Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more

[newtothegame]

Source: AP

The health insurance industry offered Tuesday for the first time to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to people with a history of medical problems.

The offer from America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation's health care system to rein in costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people. It was contained in a letter to key senators.

In the letter, the two insurance industry groups said their members are willing to "phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market" if all Americans are required to get coverage.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_he_me/insurers_sick_people

[hobbit709]

1. Running scared, are they?

[pam4water]

19. Sure looks like it.

[santamargarita]

26. They know their days are numbered

:kick:

[Delphinus]

29. I hope so!

[trashcanistanista]

49. You beat me to it! n/t

[jobycom]

2. In Texas (at least) insurance rates have increased 7 times the rate of income.

They don't have to screw sick people anymore, they're screwing everyone already. People who whine that Canada or England have a bad health care system don't seem very aware of our own.

[aquart]

7. Bet the CEO gets a lovely bonus.

[jobycom]

8. CEO of Texas? I'm sure Perry has gotten a tremendous bonus.

[KansDem]

3. We cannot have this caviler approach to health care!

Obviously, if they could have stopped charging sick people more now, they could have done it then. They just didn't fucking care...until Obama and the Dems started looking at universal health care.

...the two insurance industry groups said their members are willing to "phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market" if all Americans are required to get coverage. Yeah, right...:eyes: "Their members." They really mean the CEOs who are running scared thinking that their "profits over people" approach to health care is about to evaporate.

[LynzM]

4. Well, I'll be damned. Bet I still can't get private insurance.

I'm diabetic. Hell if they'd charge me more, they won't even allow me to buy in! :banghead:

Good to see any modicum of progress, though, I guess. Sorry to be so bitter.

[Donnachaidh]

5. they'll just refuse to cover those folks

Don't kid yourself -- if they are offering something with one hand, they'll be doing something else with the other. That's what THEY do.

Some lawyer in a boardroom somewhere deemed it *necessary* for the companies to toss the consumers a *bone* - so they can stay involved in healthcare reform.

I got your *phase out* right here AHIP and Blue Cross :rude:

[aquart]

6. Oh, ain't the greedy bastards generous.

Destroy 'em.

[biopowertoday]

9. Mandating that all are in the system is key...............

............."This changes everything," said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the leading trade group. "When you have everyone in the system, and you can bring (financial) assistance to working families, then you can move away health status rating."

[lynne]

10. They'll just increase EVERYONE'S premium -

- while they will not underwrite based on health, they will increase ALL base premiums to make up the difference. Guaranteed.

[wroberts189]

21. Yep ..just look at Massachusetts. They did exactly that. nt

[glinda]

27. Exactly! Insurance Companies HAVE to GO!!!!!!! As long as they are players in

the Health Care discussion, they will bring it down, control it or inch those rates higher and higher or make more restrictions on coverage. We do not need them and in fact, should not have them involved. Big Pharma also needs to be held accountable.

[bemildred]

11. No deals with these weasels. Their word is not worth spit. nt

[ohheckyeah]

12. It's not just people who are sick they charge more

it's people they think might get sick or have a physical problem that might get worse. I've had back surgery and haven't been treated for back pain in almost 16 years but they charge me more because I might have problems in the future. I pay almost $100 a month extra because of the back surgery from years ago.

[Phred42]

13. Damn White of 'em.

and agree - they're running scared.

[kdmorris]

14. Really? "Damn white" of 'em?

Edited because I did more research on the phrase. Apparently, it can mean someone who thinks they have done a great deed when, in reality, they have done nothing to help the human condition.

Even still, I think I would avoid it, if I were you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4461901

[TheCoxwain]

15. and I am Jesus' second coming .....

[8 track mind]

16. too little, too late. Get ready for reform Healthcare industry!!! n/t

[PSPS]

17. "the practice of varying premiums based on health status"

In the letter, the two insurance industry groups said their members are willing to "phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market" if all Americans are required to get coverage.

The original concept of health insurance was that of "pooled risk." Pretty much everyone paid the same premium for the same coverage. Then, the business model deformed into what it is today: Trick people into buying your policy with grandiose descriptions of its coverage, exclude everyone up front that poses any risk of ever filing a claim, and hire legions of "claims analysts" whose sole job is to weasel out of paying any claim made by whoever is left. Oh, and don't forget to pay the CEO hundreds of millions (over a billion in some cases.)

So now they're offering to return to the original concept of pooled risk? Somehow, I don't believe it. But even if they do, it won't compensate for the CEO's obscene salary and an overhead that's at least six times that of our existing single-payer system -- Medicare.

I say let them "compete" for business by making Medicare an option for every citizen.

[Epiphany4z]

18. dealing with these folks is like

a bad horror flick where a genie keeps granting you wishes only each and every wish takes the worst possible turn.

If they are suddenly willing to stop charging sick people more...the sick people they will actually agree to cover...they then will ....refuse to cover more people...and/or charge everyone more.

[harun]

51. Well said!

[fascisthunter]

20. too late... we don't need you. You need us

time for universal healthcare... find a new profession.

[rurallib]

22. Sure I believe them. And Exxon is really working hard on solar power.

No doubt instead of charging high rates, they will just cut those folks.

[wroberts189]

23. What nice people they are.... not. This is s sneaky trick to make them even richer. nt

[wolfgangmo]

24. What they don't say...

... could fill the library of Congress.

They don't say that they will offer coverage to everyone, but rather that they won't charge more for sicker patients.

I see the companies, either collectively or individually, creating new insurance entities who will be the ONLY ones to insure the truly sick. These new companies will not charge more to any specific client no matter how sick. But every client they have will get hosed. Imagine if you will a series of insurance dumping companies; one for the mildly unwanted, one for the moderately unwanted and one for the truly f***** each company charging all of their clients more.

Thus the main insurance companies will be able to say, with a straight face no doubt, that they are being "fair" to every cherry picked client that they have and that the "unclean" clients are being serviced by another insurance company. They will pass the buck.

[DKRC]

25. The phrase that jumps out at me

is "if all Americans are required to get coverage".

I can't afford insurance. I'm not happy to be uninsured. But I don't have legislation written by these bastards requiring me to have insurance hanging over my head either.

[glinda]

28. Listen. If the coverage were affordable or if you were among the people who

need help in being covered, you would be better off. My husband and I pay a lot and it is killing his retirement savings.

[rocktivity]

30. Fee, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of medicare-for-all, LOL

Even if HR676 doesn't passed it's definitely done SOME good!

:headbang:
rocktivity

[kpete]

31. Insurers Ease Stance on Pre-Existing Conditions

Source: New York Times

Insurers Ease Stance on Pre-Existing Conditions
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: March 24, 2009

WASHINGTON —The health insurance industry said Tuesday that it was willing to end the practice of charging higher premiums to sick people if Congress adopted a comprehensive plan that provided coverage to all Americans.

The industry’s flexible position on the issue came as a surprise to lawmakers, and could make it easier to reach an agreement in Congress because it narrows the issues on which insurers are ready to fight the Democrats who control Congress and the White House.

Insurers said they were still staunchly opposed to creation of a new government-run health insurance plan, which, under many Democratic proposals, would compete directly with private insurers.

In effect, insurers said they were willing to discard an element of their longstanding business model, under which insurance policies are priced, in part, on the basis of a person’s medical condition or history.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/washington/25health.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[redqueen]

32. Are they worried that the movement behind HR 676 is gaining momentum?

I hope so.

[lumberjack_jeff]

44. The fact that they're caving on such a previously inviolate principle...

... suggests more than ever that they need to be pinched, hard.

The ability to choose public insurance MUST be an element of any meaningful reform.

[Donnachaidh]

33. they'll find a way to get around writing policies for people with pre-existing conditions

They may just flat out refuse to sell them policies.

The health insurance cartel is a SNAKE. It's a cancer in America. Kick them OUT.

[debbierlus]

38. Exactly. Leeches. They do nothing but leech out money.

[Mz Pip]

34. What about outright denying coverage

on the basis of pre-existing conditions? My friend's daughter was denied coverage because she'd had surgery on a bone spur on her foot. She was 23. A friggin' bone spur - as though that was going to bankrupt the damn company.

It's no wonder people are pissed. I'm sure all of us have heard these stories of people being not just forced to pay more but being denied outright for pre-existing conditions. Some of these "pre-existing" conditions are trivial, at best.

[8 track mind]

35. or my favorite

"we won't cover this because it's too experimental. Good luck!"

[wickerwoman]

52. Yep. I can't get insurance

because of a heart murmur that has never been connected in any way to any other kind of problem and which does not have any impact on my quality of life or longevity. There's no treatment for it and doctors have no idea what causes it. (Actually, I suspect strongly that they're using it as an excuse. They don't want to insure me because both of my parents are diabetic even though it's 90% a lifestyle disease and I have a completely different lifestyle from them.) So I guess my life is just a write off.

[Tab]

36. Works for me

Once you get to be 40 or whatever, it's hard not to have any "pre-existing conditions", making private insurance not an option.

[debbierlus]

37. Fuck them - they are worried they will not exist any longer

If single payer get enacted...

We do not NEED them to profit off our sickness. We need a single payer system that will make them EXTINCT.

These fuckers are shameless.

[HughBeaumont]

39. I have co-workers that still think no one loses their home because of exorbitant medical payments.

Astounding. I mean, gee whiz, there's only this whole movie on the subject called Sicko.

Damned right Big Insurance is scared of single payer. No more Repub enablers in the house anymore. Too bad, so sad.

[Festivito]

40. "willing" to end "practice" of "charging" higher "premiums" to "sick"

willing - at least now, can change any time. (DON'T MAKE IT A LAW FOR GOODNESS SAKE! It's so much costlier to bribe the politicians in order to rescind it, er, ah, I mean donate to the candidates who show responsible actions along the lines of current national concerns.)

practice - instead they'll deny based on "policy."

charging - There will be "fees" instead.

premiums - To be called "remuneration"

to sick people - A fore-mentioned pre-existing condition does not necessarily mean that the person is sick at the time of the originating statement of condition and is therefore exempt from the writ identified by the plaintiff.

[Delphinus]

42. Oh, man, do you ever have it right!

When it comes right down to it, it's a lot of "feel" good language but their policies (or habits) are not going to change.

[Festivito]

43. They'll change for a while. When Clinton started, premiums went DOWN.

All the while they spent bucks on commercials. Then the threat of national health care disappeared and premiums came back with a vengeance.

[TheCoxwain]

41. Their Balls are getting squeezed .. it is time for us to

Squeeze it HARDER

[NorthCarolina]

45. Squeeze harder hell...I say Remove completely n/t

[Vinca]

46. What this really means is

they will charge EVERYONE $12,000++++ a year for lousy coverage. This is a win-win situation for big insurance since they don't pay half the time when you're sick anyway.

[TheCoxwain]

48. What this really means is that

everyone will switch to the plan offered to government employees ...

and the Insurance companies will go bankrupt .. kaput ....belly up..


and then we all can laugh our asses off at them

[mr_smith007]

47. The sentence

"Insurers are trying to head off the creation of a government insurance plan that would compete with them"

haha I love that. They know that if they have to compete with something comparable to Medicare, they are doomed. They would have to cut the premiums in half and maintain and even improve outcomes. They simply can't and they know it. These people will fight and scream and create the most outrageous scenarios and forecasts soon. It will be full blown panic and I am hoping the progressives have a public relations defense team in place for this.

[annabanana]

50. Did I see that Dr. Howard Dean is working on this now?

Yes, I think I did..

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/howard-dean-to-announce-major-campaign-on-health-care/

[Ms. Toad]

53. Small businesses could no longer afford to provide insurance

What the insurance companies offered does not include evening out premiums for smaller businesses (1-50 employees) - their premiums would still be risk based. If a particular small business includes someone likely to have cancer or to need a transplant, or with chronic costly illnesses like diabetes or AIDS, the premiums for that business would be higher than individuals could obtain on their own - and my guess most businesses would quickly drop coverage.

[armodem08]

54. Okay, they're officially scared shitless. n/t

[marshall]

55. Will bad drivers get a break on their car insurance too?

I have a friend with several problems on his driving record--some people would refer to them as medical issues--and his insurance is sky high.