Whistleblower Reveals How Insurers Can Game Healthcare Bill

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Source: The Raw Story

Though Senate bill cuts 'pre-existing conditions,' it still allows insurance companies to create 'pre-existing' categories to raise rates

The Democrats' healthcare overhaul, billed as a monumental game-changer for Americans' health insurance coverage, provides numerous loopholes for health insurance companies which will allow them to raise rates to protect profit margins, a health insurance whistleblower says.

Wendell Potter, a twenty-year veteran of the insurance industry and former vice president of communications for Cigna, warns that current healthcare legislation does nothing to prevent the insurance industry from continuing its ongoing practice of increasingly shifting healthcare costs to consumers.

A form of bait-and-switch, such practices often set up individuals, families and small businesses for inadequate or unaffordable access and a continued looming threat of financial ruin. The overlooked element, Potter says, is that insurance companies will be able to claim they are reducing premiums by forcing more Americans to pay higher deductibles and offering less coverage.

“We talk a lot about affordability, and we talk about affordability of insurance premiums,” Potter told Raw Story in a nearly hour-long interview. “But when you talk about affordability, you need to talk about affordability of premiums plus out-of-pocket expenses.”

more: http://rawstory.com/2010/01/whisteblower-reveals-health-insurers-game-insurance-bill/

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1. That is why I don't believe this bill will help those with pre-existing conditions.

Ca passed similar laws in the early 90's. The Insurance Industry was allowed in-put which gave them the same types of loop-holes.