Action to file complaints about health insurance cos.' use of premiums to lobby Congress

[clear eye]

The AFL-CIO has organized an action for those of us w/ private health insurance to file a complaint w/ our state regulatory agency about their excessive use of premium money for lobbying. Any insured can file, and the suggested wording links lobbying w/ exhorbitant rate hikes. I think this is one of those genius organizing moves that's so perfect that you wonder why you didn't think of it yourself.

Here is the state's webpage for NYers to file a complaint. The AFL-CIO's Working Families e-Activist Network offers the following wording for your complaint but suggests you customize it:

Draft complaint text:

I believe that health insurance company lobbying expenditures have led to excessive insurance rate hikes, and I urge you to investigate the impact of the costs of health insurance companies' lobbying expenditures on health insurance premiums.

In the past 10 years, the health care industry has spent more than $3.5 billion on lobbying activities, making it the second-highest spending industry out of 121 industries profiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The health care industry ranks as the single highest spender on lobbying activities so far in 2009, having outspent the financial services sector by more than $40 million.

The health care industry's lobbying expenditures have clearly impacted consumers' health care costs. For example, at the same time that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield was preparing to request your approval to raise insurance premiums for New Yorkers by up to 30 percent in some cases, Blue Cross and Blue Shield spent more than $9.5 million on lobbying activities. Similarly, the UnitedHealthcare insurance company recently proposed a rate increase for its Medicare supplement insurance while spending more than $2.6 million on lobbying activities in the first two quarters of this year.

In light of your obligations to ensure that insurance rates are not excessive or unfair, I urge you to investigate the impact of health insurance company lobbying expenditures on health insurance premiums and adopt regulations to prevent lobbying costs from being transferred to consumers through excessive rate increases.

If you've experienced any denial of claims, I suggest including it in your complaint.

Let's make them stop buying Congress!