bring on the PUBLIC OPTION (morphing it into SINGLE PAYER)... as Aetna CEO warns of price hikes:

[thotzRthingz]

29 March 2010
Aetna CEO warns: Expect price hikes, bankruptcies, and policy changes
ref: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/03/29/aetna-ceo-warns-expect-price-hikes-bankruptcies-and-policy-changes/

[depakid]

1. Anyone surprised by this?

[thotzRthingz]

12. I'm certainly not suprised, nor do I think anyone should be... I consistently said this would

happen, all during the HCR debates. With SINGLE PAYER not even really considered, and with even the HOUSE's passage of a feeble PUBLIC OPTION -- completely shot-down by the Senate corporatists... there are no meaningful COST CONTROLS.

[truedelphi]

26. So people realized that some went hungry inside the Mighty Kingdom?

"What should we do?" asked the Congress men and women, the Senators, and the President.

"Let us allow the mighty bread manufacturers, who have always worked to see that no one goes without, to charge whatever they like, while the government pledges subsidies to ensure that the poorest of the poor will be able to purchase the eighteen dollars a loaf bread.

"And let us not trouble the bread manufacturers about how many slices will be inside the eighteen dollar a loaf pieces of bread. Nor should we deter the mighty bread manufacturers on their insistence that people must buy up the deductibles of breakfast scones, and tasty lunch and dinner rolls, before being allowed to eat from the loaves of bread."

And so the mighty Bread Reform Act was signed into law, and although none in Congress or the Senate, or in the White House had to concern themselves with how it worked out, for they had their bread provided by the Congressional, Senatorial and White House bakeries, but rather they sipped their champagne (provided to them by the mighty bread manufacturers) and declared their actions "historic" and "sweeping," while the people of the nation wondered what would happen now that bread was becoming over thirty six dollars a loaf due to lack of price controls.

[Stinky The Clown]

32. We desire a collateral parable about circuses. For then we would be complete.

So sayeth the clown.





This should be its own OP, by the way.

[Dragonfli]

43. If the unclean undeserved masses wish to be angry over 18 dollar bread they may purchase cake

and eat what they can afford of that.
If it be mere crumbs it is the invisible hand declaring they deserve naught but such generous crumbs that fall from the finest cakes in all the land.

Why then should they be displeased? being coddled by the decent investor caste that takes pity on them, I fear they have grown spoiled by such sweet crumbs of their betters. for mere labors and dirty sweat they feel entitled to eat? Even tho they lack the fine skills of words and bits of paper that place such monetary worth on the well born and God favored sons of Adam and Calvin.

They know not their place and should be cast out into the wilderness for the stench of there ill-mannered births.
Perhaps in death they can feed others unworthy of the holiest of cuts from the cornucopia.

Till then we must imprison as many as we can to keep their stench from the more refined and deserved nostrils.

[OhioChick]

18. Not in the least. n/t

[Lorien]

35. Certainly not. Did you see Stinky the Clown's post yesterday?

Their premiums went from 9k a year to over 30k!

[thotzRthingz]

36. Yes, I did see it... (link included herein) and:

I am MAD AS HELL about such greed-mongering with ZERO contribution to the actual health CARE of individuals being so shamefully exploited! Here's a link to that topic:

So, I got my health insurance premium increase notice for this next year. Only Three Hundred Dollars
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8042804&mesg_id=8042804

[fascisthunter]

2. well, it looks like Americans will have no other choice but to dump private insurance

and replace it with a publicly funded system which will be cheaper for the country in the end. It's just a matter of time... this issue will not go away, not until something is done about it... not enough has been done.

[JuniperLea]

3. And so it begins...

This is exactly as I expected... this is where the insurance companies shoot themselves in the foot. Mark my words.

[thotzRthingz]

4. i think all of you are correct... I also think this may have been "the plan" all along...

i.e., *TRICK* the health care industry FOR-PROFITs into going along with HEALTH INSURANCE REFORMS (note: I did not say "health CARE reform" ... because fake & worthless "insurance" is not synonymous with "care" ... quite to the contrary, INSURANCE is about profits, not people)!

IOW: get it done, make it the LAW of the land, and then sit back and watch them (the for-profits) SELF DESTRUCT! ;)

[SocialistLez]

14. I've heard this from

right wingers.

"The government's plan is to BANKRPUT the insurance companies so we'll be FORCED to go with GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE!!"

I still say the health insurance industry got a sweet deal with this bill.
They benefit when prices increase because that means a higher subsidy from the government.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/18/making-future-reform-even-hard

[thotzRthingz]

16. there is certainly more than one way to view what has transpired... for example:

1. I was one of the "KILL THE BILL" proponents, but my motivation was anything but right-wing (my argument was... the Insurance Companies would FAIL, and everyone knew it, with the completely unsustainable model they were using)... so, they were the ones who would FIGHT to not have the "Senate Bill" (which they essentially wrote) to be killed.

2. "Insurance Companies Will Fail" is/was also a SCARE TACTIC talking point of the RWWs... most Americans are insured, and SCARING THEM (especially those on MEDICARE-supplementals) with "you'll lose your insurance" seemed a reasonable attempt at having them to oppose HCR.

bottom-line: I think we were "jerked around" by both sides... but I also think there were advantages gained, by both sides (if we fail to exploit the advantage, as I present it within this topic, then we have no one to blame but ourselves).

[Oregone]

5. You really can't have single payer without repealing the recent health bill

And the chances of that are zilch. Thats the way it is

[laughingliberal]

7. True. But great first step, huh?

and a real 'win,' eh?

[thotzRthingz]

8. ummm, does this mean that MAN will never "walk on the moon" ... IOW: the "chances" are precisely

what we CHOOSE them to be... nothing more, nothing less. Never ever give up! ;)

[tinrobot]

6. Once an insurance exchange is in place, the Public Option is easy.

Just add the government as one of the many providers.

[Captain Hilts]

9. "Insurance companies perform an important role." President Barack Obama. nt

[CrawlingChaos]

40. Hope-killing words, an utterly chilling quote (n/t)

[kestrel91316]

10. Yep. The insurance companies are gonna have even the freepers calling for their heads

and demanding Single Payer before it's all over. They can be counted on to get greedy and shoot themselves in the feet a few hundred times over.

Don't laugh. The wishing for SP on the part of some dedicated RWers has already started over on homesteading Today.

[bluethruandthru]

30. I don't know about that...

The right-wing truth-twisters will be out in force blaming Democrats and the HCR bill for all the nations woes. They'll advocate getting rid of any insurance regulations and letting the free market take care of everything.

[amborin]

11. K&R the HCR bill forecloses on any PO or SP; a tragedy, given the historic opportunity squandered

[Nikki Stone1]

13. Exactly. It's not gonna happen, folks.

The chance to get single payer was BEFORE the bill, not after it was passed.

The chance to get a public option was BEFORE the bill, not after it was passed.

It's over.

[thotzRthingz]

17. I certainly understand (and even share) your bitterness... but I refuse to give-up... we CAN make it

happen! Never, ever give-up! ;)

[Dawgs]

29. Giving up already?

I, myself, have a little more confidence that a public option is still a possibility; especially if companies and the insurance industry are threatening to raise prices.

[sabrina 1]

38. They were raising prices BEFORE the bill passed.

Did that stop the WH from rewarding them? What makes you think it will now? Seriously, this is not news. Were you not reading about the huge increases in premiums over the past several months? Why was this not addressed IN the bill? Now, it's too late. There is no law against what they are doing. Opponents of the bill brought this up over and over again and were shot down each time.

[thotzRthingz]

41. yes they were... that's what makes this latest "threat" (fear-mongering) our incentive to go PO now!

[kenny blankenship]

15. So now we begin the long march of "more subsidies" for the insurance mafia

Insurance Mafia: "We need more money! We're hiking prices, how you afford it is your problem."
Struggling Workers: This is bullshit - we need relief!
Democrats: More subsidies then!
Struggling Workers: That is just more bullshit - you just take the subsidies out in our taxes. We needed relief from THE PRICE SPIRAL.
Democrats: "I heard a call for more subsidies. More subsidies it is then!"
Insurance Mafia: "Om nom nom nom!

[Edweird]

19. Right you are, Ken.

[musette_sf]

23. Indeed!

And now to Guy...

[noise]

20. It gets distorted real fast

With HCR, the most sensible, cost effective route was single payer followed by a compromise for a public option. What is outrageous is that the politicians aren't honest enough to admit they are too corrupt to put the public interest ahead of special interests. Instead we are supposed to play a stupid game in which we all pretend that everything is ok because the teabaggers are upset.

[thotzRthingz]

21. I think the first thing we need to do, if we aren't going play their stupid game, is to start

calling this thing HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM (because it certainly was not health CARE reform).

[Romulox]

34. And the argument--it doesn't matter how much rates go up, if you can't afford it, we'll subsidize!

gives cold comfort. Where do "we" get the money to subsidize the insurance companies with? :shrug:

[truedelphi]

27. Yes a tragedy, but the greater tragedy is that those who take office

Consider their pledges to the Captains of Industry much more important than the pledges they made to people.
And so we not only have this bill honoring the Captains of the Insurance Industry, but the Giveaways totally trillions to the Wall Street crowd, (The huge tax breaks our government has recently offered to the Upper Elite allow funds for the pleasant trumpeting that TARP is being paid back.)

And of course all the honoring of Monsanto. So we are setting ourselves up for the Monsanto famine that will be evident in ten years or so, when the GMO stuff doesn't pan out, and/or if it does pan out but is so expensive none but the rich can eat it, though there is the likely chance that they will end up being sick from eating it.

[DRoseDARs]

22. Just got delayed notice today from Anthem BCBS raising my rate on June 1st.

They were obviously delaying notice all these months (usually get notice in January, if at all) to find out how the HCR bill
would end. I'm a single policy holder (no one else on my policy), self-pay (meaning not through my employer, who doesn't offer
coverage anyway and I believe has under 50 employees and thus still exempt from offering) on the cheapest policy they had for me. Here's what I've paid over the years, how much it increased, and why according to them:

>>>If memory serves, I started at about $140/month in May 2006, having hit 25yrsold on the 27th of April and thus no longer eligible to be on my stepdad's employer's insurance coverage, hence my switch to Anthem BCBS. I'm unsure of the exact amount because I can't find the bills for May, June or July 2006. Anyway, that rate was supposed to be my rate until my next birthday in April 2007...

>>>Somewhere between 13% and 20% increase in June(?) 2006 (again, I can't find my bills for May, June or July 2006 to give the previous amount) to $168/month (Yeah, we lied to you over the phone when you signed up about the rate you would pay until your next birthday. Fuck you and suck it, Mr. Rose.)

>>>9% increase in January 2007 to $184/month (This one was extra special: I received notice that either A. I had a "recent change in age" even though my birthday is in April which I was already supposed to be paying the proper rate from April 2006 and as you will see next, they raised my rate in April 2007 separately from this January 2007 rate increase anyway so they must think I get two birthdays in one year; B. "recent change in address" never mind that I've lived in this house at this address and haven't moved since 1987 LOOONG before becoming a policy holder with them; OR (and I want to stress that "OR" because they didn't specify WHICH of these three reasons caused the rate increase) C. "recent change in geographic region." What, did the Reno/Sparks area get scooped off the face of the Earth and physically moved somewhere else on the planet? And besides, they couldn't just pick ONE of these three reasons to raise my rate? It had to be multiple choice? I get to pick the one that raises my blood pressure the LEAST? How charitable of them, shows they really care. Fuck you and suck it, Mr. Rose.)

>>>11% increase in April 2007 to $205/month (change in age, so yeah like I said before rate increased twice in one year 4 months apart possibly for the same reason, Anthem BCBS just couldn't decide on ONE reason in January they were ALL just such wonderful reasons. Fuck you and suck it again, Mr. Rose.)

>>>21% increase in April 2008 to $248/month (change in age; reasonable reason, ridiculous rate)

>>>11% increase in April 2009 to $275/month (change in age; reasonable reason, ridiculous rate)

>>>delayed 18% increase in June 2010 to $325/month (Not because of change in age this coming April, not because of a change in address that hasn't changed in almost 23 years, not because of a change in geographic region since the Earth's crust doesn't move like that. No, nothing "reasonable" like any of that. Fuck you, we're just greedy. And suck it, Mr. Rose.)

[upi402]

24. medicare for all, end FICA caps and tax breaks

end the tax breaks for the rich
end offshore tax havens
end the FICA caps

"The FICA tax is considered a regressive tax on income (with no standard deduction or personal exemption deduction) and is imposed (for the year 2009) only on the first $106,800 of gross wages. The tax is not imposed on investment income (such as interest and dividends)."
-wikipedia

[Lugnut]

25. +100 n/t

[thotzRthingz]

28. Oh, I'm for all of that as well. thanks for bringing it to the discussion!

I believe, as Americans, we should *ALL* share the burden as equally as is possible.

Exempting Income (which I define as "any money coming in" regardless of whether or not one has to "work" for same) is ridiculous. If everyone PAID their fair share we could wipe out the national deficit within a few years and the national debt within a few decades.

I would never have thought that possible, only a few short months ago... but now that CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE TOO ... I say:

"soc et tu um"

[Vinnie From Indy]

31. Lucy has pulled the football away again!

Americans, as a whole, are still very easily manipulated. This HCR victory is just the latest example of how special interests can not only take shit away from us, but get us to thank them for it.

[Romulox]

33. Forcing people to buy something can never reduce its price.

It can reduce its cost, but not its price.

[glinda]

37. Here they come for even more of our household food money.

[progressoid]

39. Gee, no one could have expected that to happen.

:sarcasm:

[thotzRthingz]

42. where's ALAN GRAYSON'S "public option" (medicare buy-in) ... when we need it? :-|