White House Seizes On Goldman Sachs Report Of Health Premiums Rising

[cal04]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/07/white-house-seizes-on-gol_n_489062.html

The Obama administration is making a late push for health reform by seizing on a report showing that market concentration for health insurance is so monopolized that insurance companies are willing to raise prices and lose customers in an effort to help their bottom line.

In a blog post on Sunday, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said that the findings, which were put together by Goldman Sachs and first reported by the Huffington Post, presented clear evidence that health insurer "profits will continue to soar under the status quo."

The last few days have brought even more evidence that the health care status quo is working out great for the insurance companies - at the same time as it continues to fail American families and businesses. No wonder the insurance companies are spending millions and millions of dollars to block reform." "On Wednesday, a leading insurance broker laid out in clear terms what many Americans could already guess: the insurers' monopoly is so strong that they can continue to jack up rates as much as they like - even if it means losing customers - and their profits will continue to soar under the status quo.


What does it mean when the insurance companies "walk away?" It means more and more American families forced to choose between the mortgage and health care bills. It means being hospital visit away from certain bankruptcy. And for Mr. Lewis's clients - business owners - it means not being able to do the right thing for their employees.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/07/more-evidence-urgent-problem

[berni_mccoy]

1. This is why rates are going up. They are dumping anyone who is sick by raising the rates

We cannot do nothing. Single-Payer-Or-Die folks are condemning the sick to die.

[chowder66]

2. "The Profit" should be the health of our people not the bottom line.

Public option now. Then single payer.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. So the message we snooks are supposed to internalize with this bit o' propaganda is...

that unless we cement into law the very worst practices of the for profit insurance industry, we are screwed.

[berni_mccoy]

4. It's not propaganda, it's reality. Single-Payer-Or-Die folks would rather see

the sick and chronically ill die over principle than have insurance companies involved in the solution.

We are screwed if nothing is done.

[Donnachaidh]

8. ahh -- the last choice of a weak argument FEARMONGERING

"Y'all are just big bad bullies that don't care if people DIE (cue music -- DUM DUM DAAAAAAAAHHHHH - break out stunned and staring hamster as music rises) because we can't push our Insurance Industry Profit Protection Act of 2010 through!"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Lorien]

11. When in truth that's EXACTLY what will happen with or without the current

HCR bill. It does nothing to save lives, homes, or our economy; it should be retitled "the healthcare industry profit maximizing act of 2010".

[berni_mccoy]

13. I Live In Fear Every Day... Fear of missing an insurance payment... fear of reaching a lifetime limi

Fear that is anything goes wrong that the Insurance company will revoke our insurance.

For people who live with chronic disease, fear of not getting your meds or supplies is a fucking reality. Every day.

You try living with it.

[Donnachaidh]

14. I *DO* live with it every single fucking day

I have a kid who is UN-INSURABLE -- even with this piece of shit bill you seem to think is a fucking cure all.

I have HEMOPHILIA in my family. It is a DEATH SENTENCE for many many children in this country. I have to FIGHT for EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMNED TREATMENT my son requires.

My son's BIRTH cost a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS.

I have had to MOVE to an area filled with redneck Sarh Palin types in order to get help. I have had to BEG to be considered for Schip, because of the COSTS of treating my kid.

Wanna compare costs bernie? ONE TRIP for my son would out do a YEAR of your costs for your kids. ONE.

Do YOU pay over 30 THOUSAND dollars for a fractured arm? That does NOT include the cast, or the xrays or any of the other typical costs -- that is for his FACTOR for ONE WEEK.

Don't you DARE give me your high and mighty *I know more about this than YOU do* bullshit because I LIVE IT EVERY FUCKING DAY.


And this PIECE OF SHIT Insurance Protection bill will NOT do a DAMNED THING for the children who need it the MOST in this country. Like MINE.

[berni_mccoy]

15. Your free to go on living as you do. I choose not to.

Peace.

[riderinthestorm]

16. I don't understand your response. Could you clarify?

You seem to be implying that the poster shouldn't also be "living in fear" just the same as you... then you make a non-sequitor of "I choose not to."

I don't understand your position in response to his post.

I believe the point is that his son has no ability to get health insurance and that because of that they had to move somewhere where there was state-subsidized health care for his son. The fear of NO HEALTH INSURANCE for his son was tremendously frightening and very real. I'm not sure how you think he is somehow "free" to worry or NOT worry about his son like it is some kind of trivial thing.

He had no health insurance for his son. And he is/was frightened about that.

You have health insurance and you are frightened because the company may chuck you off for exceeding the lifetime cap, or they will suddenly "discover" some bogus issue that means your condition isn't covered anymore (trust me, my spouse is in the same position so I understand that fear), or the rates will be jacked up beyond your reach etc. etc.. You seem to be "choosing" the same "fear" about health insurance that he had (has) but you are admonishing HIM to not "choose" that....

I don't get it.

Obama's HCR does nothing however for either of you or your fears. That was the initial point of the OP as I read it. This bill empowers the INSURANCE industry in ways that will entrench them and their system for many, many more years. It doesn't solve the underlying problem: that the US treats health care as a commodity subject to profit, instead of a basic human right that enables it's citizens to be productive members of society.

[Donnachaidh]

19. translation -- As long as my ass is covered by this bill, everyone else can go to hell

not surprising.

[berni_mccoy]

20. Funny, for you it's if you can't have it your way, then why should anyone else?

Is that right? Not surprising.

[Lorien]

10. The "single payer or die" folks? Um, no.

Single payer is simply the most sensible solution-which is why all the other Nations adopted it. We can either watch our sick go bankrupt AND die and watch as our Nation falls deeper into debt and becomes a third world country-OR we can do it your way and squeeze every last dime out of the working and middle classes, take away their homes and their lives just to satisfy the greed of a handful of the uber wealthy. I HAVE health insurance and I STILL have lost my life savings to health care costs.I pay through the nose for my own insurance; it has a 12k deductible and a 20% copay after that-and it doesn't cover more than a handful of claims. In fact, I've paid out over 78k for this insurance over the past ten years or so and in return they have paid $200.00 in claims. Does that sound "reasonable" to you?

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. I have heard this argument before, but I think it misses a central point

That point being, the health insurers have no intention, I believe, of fairly implementing ANY HCR bill that passes. So, the argument really comes down to whether you believe that the health insurance industry will change their practices based on good faith. I believe they will not. There is nothing in the HCR bill being considered that these health insurers have not already designed multiple work-arounds, dodges and strategies designed to nullify their effectiveness. My point is simple - whether this bill passes or not, there will STILL be truckloads of sick people having their lives traded solely for profit. Without a public option at teh very least, this bill is much worse than the status quo. It gives the health insurers everything they have always wanted - a perpetual secure place for the forseeable future at the table trading lives for profit.

[Donnachaidh]

7. Ding ding ding -- we have a WINNAH!

Let's toss some fearmongering out there -- see if it STICKS.

[leftstreet]

17. +1

[slipslidingaway]

23. Yup. n/t

[madrchsod]

5. obama won`t do what needs to be done...medicare for all.

if he came out for medicare all the corporations would`t give the democrats a dime.

it`s all about the dollars ..

[Lorien]

6. The corporations, or the Insurance cartel and Big Pharma?

Medicare for all would actually be a big help to most corporations in America. It would make the American workforce competitive again. But the insistence on maintaining the status quo shows just how big and bloated those two institutions have become.

[madrchsod]

18. agreed....

[tabbycat31]

21. that would never make it through the Senate

even with 50 votes plus Biden.

[Wilms]

9. We need Goldman Sachs to tell us this?

Hmmm. What are they really trying to get us to think?

[MisterP]

22. that's as seedy as using global warming to shill for coal. oh... nt