I Really Can Not Stand It---

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A new report: Insurance Company Rate Hikes Driven by Greed, Not Underlying Medical Costs. Quell surprise, eh?

The cost of medical care is rising faster than inflation and doctors and hospitals are making more profit than they used to. BUT, insurance companies are raising their rates much faster than even that - over 20% faster than the amount they are paying doctors and two times the amount the underlying cost of care is rising. To put it another way, insurance companies are making more profit than ever (and they are making record profits) because they are raising their prices faster than their costs.

Rates go up for small business. Small business drops coverage. And then people have to seek insurance on the individual market where insurance companies make more profit because they deny coverage or raise their rates with impunity because individuals have a harder time fighting back.

And what, pray tell, are the insurance companies spending all that moola on? PERKS!

Anthem spent $27 million on 103 executive retreats to locations like Hawaii in 2007 and 2008 alone. From 2000 to 2008, insurance companies spent $716.4 billion of their premium dollars on administrative costs, salaries for their CEOs, and investor profit -- practically enough to fund the entire health reform bill.

And, so, this is why we must have--

Medicare for All!

And we must have it NOW.

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We Are in Trouble Now

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I had to go change my pants.

The insurance industry LIKES the Senate's latest "reform" bill.

WASHINGTON BUREAU -- The Senate Finance Committee has rejected amendments that could have created a government-run health insurance system, and it has accepted an amendment that could let agents participate in a proposed health “exchange” system. [Cowards! Exchanges don't work.]

“We are pleased by the rejection of both the Rockefeller and the Schumer amendments containing public plan options,” says Tom Currey, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Falls Church, Va. “But, we will continue our educational efforts. There are currently three other reform proposals with government-run options, and lawmakers need to understand the negative consequences. A strong private health insurance system is best equipped to provide options for families and businesses.” [Yeah, they have done such a sterling job of it so far.]

The government-run plan is a roadblock to reform,” AHIP [America’s Health Insurance Plans] spokesman Robert Zirkelbach says. “A new government-run plan would dismantle employer coverage, bankrupt hospitals, and add to the federal deficit. The same goals can be accomplished by enacting an overhaul of the market rules and new consumer protections so that nobody falls through the cracks of our health care system.” [Sure, just change the rules & the industry will find ways to go around, over, under & through those rules.]
(National Underwriter, the industry journal)

And that, my gentle snowflakes, is exactly why this offering from the delicious Max Baucus should be thrown onto the compost pile. At least there, it could eventually do some good. Remember, if the insurance companies win, we lose.

Medicare for All