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Healthcare Foxes are Building the Taxpayer Funded Hen House
Last week I wrote about Karen Ignagni, CEO of America's Health insurance Plans (the industry trade group known as AHIP) who was called on and recognized by President Barack Obama during his White House Summit on Healthcare Reform in late February and who was also the only "stakeholder" seated in the front of the room later for a briefing by the staff of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (the committee chaired by Senator Ted Kennedy). Clearly, Ignagni has been afforded a sort of access and status in this debate and in the reform effort that many others have not.
The fox isn't just in the hen house. The fox is building it.
I've got to hand it to Congress right now. Most members of Congress are making sure they remember "on which side of the toast you find the butter" in terms of making the for-profit health insurance industry comfortable in their deeply entrenched roles not only in our broken healthcare system but also in the deep-pocket funding of many Congressional campaigns. The insurance industry's influence is purchased with millions and millions in campaign contributions and with the preventable deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens every year. That is fact.
So why does it even warrant mention that the hearing this week to discuss health insurance reform has a witness list populated with industry-friendly voices, including Ignagni? I write this because it is so deeply dishonest and offensive to me that we are told we have an allegedly open and inclusive process to explore what's best for the nation's healthcare reform while the drafting and crafting thunders forward with very closed very elitist and very non-human rights oriented effort.
If healthcare is a basic human right, we must start from that truth and work forward in how to provide that basic human right to every person in this nation. Period. That is not Karen Ignagni's view. It is not her job. Her job - and she does it well - is to advocate for and protect her industry.
It's time for all of us who would like to hear nurses and patients and doctors tell their truths in these official hearings to let the committee chairs and their staff members know it and we're watching. Though we are not invited to testify, written testimony is always permitted. If we cannot secure appropriate discourse with wide representation of witnesses at these hearings, we should submit our own "expert testimony" in written form following every hearing. Unless and until we hold our government directly accountable for these issues, the abuses will continue.
And if the abuses continue, then Congress will give us health reform legislation based only on the testimony they wanted to hear rather than all the information they needed to consider. We'll not hear much from those who advocate for single payer - publicly funded, privately delivered - healthcare reform because no one who advocates that position is being asked to officially testify.
Below is the link to this week's Senate HELP Committee hearing and a copy of the witness list asked to help shape reform of health insurance. Do we really want insurance executives telling Congress how to reform their own industry? And then dictating that we all purchase their defective product? Do you suppose they'll pay themselves handsomely on our billions of dimes? It's not going to be good for this nation if we allow the industry that has so damaged us all to now determine the next half-century of American healthcare.
So, if you can, watch the hearing live (you can do so on-line via the link on the committee's website). And speak up about what you are experiencing at the hands of this industry.
You are the experts who are seeing the abuses. You are the cancer patients spending precious hours fighting insurance issues and billing pressure, bankruptcy and even foreclosure due to unpaid medical debt. You are the families burying loved ones denied care.
You are the American people who elect leaders and then expect sound governance from your Congressional representatives and senators. Your testimony is every bit as critical as any of those listed below. Write it. Print it out. Send it. Become the witnesses that should have been invited all along.
Witness list for Tuesday's Senate hearing on health insurance reform:
- Janet Trautwein, Executive Vice President and CEO, National Association of Health Underwriters, Arlington, VA
- Ronald A. Williams, MS, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Aetna Inc., Hartford, CT
- Karen Pollitz, M.P.P., Research Professor, Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, Washington, DC
- Karen Ignagni, M.B.A., President and CEO, America's Health Insurance Plans, Washington, DC
- Len Nichols, Ph.D, Director, Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, Washington, DC
- Katherine Baicker, PhD, Professor of Health Economics, Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA
- Sandy Praeger, Health Insurance Commissioner, State of Kansas, Kansas City, KS
- Posted in
30 Comments so far
Show AllGive 'em hell, Donna! This is a stacked deck for these congressional hearings waiting to be a worse stacked deck in favor of the fox "guarding" chicken coup.
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Hospitals are not disability-accessible, if the disability happens to be chemical sensitivity (an ADA-recognized disability) or asthma. I know at least one person who has died going into a hospital. I know another who is clinging to life. Most chemically sensitive people (such as the above two cases) only go if they're sure they're going to die outside the hospital. How's that for rigging the whole health care system against citizens?
Not that I'm in favor of cancer insurance ripoffs. I had one of those in my family.
What kind of chemicals affect them? I mean, if they're chemicals that exist in standard medical equipment...I don't really see an alternative. Like that poor girl who was born allergic to water, and died soon after.
Donna, a commenter on here has argued long and hard against single-payer, claiming we'll be giving up 'freedom' to the government by this. Eventually he just admitted he doesn't want the government taking care of him, comparing any government branch of healthcare to the military that wipes out other countries. He did make an interesting suggestion though, of starting a non-profit insurance company to provide better coverage than currently existing insurance corporations, and if it's non-profit the overheard should be much lower than the seemingly standard 30%...and it'll be focused on covering treatment, not increasing profits. Why don't we try that? Although of course it would take a long time I'm sure to get hospitals and medical offices to widely accept it as an insurer...but should we try to create an alternative to the present vampiric system, without relying on the corporate-sponsored government solutions?
Dear Donna,
First, thanks for all your hard work on behalf of the real "stakeholders," the citizens at large. I hope that enough of us respond to your call, because our elected "representatives" don't seem to remember whom they're supposed to represent.
Second, a minor point perhaps: in your first paragraph, the word I think you meant to use was "elicit," which means "to draw out;" "illicit" means "illegal." Or maybe you were making a pun?
Thank you -- I'll get it fixed. I think too much spell check and not enough sleep were at work. I really appreciate the catch.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
I'm hearing more and more about having some kind of health insurance system where everybody is forced to buy a policy.
Fortunately (for now) I'm in my employer's group plan. But if I wasn't, I would refuse to comply with this kind of neo-fascist law. Let them send men with guns to drag me out of my home. I'll tell the judge exactly why I'm pleading guilty.
Then I'll end up just another political prisoner in "The Land of the Free."
Aren't prison inmates provided some amount of medical care?
"I'm hearing more and more about having some kind of health insurance system where everybody is forced to buy a policy."
Uh, isn't that the system we currently have? Unless you just don't buy it, but then you'll only be treated for emergency situations, and then just barely.
Yes it is the kind of system we currently have. Unfortunately for the "stakeholders", some people just go without insurance, thereby limiting the companies' profit potential. As Hillary Clinton kept explaining during the campaign: the new system will criminalize those who won't bow to the extortion.
Obama has adopted most of the rest of Hillary's platform, why not this.
Sioux Rose
45 million without health insurance, = 45 million new prison beds! Now there's a "shovel ready back to work program" that Obama and his house of lords would love!
"...Uh, isn't that the system we currently have? Unless you just don't buy it, but then you'll only be treated for emergency situations, and then just barely..."
Guess I wasn't clear enough in my previous post. Right now, I can choose to not have health insurance--at my own risk of financial disaster. In this discussion, however, I'm talking about legal enforcement, like basic drivers liability insurance (get caught driving without it in Illinois, it's a minimum $500 fine).
Seems far-fetched? It's already happening in Massachusetts.
Yes-- in fact, just a couple/few weeks ago CD posted an article about this very issue and how it's going in MA, citing cases of individuals with treatable cancers refusing treatment because (even with this insurance coverage) they can't afford deductibles and co-pays, opting instead to let nature run its course and succumb to their disease rather than putting their families in debt.
Ok yeah, thanks for clearing it up. And Romney needs to get his ass kicked for inflicting that on the people of MA.
I had both private healthcare and my employee-care - and I still went broke. Aeta has been fighting in court for years and years - getting extension after extension while I 'liquidated' my 401K, my savings, and everything I owned (at fire-sale prices, mind you, like my Corvette) and lost my company pension as well - and yes, I get to go to court about every 6 months - and everything gets postponed for another 6 months. My attorneys tell me it's because I was so young when injured, and they don't want to set 'precedent' where they'll have to pay everyone else who gets permanently injured... wow, isn't that great insurance? (I wouldn't have had permanent injury if I had been promptly treated - it was the delaying tactics and 'prior approval' that caused all the trouble. They went so far as to call my doctor and TELL HIM he wasn't 'allowed' to even take me off work!) (If single payer passes, they might settle, since they won't have to pay my healthcare bills - which they aren't paying anyway...)
If you feel safe with YOUR insurance - think again.
So very true, yet we keep hearing the dumb comments that folks love what they have... most people don't really know what they have until the insurance is tested by serious illness and the family either sinks or swims. The benefit contracts can sound deceptively comprehensive, even for those of us who are reasonably intelligent.
Thanks for the comments...
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Donna,
I want to tell you how much of an inspiration you have been to me. I have been reading your posts for some time and having spent 32 years working in the healthcare field, I share your conclusion that only by enacting single payer will we finally address the injustices, profiteering and under serving of the needs of a significant portion of our citizenry.
Living in a very RED state as I do poses some challenges to spreading the word about single payer locally, especially considering my representative is ranked among the 5 most conservative members in Congress by the National Journal. Undaunted, I requested and was granted a sit down with my congressman's chief of staff and joined by a physician representing PNHP, we presented single payer - HR676. The C.O.S. was attentive and asked a number of good questions about single payer that we effectively addressed. Our approach consisted of presenting this issue in language conservatives could appreciate along with illustrating the cost benefits single payer would provide for the business community. The C.O.S. told us that the overwhelming number of calls their office receives are from constituents worried about losing their healthcare benefits. He wanted to know if we'd be willing to meet with the congressman's legislative director next month!
We remain realistic as to the slim chance my representative would ever sign on to single payer. After all, a significant number of Democrats still haven't. Clearly my congressman and his C.O.S. did not have an understanding of how single payer works and its benefits - especially for the business community. I would encourage others who may believe presenting single payer to conservatives is a waste of time to re-think your positions. You can even find some help in an unlikely place:
www.republicansforsinglepayer.com
What a great report to read! Thank you. And it is absolutely true there are Republicans who understand that single payer could be very good for the nation.
I will be so very anxious to hear how your efforts blossom. Please keep me posted. And thanks for reading.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
to the sheeple:
stay at home
trust the corporations
they know what is best
watch tv
eat gmo foods
whatever you do - do not bother to get off your butts to go into the street and demonstrate for what you demand
that would take effort
like homer simpson said when he was running for the springfield city council:
can't somebody else do it
The Democrats, the ones who were supposed to be the good guys, the ones who would represent the people, are pulling a GOPer on us. It is bad enough that they want to make a $600+ "down payment" to the insurance companies that payed for their elections while claiming it does something for us. But they plan to fold in an important new fox-built hen house into the system. This plan to spend $20 billion for a new electronic datebase based in India is so odious it can't stand the light of day. So, the dems are going to slip it into a budget bill so that it can pass with a simple majority instead of a veto-proof majority. It won't be debated. It won't be amended. It is a platinum-plated fox-run hen house. Records and money will go in. Profits at the expense of our health will come out, and it will be very difficult to question any of it. It will, literally cost an arm and a leg and a kidney.
Hope you like the change.
The best way is to throw out the insurance companies...then nationalize all the hospitals...then force Big Pharma and makers of medical equipment to provide the hospitals at wholesale/heavily discounted prices...then finally a single-payer health plan.
Flood Obama with Single Payer demands.
I find it interesting that non-profit Kaiser is not represented - they have installed a records system that works well and saves them big bucks while providing really good care.
?????
Ah there is a non-profit? Can you explain how it works?
single payer universal healthcare!
nothing less than that will suffice!
Change we can grieve in. The corporations have been writing the legislation for a long time. The dems are opposed to a single payer system because they have been bought by the insurance companies.
18,000 die every year in the US because of lack of access to health care. That number will go up under the new system of 'HOSPITALISTS'. A 'hospitalist' is a doctor who is hired by the hospital to keep your own doctor out of the loop if you are admitted to a hospital. That means that the doctor who has cared for you for years, is now gone until you are discharged from the hospital. Many have died because of this new turf/money war. You have been warned !
When 18,000 per year are killed by the politicians, it is time to take action.
Sioux Rose
Apart from the small audience that tunes into Bill Moyers or Jon Stewart on the Comedy Channel, imagine if a MEDIA voice REALLY connected the dots between this economic bailout for the super rich without voices genuinely representing "the people" present, added to the same style debacle regarding the health care "debate." The title of the program should be "SOLD OUT" and it should be a weekly program, like 60 Minutes, that shows the true and direct nature and influence of corporate lobbyists, and how it is they that design the truly life and death wielding policies impacting citizens at home and abroad.
Yeah, just the way it is, I had to intervene to get my doctor to keep an elderly patient IN the hospital (where they belonged) when a wet-behind-the-ears no-nothing stooge insisted she be discharged. It's already a nightmare - people who get injured in nursing homes go to the hospital, and then they're discharged early - you guessed it - to a NURSING HOME. How convenient.
There's another word for 'insurance' - it's called EXTORTION. Just as lobbying is legalized bribery, 'insurance' is legalized extortion - it's a racket. We have far too many laws that are 'illegal' when applied to any other circumstance. Try extorting money from your neighbor and see how far you get.
And let's not forget that DENTAL care needs to be included in any healthcare - it doesn't matter if you die from an infected finger or an infected tooth - you're just as dead. (I almost did - and since it was a weekend, I'd gone to a local emergency room. Within a week, I was almost dead - my own doctor got scared silly when he saw the X-rays and CAT-scan - and I have permanent bone damage in my sinus.) Being able to EAT is a necessity of life. Even on a weekend.
Why has no one mentioned the one group of people who are the most important members of the Health Care "Industry".
The members who have remained conspicuously silent.
The members who stand to gain the most from ANY form of health care.
The members who the entire system depends upon.
The Doctors.
These strangely silent people have for years remained that way while they are the members who lead the "front line troops" in the health care system.
They all average a minimum of $ 1 million annual income when they "become" Doctors, and from my own recent experience seem to be content with being the highest paid members of the "delivery team' of a faulty service.
Just one more indicator that the USA is a corrupt society, and it's highest educated members, Professionals , i.e. Doctors, Lawyers etc. seem to me to be the biggest contributors to the corruption.
Good Luck America, you really need it.
Between 2005 and 2008, I spoke with some of then Senator Barack Obama's key Senate staff members, including his Health Policy Advisor, Dr. Dora Hughes. I can testify they were not receptive to hearing form a constituent about the wrongdoing that I had encountered via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I have been acting as an advocate and care giver on behalf of my folks for over a decade.
Illinois senator, Dick Durbin's staff was not what I would call constituent friendly either.
As for my Congresswoman, (noted Blue Dog) Melissa Bean, I was lied to by one of her key staff members, in order to cover up for his arrogance, apathy, and ignorance. I voiced my concern about this in a telephone conversation with Bean's Chief of Staff, John Gonzales, and he told me that he would "look into it". That was almost four years ago. I never heard anything more about it.
http://healthcaregrief.blogspot.com/