What your health care premiums are used for other than your health care.

[Cleita]

Whether you have to pay for your own premiums or your employer or union does, you are being robbed. This is where the money goes from your denied claims:

Million dollar $alaries and perk$, like yacht$, private jet$ and country club membership$ for top executive$ like the CEOs.

Advertisings like those Cialis ads with the old farts in bathtubs or Sally Field talking about her osteoporosis. Oscar winning actresses can't be cheap and any idiot knows that prime time advertising can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars for a minute of time coast to coast and on all prime broadcast channels.

Washington Lobbyists. In 2008 this is what they spent in contributions:

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $234,612,254
Insurance $153,921,322
Hospital/Nursing Homes $ 99,089,521
Health Services/HMOs $ 62,991,752

Even energy lobbyists like gas and oil didn’t spend this much and it’s all your health care money going to this.

Campaign contributions to your Congre$$ional Repre$entatives and $enators. Open Secrets has the lists, which Harry Reid received top donations from nursing homes and hospital lobbyists (these are the for profit private ones).

Profit$ to Wall $treet

Wouldn’t you rather pay into a one payer system that doesn’t need to do all of the above and spends your money on your health care and prescription drugs?

[Horse with no Name]

1. Yep. And I am DAMNED sick of the insurance companies

AND big pharma ruling this country. They do not rule other countries.
But if we did away with them...who would make congress rich?:mad:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. cant use health insurance for much, have $5,000 deductible

its on my daughter's insurance card, laughing in my face.
If she needs health care, I have to come up with $5,000 first.

At least she has something, but sheesh.

[Cleita]

4. Not only that the $5,000 deductible starts every year so you are doubly

screwed. Not only do you get to pay cash for your health care but you or someone has to pay for your premium too. What a racket. I know before I qualified for Medicare I was stuck in such a policy.

[Downwinder]

33. Then you fall into the donut-hole every January. n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

50. oh and there's the lovely "pre-existing conditions" clause

that helps keep others out thanks to private insurance.

[slipslidingaway]

3. knr nt

[NV Whino]

5. Single Payer Health Insurance!

NOW!

[YewNork]

6. Analyzing the medical records of customers to determine if something might be pre-existing

[wolfgangmo]

40. They analyze BEFORE they write the policy

They take the premiums for years, and then they deny the claim.

It's a scam and it happens all the time. Heck. It is policy with lots of companies.

[YewNork]

7. Lining politicians' pockets so that they'll keep single payer off the table.

[Cleita]

10. Nancy Pelosi's major contributors in 2008

Amgen, Inc. (pharmaceutical company) $42,050
Akin, Gump, et al. (Washington lobbying firm) $41,050
Patton Boggs (Washington Law Firm)$17,400
Torchmark Corporation (Parent company of various insurance companies) $17,000 http://www.torchmarkcorp.com/

Other than Gallo Winery (which I didn't list) none of her major contributors are from California.

[truedelphi]

8. Although at least 50% of people have NO CHOICE in who their insurer is -

As their employer chooses that for them, we have endless ads for the Hospital in the area. Why is that? To keep that channel's news people from delving deeply into the health care crisis.


Several hundred people die from Swine flu and it is major headlines for two or three weeks. Tens of thousands die or have their lives reduced to a mere pittance of what a healthy life should be because of the health insurer denial industry - and nothing is ever said.

Our health care system should be a major headline in every newspaper and on every news channel until we have Single Payer. But that won't happen.

[YewNork]

23. And the opponents try to use that as a scare tactic

Lack of choice or bureaucratic control are the favorite arguments of people who don't want any type of government offered health system

1) You won't be able to choose your insurer.
Most people who get insurance through their employer don't have a choice. They have to go with the insurer that their employer uses.

2) The government will choose who your doctor will be.
Many insurance companies already restrict which doctors you can use by reimbursing you lower or not at all if you go out of their network.
It should be noted that in countries with single payer - every doctor is in the network.

3) Do you want some government bureaucrat deciding whether or not you will receive care?
Versus the bureaucrats in the insurance companies who already do the same thing?
And at least with a government plan, we vote for the people who run the government. We don't vote for the people who run the insurance companies.

[truedelphi]

26. Hey there - Welcome to DU.

And very concise and to the point syhnopsis of the flaws in their entire argument
against the SUingle Payer scenario.

[lib_wit_it]

51. Yep! So why aren't we seeing tv ads pointing out those lies? I guess it's just a matter of the

wealthy having the only real say since they have the most money to sponsor their lies.

[Doremus]

37. People on Medicare choose their own doctors.

That is the correct response to the RW's baldfaced lie that "the government chooses your doctor."

[pleah]

9. K&R

[snowdays]

11. Care for the insurance industry and congress--NOT health care for the

[Cleita]

12. Let's look at dirty Harry Reid.

To his credit his top contributors were law firms and the casino industry, which would be logical in Nevada, but he also is well steeped in the health care and PhRMA industry as well:

Lawyers/Law Firms $1,435,431
Casinos/Gambling $753,763
Real Estate $453,261
Securities & Investment $449,060
Lobbyists $409,691
Health Professionals $346,050
Insurance $267,810
Computers/Internet $237,942
Misc Finance $228,815
Retired $223,045
Business Services $220,209
TV/Movies/Music $211,700
Commercial Banks $207,396
Leadership PACs $205,000
Hospitals/Nursing Homes $159,225 In this category, he received more money than anyone in the Senate.
Transportation Unions $138,000
Finance/Credit Companies $125,250
Public Sector Unions $125,000
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $119,650
Air Transport $112,350

[Cleita]

14. Max Baucus totally in the pocket of the insurance and health care industry.

No wonder he won't let the doctors and nurses in the committee.

Top contributors:

Schering-Plough Corp $72,200
New York Life Insurance $52,900
KKR & Co $50,500
Goldman Sachs $48,900
DaVita Inc $48,350

Top industries:

Securities & Investment $838,418
Lawyers/Law Firms $667,754
Insurance $592,185
Health Professionals $537,141
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $524,813

[xchrom]

13. +13

[Why Syzygy]

15. k/r!

[sandyd921]

16. K&R!

[Synicus Maximus]

17. Don't forget dividends to stockholders

Oh wait forget that, retirees and union pension funds are some of the stockholders.

[Cleita]

20. Did you read the post? I said Wall Street profits.

Retirees and unions shouldn't invest in these parasitical industries. They then become part of the problem.

[Shallah Kali]

18. Drug companies "spent approximately $61,000 in promotion per physician during 2004" & more......

Big Pharma Spends More On Advertising Than Research And Development, Study Finds
(Jan. 7, 2008)

A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.

The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.

snip

CAM reported total promotion spending by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry as US$33.5 billion in their 2004 report, while IMS reported US$27.7 billion for the same year. The authors observed, however, important differences in figures according to each promotion category. By selectively using both sets of figures provided by IMS and CAM, in order to determine the most relevant data for each category, and adjusting for methodological differences between the ways IMS and CAM collect data, the authors arrived at US$57.5 billion for the total amount spent on pharmaceutical promotion in 2004. The industry spent approximately US$61,000 in promotion per physician during 2004, according to Gagnon.

“Even our revised promotion figure for 2004 is apt to be understated, as there are other promotion avenues that are not likely to be taken into consideration by IMS or CAM, such as ghost-writing and off-label promotion,” says Gagnon. “Also, seeding trials, which are designed to promote the prescription of new drugs, may be allocated to other budget categories.”

The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States

[Cleita]

21. Also, much of the research that they take credit for is done

in our universities and overseas. That line that we can't import cheaper drugs from Canada because the American inflated prices are needed for research is pure bull shit.

[Shallah Kali]

25. Yep they take credit US taxpayer sponsored research

then spend a lot of time reinventing versions of existing drugs so they can have a new patent - that is when they don't lobby congress into extending the patents again and again and again. I found the FDA's page of drug patents once for my uncle who wanted to know when his epilepsy drug was finally going to come down in price since his druggist thought it was due only to find it had been extended.

[wolfgangmo]

41. Absolutely

Anyone who pulls reports from PubMed or any other online medical research clearinghouse knows that at over 70% of the research being done is being done overseas where a lot of the university research departments are part of the national health programs. What is being done here is very selective and very orientated to selling. Other research seems to be suppressed on a regular basis. Hmmmm? What was that heart drug that killed all those folks.

The lie that the US drug companies are responsible for all of the worlds research is pure BS.

[Shallah Kali]

54. Zetia & Vytorin INCREASE plaque in arteries - drug companies covered up studies that showed this

Neurontin was pushed by drug reps as off-label treatments for everything from hiccups to bipolar for years when all it was approved for was as a back up medicine to help control seizures - link:

Prescription for disaster: drugs, lies, and greed

June 8, 2008

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies
Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines
and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/06/08/prescription_for_disaster_drugs_lies_and_greed/

Petersen illustrates this with a series of case studies, the most horrifying of which follows the exploits of David Franklin, a scientist turned drug salesman. Franklin's job was to increase sales of Neurontin, a drug approved to treat epilepsy in limited cases. (In 5 to 10 percent of patients, the drug actually worsened the illness.)

Company executives, not satisfied with selling Neurontin for its limited approved use, marketed it for a dozen other, unrelated conditions for which it had not been tested, among them attention deficit disorder, sexual dysfunction, manic depression, and - bizarrely - chronic hiccups. To that end, the company paid legions of doctors to promote the drug through lectures, testimonials, and faked reports in scholarly journals. Doctors were handed tens of millions of dollars in cash, and showered with lavish dinners and "educational" junkets.

Soon the FDA was flooded with complaints of side effects, ranging from hallucinations and extreme fatigue to sudden death. Still, nothing was done until Franklin blew the whistle. Concluded a physician at the National Institute of Mental Health after taking a close look at the drug, "Neurontin is being used like water for disorders where there is not much evidence it is effective. Nobody even knows how it works."

[truedelphi]

27. That is so sick that I cannot even get my head around it. n/t

[Pooka Fey]

19. Kicking.

[L0oniX]

22. Damn drug dealers. Are they any better than crack dealers?

[zorahopkins]

24. Put Them OUT of BUSINESS!

I get so angry at Big Pharma and Big Insurance.

Put them ALL OUT OF BUSINESS!!

Give us medical organizations that are run for the PUBLIC GOOD -- NOT for profit!

Medical Reform -- NOW!!

[quidam56]

28. So sad Profit Care in America

is more important than Patient Care. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 It is quite shocking to know what is deemed, defended and supported in Tennessee and Virginia as quality health care.

[eridani]

29. Write your congresscritters and Obama daily on this

Oveload their answering machines. Break their faxes.

[AdHocSolver]

30. These numbers prove that we have the best government money can buy. K and R

[progressoid]

31. Gotta link for that data?

thnx.

[Cleita]

32. Sorry I didn't save it but I got it from Open Secrets.

Google will get you there.

[progressoid]

38. Thanks. n/t

[Wednesdays]

34. K&R

:kick:

[AllyCat]

35. Yes.

[Christa]

36. K & R nt

[bertman]

39. You forgot a BIGGIE, but this is still an Excellent Post. Not included here is the money

that these companies spend buying up smaller companies so the big companies can form near-monopolies on health coverage; therefore, increasing their ability to charge whatever the hell they want.

[Cleita]

42. Bingo! Thanks for adding it for me.n/t

[handmade34]

43. single payer - we must fight for this

http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/may-30th-day-of-action/

[livefreest]

44. how can it be "health care" if some CEO's bonus is based on how many people have been denied

"health care"

[warren pease]

45. This isn't a health care system. ...

... It's just another corporate shake-down. Premiums are protection money paid to legalized extortion rackets, who then allow you to keep most of your stuff – house, car, pre-Columbian art collection, et al -- if something serious (i.e., expensive and maybe requiring hospitalization) happens to you.

Medical insurance has nothing whatsoever to do with health care except in the twisted minds of Chicago School libertarian fanatics and profiteering free market pitchmen. Break that nonsensical, artificial link, dump the idea of for-profit medicine entirely, replace it with a single-payer, universal-access system and spread the risk over the entire population in the form of a modest, progressive tax.

In other words, take a hint from the rest of the modern world where people pay far less per capita for their health care, never see a bill from a doctor, hospital or a goddamn insurance racketeer, and whose systems consistently produce hard, unambiguous numbers that rip the US lies and fantasies to shreds but which remain a complete mystery here in Dumbfuckistan because nobody seems to want to hear incontestable evidence showing exactly how gullible and easily conned they are. Bad enough being a dumb shit and functional illiterate without being exposed as a dimwitted rube, too.

And here's the final insult: We suck at keeping our own people healthy although we spend far more money pretending to try than any other country in the world. Here's some stats I got from a sort on the World Health Organization database and, lookie there, the US spends more money as a percentage of GDP than any other country in Europe or the Americas.

Which is bad enough, since all these other countries spend far less and still provide universal access to quality health care for all. But then you look at this chart and see that the US ranks 37th in the world in overall effectiveness of its health care system -- right ahead of that medical nirvana, Slovenia.

There's no possible way to put a happy face on a system that allows bottom-line-driven public corporations to profit by selling access to health care providers for those who can afford the premiums, deductibles, copays and the rest of the bullshit charges -- while denying access to those who can't, which is literally imposing a death sentence on an estimated 22,000 Americans every year. Or so it says here.

Happily, some are making out like the successful criminals they are. Warms the heart, doesn't it?

The US lack of commitment to social services that benefit its own people is so stark compared with actual civilized countries. And it's all about money and profits. There's no other reason for such a dysfunctional system to even exist, much less become the model for a medical scam that never tires of thumping its collective chest and declaring its superiority to anything else in the world.

And why would that be? Because it's American, goddammit, and that's all that's required to claim the top spot in anything. Or so I'm told by delusional fools and TV-trained idiots who cling desperately to a mythical national self-image that hasn't existed in at least 35 years.

USA! USA! USA! Perfecting the art of systemic suckage, because we owe it to the children.

Cheers,


the former wp, finally sick and tired of a decade spent cowering behind various noms de guerre and now writing as Steven Franklin, which happens to be my real name -- or close enough for gummint work.


sf

[Cleita]

46. Thanks Steven. This deserves its own post.

Could you put it up for all to see?

[warren pease]

49. Thanks, Cleita...

... but unfortunately I don't have the time to start and continue contributing to a thread this morning. I don't like just tossing out an opening post and then abandoning ship.

However, if you're going to be around for a couple of hours, you're more than welcome to take my post #45, edit it if you want, and use it to start a new thread.

I'm not remotely interested in ownership of ideas, and most of the screed above is derivative anyway. Credit's nice, but this subject is far too important to act proprietary about it.

I think what's really important here is getting people exposed to the sources I've linked, along with many, many others -- all of whom tell a completely contrary story -- AKA, the goddamned truth -- that demolishes the lies constantly peddled by the US corporate propaganda machine.

If you're really bored today, I've written pretty extensively on this subject and published a few articles at Online Journal and OpEdNews. If you want, just load their home pages, search for "warren pease," and you'll find three or four articles on the subject, along with other seditious opinions and inflammatory rants against the empire.

And thanks again for your kind comments.



sf

[Cleita]

53. Okay, I will because my post has been removed from the Greatest page and

yours deserves more eyes.

[OHDEM]

47. What our healthcare dollars buy....

http://www.cleveland.com/insideout/index.ssf/2008/09/lovely_gates_mills_home_is.html

What if someone walked up to you and said, "Tell me your wish list for a brand new house and I will make it happen." Pretty cool, right?
Well, that's exactly what happened in 1996 when Maryellen and Umberto Fedeli Jr., owner of the insurance brokerage company The Fedeli Group, started planning their eventually 16,000-square-foot home in Gates Mills.

The charity event IS nice, but he gives more to Republicans!

[tosh]

48. Righteous post.. K&R.

[zoff]

52. This is one post that really hits home.

I don't even know where to start. A friend of mine observed that we work so hard to put a roof over our heads, to live the american dream. Then one cataclysmic event, such as sickness or joblessness, swoops in and we risk the homes and lives that we built. It's even more true in the case of seniors who finally own their home when they retire, only to lose it to the state because they must somehow pay for certain forms of care, i.e. long-term care. Is America a "land so fair?"

Our electoral system is rigged to the favor the moneyed class, bankers, insurers, big oil, big pharma, the lot of them. Too much money flowing into election coffers clearly buys legislative votes and both parties will never pass campaign finance reform. And this cycle of usurpation of the middle and lower classes continues. Indeed, May God Bless America ... may god stand beside her and guide her. And may we one day vote these vultures out of office.