet.

[WriteDown]

24. I sympathize with no one....

I am just stating facts. Good jobs or not, people need them. Do you really think the guy answering the phone when you call your ins company cares if its a "good" job? It's just a paycheck.

[AllyCat]

25. It's aiding and abetting theft. They can get plenty of other phone answering jobs.

And then they don't have to worry about health insurance bennies. And we should care about what our jobs do in the grand scheme of things. No matter what we do.

[WriteDown]

26. Plenty of other phone answering jobs?

Have you looked at the unemployment figures recently? People tend to not be as concerned with the "grand scheme" when they can't eat.

[AllyCat]

30. Oh, well then lets make sure we continue to employ people in parasitic

and illegitimate businesses rather than look for ways to expand our economy, say by, improving business opportunities (i.e. jobs) by getting the health insurance monkey off of the backs of business.

[WriteDown]

31. That is not the question...

Will the economy expand overnight to employ these people? This reminds me of the way people spoke about the auto manufacturers in MI. They were outdated and should just die and go away. But look at the paradise that MI is now.

[PurgedVoter]

13. Give more money to systemic looters?

They have already stolen enough estates, livelihoods, health and futures. They have gotten quite enough money. I would rather we make murder by contract evasion an investigated crime. I would rather the crime be followed to the top, instead of paying off these already more than wealthy sociopaths. I have way more sympathy for the innocent victims who lost their ability to continue to work, than I do for those who made it their work to twist the laws and contracts to extreme profit.

The bottom 50 percent of the population share 3 percent of the net worth. As these large businesses try to squeeze a percentage more in their profits, they are trying to squeeze 33 percent from the common man. It is not like they are providing better and better services for their great fees.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. Yes, hopefully Congress is looking at this

[Mimosa]

32. Great idea

Rosa, that is a sensible idea.

[PinkOwl]

5. Time to say ENOUGH

This isn't 1993. Great move!

[groundloop]

7. One of these days those crooks will figure it out....

That the President is a hell of a lot more astute politician than they give him credit for.

I preach to my kids about lying - don't expect me to trust you on the big things if you prove to me I can't trust you about the little things. Kinda' looks like the insurance crooks have proven they can't be trusted, period.

[DireStrike]

12. That almost comes close to being a sternly-worded rebuke.

Lemme know when the insurance industry gets blasted with something that will bring about reform.

[Vidar]

14. More harsh words. Fight back! Harass them to the full extent of the law

& then pass more laws!

[eridani]

16. I'd be way happier if he actually tried to regulate the sons of bitches

If he doesn't want single payer, why not private mandated insurance like the Netherlands? 100 euros/adult/month, NO copays, NO deductibles, NO age discrimination allowed.

[Romulox]

17. ...and then he signed a bill forcing all Americans to buy from them. nt

[WriteDown]

19. Like the end of a fairytale. nt

[Ganja Ninja]

20. And yet they praise the Baucus bill that forces people to buy their

insurance rather than providing them an alternative single payer system that would put these crooks out of business.

[dysfunctional press]

22. single. payer.

let the insurance companies suck on that.

[blindpig]

27. What a dog & pony show.

Does anybody really believe that a politician would bite the hand that feeds them?

Pure theater.