Health insurers help GOP after dalliance with Dems

[a kennedy]

By JIM KUHNHENN and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health insurers flirted with Democrats, supported them with money and got what they wanted: a federal mandate that most Americans carry health care coverage. Now they're backing Republicans, hoping a GOP Congress will mean friendlier regulations.
They may get more than they're wishing for.

The so-called individual mandate has provoked tea party conservatives, who see it as an example of big government interference in personal decisions. Now Republican candidates are running on platforms that include repealing the broader health care law. And attorneys general from some 20 states - mainly Republicans - are challenging the mandate as unconstitutional.
"If you ended up repealing that one provision, the whole thing blows up," said Bill Hoagland, the top lobbyist for Cigna Corp. "It doesn't work. The cost would explode."
Still, Cigna, which early last year had been funneling money to Democrats from its political action committee, has shifted from a 50-50 split between the parties to around 70-30 in favor of Republican candidates.

Likewise, about $6 of $10 that Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's PAC doled out from February through June 2009 went to Democrats. By last month, the ratio had shifted - Democrats got only about 35 percent of the insurer's PAC money.
In all, from January through August of 2009, the health insurance industry donated $2.15 million to Democrats and $1.7 million to Republicans, according to monthly figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Since September of 2009, the industry has donated $2.4 million to Democrats and nearly $3.3 million to Republicans.

The GOP advantage has grown even as Republican candidates call for outright repeal of the health care law.
"This is really an incredible irony," said Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive turned consultant. "The insurance industry could be fighting with its traditional ally, the Republicans, not to cripple the bill, not to put a bomb inside the thing."

Meanwhile, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds likely voters in the upcoming elections evenly split on whether the law should be scrapped or whether Congress should undertake even bigger changes in the way Americans get their health care. Thirty-seven percent said they want to repeal it. But 36 percent of those polled said they want to revise the law so it does more to change the health care system. Ten percent wanted modifications to narrow the scope of the overhaul. Only 15 percent said they would leave it as it is.
Though the insurers won the insurance mandate they wanted from President Barack Obama and the Democrats, they opposed the overall bill and now say they want to be sure the regulations they face aren't onerous. A Republican-controlled Congress might accomplish that by pressuring the Health and Human Services Department through its control of the department's budget or by subjecting regulators to congressional hearings.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CAMPAIGN_HEALTH_INSURERS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

[DJ13]

1. This just proves you cant deal with corporations in good faith

No matter how far you bend over in giving them what they want they will go with whoever they think gives them the better deal.

This centrist crap only serves the corporate interests at the expense of everyone else in the long run.

[TheKentuckian]

2. and The People said...AMEN!

[Cal33]

6. Unfortunately there are too many corporations doing the bribing, and

too many politicians who can be bought. Materialism is the order of the day.
It always has been from the beginning of history. And it's the aggressive,
greedy materialists who have always risen to the top. Materially it does pay
to be aggressive and greedy. Hence the non-stop wars. I've read that in the
7,000 years of written history, our world has had only 250 years where there
has been no major war going on somewhere on earth.

We have too many of these greedy aggressive people in positions of power.
The only thing to do is to do our share in trying to vote them out of power
on Nov. 2.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Gosh, I'm so shocked by this!

I told people for months. We're going to get a mandate and the Republicans will come in and strip out all the good things and regulations but keep the mandate.

[area51]

12. +1

The republicans wanted the democrats to do their dirty work for them; the whole mandate idea was republican in the first place, like the Republinazi '93 plan:

"Subtitle F: Universal Coverage - Requires each citizen or lawful permanent resident to be covered under a qualified health plan or equivalent health care program by January 1, 2005."

Each day, 273 people die due to lack of health care in the U.S.; that's 100,000 deaths per year.

We need single-payer health care, not a welfare bailout for the serial-killer insurance agencies.

[leftstreet]

4. No one could have predicted....

:eyes:

This is just so shocking!!!11111

[derby378]

5. That whole single-payer nonsense suddenly sounds a lot better, don't it?

Too bad Obama punted on real healthcare reform in favor of this jackwagon of a bill.

[joeybee12]

7. In other words, Repukes will toss the regulations, and keep the mandate...

yeah, a brilliant strategy by the dems throughout this whole mess...if they had gotten an actual HCR bill, it would be harder to gut the very few things that are decent about it.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Ding ding ding!!

We saw this coming 10 miles away.

But it was historic progressive legislation dontchaknow.

[Nite Owl]

8. Oh what a surprise

So are the dems that dumb or are they complicit?
We the people are never the first consideration in anything, it's always all about business.

[DJ13]

9. So are the dems that dumb or are they complicit?

yes

[Bluebear]

11. yes

[Mimosa]

13. Last night some relatives took me out for dinner

My sister, her husband and niece. All are middle of the roaders whom I'd convinced to vote for Obama. They're all thinking, working people, professionals. They don't gripe about taxes, aren't teapartiers.

But what has got them to 'I don't care any more' point was the obvious health reform sellout. My niece is a hard working nurse.

None of my relatives and inlaws are Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck listeners. All have come from Democratic roots. When we're all together talking about what's going on what always comes up is the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, lower wages, bad schools and how the opportunity for meaningful health care reform was blown. They think the wars have been going on too long and sucking dry the treasury and killing people for no real reason.

These are people who all enthusiastically stepped up and voted for change in 2008. The enthusiasm is gone, Since these 'regular people' work hard as hell and feel silly that they believed something really good might happen, they won't be bothering to vote for congress critters they feel are 'all the same, doing what the corporations tell them to do.'

Don't shoot me. I'm the messenger. I convinced people to vote for Obama in 2008. Some of these same people were asking me 'why should we have to wait until 2014 to get health insurance (they can't get it because of preexisting conditions)? Why only hildren when we need help now?

I couldn't answer. Just like I couldn't answer when people asked me 'why don't Democrats do something about all the jobs being taken over to China?' Democratic candidates do not address that issue but regular people want JOBS!