Today we paid a visit to United HealthCare CEO Stephen Hemsley

Bjorn Against

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Sat Dec-19-09 10:34 PM
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Today we paid a visit to United HealthCare CEO Stephen Hemsley

As the CEO of insurance industry giant United HealthCare Stephen Hemsley has encouraged his employees to be engaged in the political process and fight for a health care system that requires individuals to buy private insurance under penalty of law and offers them no public option. In a letter sent out on November 10th United HealthCare employees were encouraged to write letters to the editor supporting private insurance mandates, a template for a suggested letter which was provided by United HealthCare included the following talking point:

As many have said, now is the time for health care reform, and I believe that there is a way to effectively modernize the system.� While I am writing to you as an individual, and the opinion I express is my own, I work at UnitedHealth Group, a company that has proposed market reforms that will guarantee quality, affordable and portable coverage for all, regardless of gender, health status, or pre-existing conditions.� However, as we have learned from experiences in various states, in order for these market reforms to be successful, they must be accompanied by an effective personal coverage requirement.

Today the Senate health care bill is looking very much like the system that Hemsley's company was lobbying for. It looks like Hemsley is on the verge of a major victory, and after getting paid more than $16 million in total compensation since 2007 and sitting on $744 million in stock options it is looking like Hemsley is about to get a lot richer as a result of his company's lobbying efforts and the continued denial of his customers' claims.

Because Hemsley loves lobbying so much we decided that we should lobby him. Unfortunately however United HealthCare does not allow us to stand outside the corporate boardrooms to speak with Hemsley directly, so instead we decided to go take a walk across the frozen surface of Lake Minnetonka to the shore where Hemsley's $6,600,000 mansion is located.

Unlike Hemsley we were not asking for a mandate forcing individuals to buy private insurance, instead the only mandate that we are pushing for is a mandate that all Americans are able to receive health care without having to worry about having to pay for Hemsley's obscene salary.

We held a rally behind Hemsley's home with banners that held messages such as �Health Care not Wealth Care�, �Down With Insurance Companies� and �Health Care is a Human Right�. We sang songs, participated in chants and we heard a passionate call for real health care reform from Dr. Elizabeth Frost, a family practice physician who is tired of seeing the insurance industry deny her patients the care that they need and is taking a stand for universal single payer Medicare for all.

Hemsley may be uncomfortable with us gathering on the lake outside his home, but we promise him that we will stop making him uncomfortable the moment he stops profiting from the denial of the claims of his customers. The discomfort we cause Hemsley by holding banners outside his home is nothing compared to the discomfort felt by the millions of Americans who need health care but are denied access to it. We can not allow people like Hemsley to profit off denying people health care without feeling a public backlash for their actions, if we want health care reform we need to stand for real reform and we need to stand against United HealthCare.