Kucinich Asks AIG Why It’s Denying Claims From Injured Contractors in Iraq

[JonLP24]

Source: Herald de Paris

Heeding a call from Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md), an investigative subcommittee headed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said today that it tentatively planned to hold a hearing this summer on whether AIG has routinely blocked medical care for civilian contractors injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kucinich, chair of the domestic policy panel of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, fired off an angry letter to the company, saying that he was “alarmed” by a joint investigation by ProPublica, ABC News and the Los Angeles Times. The investigation found that the troubled insurance giant routinely denied basic medical care such as psychological counseling and even prosthetic legs for civilians injured in the war zone.

Under a federal law known as the Defense Base Act, contractor companies are required to purchase workers compensation insurance for employees deployed to a war zone. AIG dominates the market for such insurance, handling nearly 90 percent of all claims in Iraq. Government audits and inquiries have questioned whether AIG and other carriers charged “excessive” premiums for the insurance. Taxpayers ultimately pay for such insurance as part of the contract price.

“Apparently, AIG is profiting both by charging unreasonably high premiums to contracting firms and by denying or delaying legitimate claims of civilian workers for medical care and other services needed as a result of war zone injuries,” Kucinich wrote.


Read more: http://www.heralddeparis.com/kucinich-asks-aig-why-it%E2%80%99s-denying-claims-from-injured-contractors-in-iraq-3/33828

[Old Coot]

1. Shame...... Shame..... nt

[Jeep789]

2. So they have more for bonuses, duh.

I suspect Kucinich knows the answer and just want AIG to admit it. Greedy bastards!

[harun]

3. Same reason the rest of the for-profit insurers deny claims. Greed

and no one can stop them.

[slay]

4. Dennis proves once again why he is my favorite politician

And it's not even close - give um hell Dennis!

[avaistheone1]

5. I wonder if denying claims gets them bigger bonuses.

[Downwinder]

6. like Kaiser. n/t

[avaistheone1]

9. Kaiser does that?!!

[cadaverdog]

11. Re Kaiser, I challenge you to substantiate

your claim.
Kaiser Permanente is the only HMO to be awarded a five star rating in a recent poll posted in the Los Angeles Times.
No, Kaiser isn't perfect, but my family has been with them for almost forty years, and we aren't leaving any time soon.

[Jeep789]

17. Kaiser is non profit nt

[nodehopper]

18. lolz

non-profit HMO in the USA is like a "vegetarian" vampire.

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Southern-California-Hospital-System-Sues-Kaiser-Permanente-for-Managing-Bills-Rather-Than-Managing-Care-11755-1/

[Jeep789]

19. I've had no problems with them paying my families emergency

care at other hospitals (and some I might have disputed if I had been them).

[cadaverdog]

23. you need to get off your high horse and do a little fact checking

before posting links to spurious articles. A simple look at the bottom of the first page of the linked article reveals the following:

SOURCE Prime Healthcare Services
Copyright©2008 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved

That's right, lolz. The source for your article claiming Kaiser is stingy on their payouts to Prime Healthcare Services, is none other than Prime Healthcare Services, which is a series of hospitals that were picked-up at fire sale prices by a certain notorious "doctor" who has been accused of various unethical practices. Prime Healthcare was the subject of a series of extremely unflattering articles in the Los Angeles Times back in 2007.

As I said, Kaiser isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than any other HMO, IMHO.
And Prime Healthcare Services is the sausage factory of HMO's.

[Doctor Cynic]

7. "We're sorry, we need your premiums to pay our big bonuses."

[Vidar]

8. Thank you, Dennis.

[rollingrock]

10. And Geithner wants to hand over a few more billion to these crooks?

our government is run by a bunch of thugs.

[Demeter]

12. Bless You Mr. Kucinich

Without your tilting at the government's windmills, we wouldn't even have the illusion of a democratic republic.

[valerief]

13. K&R

:kick:

[downindixie]

14. Dennis always kicks ass!

Now we need to make AIG pay! Don't give these mothers another cent.

[Telly Savalas]

15. This is something the government really ought to be insuring itself.

The article in the OP links to a really good article which contains a lot more info:

http://www.propublica.org/feature/injured-war-zone-contractors-fight-to-get-care-from-aig-416

The funky nature of this line of business has led to the absence of a competitive market and pretty much encourages this kind of abuse. The government should bear the financial risk of war contractors' workers' comp claims and take a more active role in the claims adjudication. Rework the system to cut AIG out of it altogether.

To accomplish this, we don't need a hearing where self-aggrandizing Congresspeople play populist by pointing their fingers at corporate bigwigs. That's a waste of time.

What we need is for the Department of Labor and Department of Justice to use every tool at its disposal to crack down on this shit, and we need Congress to draft legislation whereby war contractors workers comp is insured directly by the federal government.

Fuck "truth to power". Fix the fucking problem.

[Wednesdays]

16. K&R

:kick:

[Lasher]

20. Well at least they can pick their own doctors.

That's the only thing that really counts.

:eyes:

[Cass]

21. All these financial firms are robbing us blind.

And they do it with impunity. What is it going to take for our Congress to slam shut the money spigot to these theives?

BTW, I notice this is from a French paper, haven't seen this in the US news yet. It never ceases to amaze me that foreign news sources often have better reporting about US issues than what we get in our MSM.

[InkAddict]

22. I'll not stick up for mercenary corporations or their greedy workers

who get tax-free paychecks and know the risks of entering a war zone, especially an illegitimate war zone; nevertheless, "THANK GOD IT PASSED" so let the claim paying begin NOW on every single claim (that's legit, whatever that may mean nowadays???). There's a reason veterans have their own healthcare system, feable though it may be at times, and have a day of memorial