Hillary Owes $300,000 in Unpaid Health Insurance Bills

[Stephanie]

She wants to put a mandate on US to purchase health insurance - but she can't even pay her own insurance bills?

HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT
PO Box 101436
Arlington, Virginia 22210

FEC Committee ID #: C00431569
This report contains activity for a Primary Election
Report type: March Monthly

Filed 03/20/2008


****

DEBTS

Aetna Healthcare.........................228,841.30
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.......62,744.52

among others


http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/M3/C00431569/D_DEBTS_C00431569.html

You'd think those companies would be cracking down on her, since she paid late last month too.


Should we garnish her wages?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/us/politics/04checkpoint.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton inched closer Sunday to explaining how she would enforce her proposal that everyone have health insurance, but declined to specify — as she has throughout the campaign — how she would penalize those who refuse.

Mrs. Clinton, who did not answer Senator Barack Obama’s question on the topic in a debate last Thursday, was pressed repeatedly to do so Sunday by George Stephanopoulos on the ABC program “This Week.” When Mr. Stephanopoulos asked a third time whether she would garnish people’s wages, Mrs. Clinton responded, “George, we will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it’s that or it’s some other mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments.”

[anonymous171]

1. At least she has Health Insurance, even though she can't afford it.

Unlike those bums who get their wages garnished because they can afford it but choose not to.

[closeupready]

51. Right? Maybe her wages should be garnished?

:rofl:

[Unsane]

2. bwhaa

[NV Whino]

3. $300,000 in unpaid bills?

And they haven't dropped her? Good God.

[anigbrowl]

4. Should she be fined?

[Stephanie]

7. Perhaps we should garnish her wages?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/us/politics/04checkpoint.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton inched closer Sunday to explaining how she would enforce her proposal that everyone have health insurance, but declined to specify — as she has throughout the campaign — how she would penalize those who refuse.

Mrs. Clinton, who did not answer Senator Barack Obama’s question on the topic in a debate last Thursday, was pressed repeatedly to do so Sunday by George Stephanopoulos on the ABC program “This Week.” When Mr. Stephanopoulos asked a third time whether she would garnish people’s wages, Mrs. Clinton responded, “George, we will have an enforcement mechanism, whether it’s that or it’s some other mechanism through the tax system or automatic enrollments.”

[roguevalley]

28. that alone shows her fitness to lead. I know someone who stocks

in a store, delivers papers all night and gets three hours of sleep a day. they actually have to pull over to sleep so they don't crash when they are delivering papers. this work doesn't feed her family. garnish that? Shit. I hope she goes down in flames. she hasn't got a fucking clue how too many of us live. if she gave a shit, she would have addressed this seven years ago. Fuck her for this.

[Stephanie]

35. Hillary's expenses include the Bel Air Hotel & the Beverly Wilshire

Mark Penn got $3M and he's owed $2M more. On her last report she still owed thousands to the Boston Symphony. Paying your insurance bill is for the little people.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

47. B..b..but don't you know that uninsured people are deadbeats?

They really have plenty of money. Buckets of it. That they are hiding so they can avoid buying health insurance and stick the upstanding people who call them deadbeats with their emergency room bills. And they're all young and healthy and think they're invincible. Least that's what Hillary and a lot of DUers keep telling me. Everyone's premiums would magically be reduced to next to nothing and all problems with the insurance industry would be resolved if only deadbeats like your friend were forced to buy insurance. :sarcasm:

[WHAT]

5. someone needs to do a cartoon...

of Hillary and Bill..."Bill" being a scripted debt note

(so many good cartoons here, lately)

[tpsbmam]

6. At what point does some unfortunate staffer......

go to the hospital only to find out that his/her insurance has been canceled?

[totodeinhere]

8. This could be almost as big as snipergate.

[LaurenG]

9. There has to be a problem with her carrier. I don't believe she isn't paying on purpose

The bills sound like a huge amount. Unless these were for procedures that the ins company denied as not medically necessary or if she had an unauthorized procedure(s) done.

I don't know but she is probably fighting with them as they are NOTORIOUS for trying to keep from paying claims. At this point I wouldn't call her out on it. There isn't enough info to do that.

[tammywammy]

13. This isn't her personal insurance, it's the insurance for her campaign workers that get it

She's covered already by being in Congress.

[Stephanie]

15. yes we are all aware of that

[tammywammy]

21. I know you are Stephanie

But I wasn't sure if OhioBlues was.

[Stephanie]

26. oh I see

thanks :hi:

[tammywammy]

27. No problem.

:)

[LaurenG]

22. No - I wasn't aware. I thought it was a claim they were denying

the poster was just clearing it up for me. Thanks for the article and sorry I misunderstood it. :hi:

[Stephanie]

24. gotcha

:hi:

[LaurenG]

18. Yikes! That's a different story. I thought it was a claims issue. Thanks. nt

[roguevalley]

30. she is not only not paying them, she is not paying small vendors

that did events. She is holding her money for ads. She is screwing the working man and small businessman so badly, they are telling others cash only from their campaign. She is screwing everyone because she has no money. only about $16m of the entire amount on hand can be spent campaigning. the rest has to be held for bills and she's only paying big bills, not the little guy. what a humanitarian.

[Stephanie]

31. She is holding her money for ads, and for the services of one Mark Penn

Somehow she managed to scrounge up $3M for Penn.

============================

DISBURSEMENTS BY PAYEE

Penn, Schoen & Berland Assoc. LLC 3,147,990.00
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/M3/C00431569/B_PAYEE_C00431569.html

DEBTS BY VENDOR

Penn, Schoen & Berland Assoc. LLC 2,492,680.00
http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/M3/C00431569/D_DEBTS_C00431569.html

============================

[havocmom]

38. That's a lot of $$ for really bad advice. It would buy a LOT of insurance

Her values and judgment are definitely suspect.

[bhikkhu]

36. Agreed, but is this insurance for her staff? It would be nice to know.

As dysfunctional as the industry is, it may not be too hard for her to make this a positive.

[Debi]

40. Yes, it is health insurance premiums for her staff

all Democratic presidential campaigns offered health care coverage for their staff, Obama paid his monthly premiums (I'll get you the link if you need it) but Clinton did not pay hers - not in January and not in February.

I don't know how to make non-payment of MUST PAY bills a positive :shrug:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

10. What's that? You want your money Upfront!?

[Stephanie]

12. lol!

:hi:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

16. Hi ya Steph!

It's always good to see you.

[Ino]

11. The insurance co's probably consider it an investment

for future favors.... just another huge sneaky corporate donation.

[Yael]

14. It is Big Insurance's way of funding her campaign under the covers

They write it off as a bad debt and she pays $500,000 for parking.

[bobbert]

That's a good point

They're probably not bugging her about it, they may want mandated private insurance

[totodeinhere]

17. LOL. And she has the nerve to bash Obama's health care plan?

Hillary has got to learn that charity starts at home.

[Stephanie]

39. Responsibility starts at home.

Her campaign is shockingly incompetent.

[Obamanaut]

19. Just one more unpaid bill among many. Still no problem. nt

[1776Forever]

20. Cash-strapped Clinton fails to pay bills 3/30/08.....

Cash-strapped Clinton fails to pay bills
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 3/30/08 7:00 AM EST

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9259.html


Clinton’s camp has put off paying bills for months, earning campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.

A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.

Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Clinton's campaign did not respond to recent, specific questions about its transactions with vendors. But Clinton spokesman Jay Carson pointed on Saturday to an earlier statement the campaign issued to Politico, asserting: "The campaign pays its bills regularly and in the normal course of business, and pays all of its bills."

Just like with other businesses, it’s common for campaigns to carry unpaid bills from month to month, but in Clinton’s case, it also could serve a strategic purpose.

The New York senator’s presidential campaign ended February with $38 million in the bank, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission, but only $16 million of that can be spent on her battle with Obama.

The rest can be spent only in the general election, if she makes it that far, and must be returned if she doesn’t. If she had paid off the $8.7 million in unpaid bills she reported as debt and had not loaned her campaign $5 million, the cash she would have had available at the end of last month to spend on television ads and other upfront expenses would have been less than $2 million.

(snip)

By contrast, if you subtract Obama’s $625,000 in debts and his general-election-only money from his total cash on hand at the end of last month, he’d still be left with $31 million.

[Stephanie]

34. They've stopped returning phone calls

The wannabe Democratic nominee is a deadbeat debtor. That's just great.

[C_U_L8R]

23. How come Hillary is getting special favors

from INSURANCE companies ???
If it were you or me, our coverage would be instantly cutoff.
Something really stinks here.
Any insiders or sleuths care to shed some
light on what kind of shenanigans is going on?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

33. It does seem that Hillary is a tough nut to crack

Dianne Cash, from Lexington, Ky., holds her 'Hillary Nutcracker' as she waits for the arrival of Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at a campaign rally at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, March 29, 2008.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

[Saint in the City]

25. obama supporter here saying who cares n/t

[krawhitham]

29. Old News

[Stephanie]

32. Only in the sense that she did the same thing last month

[Debi]

42. You mean repeat news - with an added twist

Yes, this story was told here a month ago and Clinton supporters whined that this what typical campaign debt. However, a month later her past upaid bills are still unpaid AND she's added an additional $1.7 million in debt. She now has more debt than Cash on Hand! At this rate how much debt will she have by the convention? How many small vendors, communities, school districts and colleges will she have NOT PAID? How many millions will she have in outstanding phone, electric, health insurance bills will her campaign have? How much will taxpayers and tuition payers have to pony up to cover the losses thanks to Clinton's non-payment?


Why should folks who do not support Hillary Clinton have to pay her bills?

x(

[Stephanie]

54. And how much will Mark Penn have collected?

There's the irony. She flings the money at him, thinking he can pull this thing out, all the while his mudslinging tactics have destroyed her chances.

[EFerrari]

37. Ready to go into collection on day 1.

What a piece of work.

[JVS]

41. They should garnish her incoming campaign contributions

[Debi]

43. I've suggested that donors actually pay past due debts and have the receipts

sent to the Clinton camp to show the in kind contribution. That way her bills get paid and the vendors don't get screwed. (And Penn doesn't see anymore $$!)

Please....starte with Iowa's unpaid bills :7

[Barack_America]

44. She was over $500,000 a couple of weeks ago.

To health insurance companies alone.

Looks like she paid some of it off...or just canceled the insurance, lol.

[Debi]

46. Probably just fired the staffers in the states that 'don't count' n/t

[NDambi]

45. horrible horrible management in her camp!

[stratomagi]

48. I have a question. What health issues does she have that she even got

300k worth of healthcare? Did she have her gallbladder removed or something?

[Barack_America]

49. Mark Penn has very serious hemorrhoids.

:shrug:

Actually though, it's healthcare for her staffers, not her.

[stratomagi]

50. Yeah I figured it out when I went to the link that shows

her campaign owes that money.

[apocalypsehow]

52. Bills, like Rules, don't apply to royalty or the entitled - and HRC thinks she is both.

:thumbsdown:

[Stephanie]

53. That's right. If her mandate were enacted, would she exempt herself?

:shrug:

[SOS]

55. Now she knows what it's like

to be short on cash and open another huge health insurance bill.
She needs a mandate to force her to cough up the money.

[kevinmc]

56. Maybe she can borrow some cash from the Chinese n/t