INSURANCE COMPANIES KILL PEOPLE
The most obvious reason why people are dying for lack of healthcare coverage in the United States is the massive number of uninsured people -- 47.5 million. They have no coverage. They have been rejected and THEY DIE:
They die:
1. because they are sick (pre-existing conditions) and insurance companies reject them.
2. because they are poor (no money to purchase insurance or pay the co-pays and deductibles).
3. they have lost their job and their insurance
4. because they don't go to the doctor or emergency room or show up too late because they have no money.
5. because once they get to the emergency room, they need protracted chemo, extensive testing, massive dentistry, high priced prescription drugs, a primary care physician, surgery or some other costly care not provided to people who have no form of coverage.
THEY DIE!
The average cost of insurance for famiolies who are not covered by their employer is $11,000. For many individuals and families, this may constitute one/third or one/fourth of their income. They buy insurance, they have nothing to live on.
BUT EVEN MORE PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE THEY HAVE INSURANCE! As many as 80 million or more of us do not have adequate insurance even though they think they are covered.
THEY DIE:
1. because they've paid huge amounts of money for insurance for many years.
2. because they think they have purchased insurance that will pay for their illnesses when they occur.
3. because they bought "affordable" insurance which turned out to be stripped down, cheap, partial insurance that didn't cover much of anything.
4. because they think they are wealthy enough to pay for any healthcare crisis that is faced by themselves and their family.
5. the health insurance companies have protected themselves fron thousands of healthcare conditions in order to increase their profits.
6. even though there are thousands of lawsuits against the insurance companies, some resulting in millions of dollars in damages to the people they have wronged, still they are able to avoid most legal consequences to their actions.
7. according to recent statistics, worldwide , the United States continues to have the worst results among all of the industrialized nations. 101,000 people die unnecessarily in the U.S. healthcare system each year -- unnecessarily.
16 comments:
Health care is not a commodity! We must remove profit from health care!
Please tell me your experiences with insurance companies, the good ones and the bad ones...
The insurance industry is bad for our health! We are slaves to the insurance industry until we join collectively and "Say NO to insurance industry profits and YES to guaranteed, high quality, affordable healthcare coverage for all," which is only economically feasible through a single-payer national healthcare system.
We often forget that we could get more healthcare for less money if the insurance companies were out of the "business" of healthcare.
Single payer, H.R. 676, would pay for everything -- doctors, nurses, hospitals, surgery, mental healthcare , long-term care, dental, optical and hearing care, physical therapy, all prescription drugs -- and we'd be paying less, a lot less per person.
No more insurance company profits.
60 Minutes: Charity Trying To Make Up For Failing U.S. Health Care System
By: Logan Murphy on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 AM - PST
video_wmv Download | Play video_mov Download | Play (h/t Heather)
If you’re looking for a story that shows the abysmal state of health care in America, look no further. 60 Minutes traveled to Knoxville, TN to film a free clinic set up by a charity group called Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps, or RAM. The charity was initially started in the 90’s by it’s founder, Stan Brock, former co-star of Wild Kingdom, to give health care relief to remote areas of Latin America, but after watching this segment it’s clear that America’s health care system doesn’t look too much different than that of a third world country.
Brock has no family, takes no salary and has no home. He is completely dedicated to RAM, as are the doctors and nurses who volunteer their time and expertise. The local response to this RAM clinic in Knoxville was amazing, yet profoundly saddening. Hundreds of people showed up for the clinic, many drove hours to get there and waited up to seven hours just to get a spot in line to be seen — and ultimately, hundreds had to be turned away. These were not Cadillac driving welfare queens, they were average, working Americans who are under insured or have no insurance at all. The most disheartening part of it all is to see how many of these people had avoided seeking medical treatment for years because they couldn’t afford it and are now reduced to begging for help. It’s a microcosm of our medical system and it’s a damn ugly sight in the world’s wealthiest nation.
The full video and transcripts available at CBSNews.com
Filed Under: CBS, Government Policy, Health/Science, Universal Health Care
Maryland,
I believe part of the answer to the health care crisis is consumers taking a proactive position to take control of their health. We have so many bad epidemics - diabetes, cancer, obesity, and my cause is creating an epidemic of healthy people. How do we shift our consciousness and honor our bodies and minds to function in magnificence? When do we shift our consciousness around choices to create healthy living for life? When will we decide to shift our thinking from living with illness to living in a state of wellness?
There is a need for health care and specialized medicine that is beyond what healthy living can cure. I think part of the solution, to de-capitalize the insurance monopolies, it starts with our individual responsibility to exercise healthy choices about our food source, our bodies, and raising our consciousness to be well. If part of the solution is to create an epidemic of healthy people, consider the impact on health care.
I don't have health insurance because I can't afford the premiums. When I need care, I go to the health department. My regimen of healthy foods, water, exercise, and supplementation has kept me well and healthy. These four simple things have changed the quality of my life and I live my choice to be healthy everyday - it's a way of life.
As a past HR Director who was responsible for health and medical benefits, I saw the devastation when families were denied access to benefits and helping them to appeal the decisions - despite the fact their portion of the premium could be as much as $1000/month. I sat in the negotiation meetings to see how helpless the employer felt when the insurance provider presented the figures to increase the cost by as much as 300% due to "over utilization of the plan." The experience was utter madness.
So I decided to take a proactive stance to educate consumers about health and wellness and set out on a journey to create an epidemic of healthy people!
I'm willing to help the cause to knock this "Goliath" to its' knees and one of the strategies has to be living healthy for life. How can we shift consumers' consciousness to take take control of their wellness?
Namaste
I think that is a really good point, Namaste. While the movement to remove profit-driven insurance companies and their corrupt policies from our health care system, there is something to be said for creating locally available health resources to people. Perhaps reinventing the availability and resources of community clinics. patchadams.org has a lot of ideas on rethinking the health care model outside of the financial aspects.
I have just begun telling people to remember history. FDR did not run on a platform to create Social Security and other progressive legislation ... but his rhetoric fueled the people's movement which in turn pushed his administration to pass the historic legislation. A few weeks ago I heard Francis Fox Piven on Democracy Now say the same thing but expanded it to include JFK and LBJ. In other words, it is what we are doing, building the movement, that will bring about single payer. So yes: Don't mourn, organize!
Hurrah for the NY Attorney General
Cuomo Expands Probe of Health Insurers
Thursday March 6, 3:08 pm ET
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer
Cuomo Expands Probe of Some of Nation's Biggest Health Insurers
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he issued new subpoenas to Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., and other health insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Cuomo is also looking to subpoena testimony from the chief executives of those companies, as well as from executives of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Excellus, and the combined Group Health Inc. and HIP Health Plan.
"The CEOs are responsible for their corporations and these actions had a significant impact on families all across the state," Cuomo told The Associated Press.
Cuomo is seeking all e-mail correspondence involving the companies' CEOs, chief operating officers, chief fiscal officers, presidents and employees supervising claims. He also wants any records that might challenge the accuracy of reimbursements that he feels are too low.
Cuomo says he believes the companies used the UnitedHealth Group-owned Ingenix to set rates, which resulted in consumers being reimbursed at unfair and unjustifiably low rates. Low reimbursements mean higher out-of-pocket costs for consumers when they choose or need physicians outside their health plans.
"Ingenix is a wholly owned subsidiary of the industry and the company is determining the rates that the insurance companies use to reimburse consumers," Cuomo told The Associated Press.
A spokeswoman for GHI-HIP declined to comment but said the company is cooperating with Cuomo. There was no immediate comment from Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth or WellPoint.
There was also no comment from a group of New York HMOs subpoenaed by Cuomo. They include the Capital District Physicians Health Plan; Health Now New York Inc.; Independent Health; and MVP Preferred Care.
"I believe consumers have been defrauded," Cuomo said. "I believe the companies have been allowed to do it nationwide. I believe there is a certain corporate arrogance to these companies."
He said the companies, which face less competition and record profits after a series of mergers, aren't fulfilling their commitment to pay fair reimbursements.
"The CEOs are responsible for their corporations and these actions had a significant impact on families all across the state," Cuomo said.
The new subpoenas are part of a case first announced in February. It relies on the state's powerful Martin Act, which provides criminal and civil enforcement powers for publicly traded companies. Cuomo is basing the other subpoenas on state consumer fraud laws.
He is also seeking to compel the testimony of CEOs to determine if the companies knew they were relying on artificially low reimbursement rates for customers and if the companies' investors knew of the practices.
Cuomo filed a notice in February saying he intended to sue Ingenix, but hasn't yet. He said negotiations with the company continue and the notice allows him to file the civil suit without further notice.
"We've been in discussions with him all along and continue to cooperate with the attorney general," said Joan Schimml of Ingenix.
Associated Press Writer Valerie Bauman contributed to this report from Albany.
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The New York Times (Robert Pear) article today says that "Economists and health policy experts say the federal health programs are unsustainable in their current form, because they are growing much faster than the economy or the revenues used to finance them. The Medicare program is especially endangered; its hospital insurance trust fund is expected to run out of money in 11 years.
But the need for cutbacks is not a popular theme for political candidates wooing voters who want more care at a lower cost.
The Democrats do not say, in any detail, how they would slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid or what they think about the main policy options: rationing care, raising taxes, cutting payments to providers or requiring beneficiaries to pay more.
Nor do they say how they would overcome the health care industry lobby, which has blocked proposals for even modest reductions in Medicare payment rates."
This quote totally disregards the only solution to the problem. To make healthcare for the elderly and healthcare for everybody sustainable, we need the insurance companies out! George Bush put in place a huge boondoggle to the insurance companies with his Medicare Part D program that provides billions of dollars to the insurance and pharmaceutical drug companies -- extra money that would not be necessary if there was a public program -- but Bush's administration forbade Medicare from negotiating the prices.
Insurance company profits and advertising, and lobbyists are the main reason healthcare is costing too much.
We need a single payer system that would provide much better benefits for all of us at the same time as it would spend less money.
This link is to a story that shows a big success in the California court standing up for victims of insurance denials!
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure23feb23,0,6265000.story
This link is to a story that shows a big success in the California court standing up for victims of insurance denials!
www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure23feb23,0,6265000.story
I'd rather die than pay ANYTHING to a private health care company. And I mean that. If I come down with cancer, I'm outta here. It's outrageous to pay thousands and thousands when nobody else -- particularly the people who can afford it less than me -- benefits from money I put into insurance.
I'm ready to go! To hell with insurance companies. Make it national, or get rid of it altogether.
Let's Pass HR 676!
I believe that healthcare should be a civil right for all, not just for the wealthy.
http://ushealthcarecrisis.blogspot.com/
http://www.h4pj.org/issues/healthcare.php
i have post-trematic stress disorder as well as physical pain. i am unemployed as well (a hefty price to pay for being plagued american) so obviousley i have no meds (i often have siezures induced by anxiety/ panic attacks). Time to save money and comfort and go for the shotgun and seal the deal.
Anyone care to offer a ride to cuba?
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