22,000 Americans die every year because they don't have health insurance...

[armyowalgreens]

How many a year die BECAUSE they have private health insurance?

-Pre-existing condition denial
-Experimental procedure denial
-Ridiculously high monthly payments
-Excessive co-payments
-Partial coverage
-Ridiculously complicated legal jargon that can lead to patient error and, in turn, no payment by the insurance company.


How much suffering comes at the hands of these companies that put profits over people?

CEO of UnitedHealth Group- Stephen Hemsley (aprox. $13 million annual compensation in 2007)

CEO of Wellpoint- Angela Braly ( aprox. $10 million annual compensation in 2008)

CEO of Cigna- H. Edward Hanway ($23 million annual compensation)

CEO of AETNA- Ronald Williams ( $30 million annual compensation)

CEO of Health Plan that operates Kaiser Permanente- George Halverson ( $2.2 million salary in 2002-does not include full compensation)

That is a total compensation for just 5 large health insurance/care company CEOs of just under $70 million.


In comparison, that could pay for 3,500 cancer patients to receive complete chemo-therapy. It could also pay for about 10,000 average nights at a US hospital.

EVERY SINGLE YEAR.



The question isn't how much private insurance rips off the American people.

The real question is...


How many people have these politicians, insurance review board members and CEOs killed?

What we are facing are at least 22,000 negligent homicides a year.

And who are the guilty?


Every single politician that supports corporate interests over the health of the people. Every insurance company employee and CEO that cares more about their salaries than the health of the people.

The time has come that we say NO to corporate greed. The time has come for politicians to take a stand for the American people.


There can be no compromise. We need a public option NOW!


Write your local politicians
Sign petitions for public option
Tell your neighbors and coworkers and friends and loved ones.

Hell, tell complete strangers!


We need to get the word out to the American people that there is another way. We can save lives.

[Joe the Liberal]

1. Why is the US the last among all 1st world nations to get things like health care?

All other western countries seem to have gotten the message long ago and yet here we are with one of the worst most dysfunctional health care systems in the civilized world.

And it's not just with health care either, things like education too, we always seem to be the last to ever do anything about well...anything. Unless it's things like going war, we're always the first to do that of course, go forbid we do something that actually helps people here and abroad.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. Blue Cross "HIPAA" plan

"HIPAA"..."guaranteed-issue health coverage"...is basically a "punishment plan" offered by Blue Cross and others.

The government decided that insurance companies could not deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

SO...if you HAVE any, as minor as allergies, you're put on the "HIPAA" plan.

Coverage is pretty much identical, except your monthly premium is double the amount of the same non-HIPAA plan.

My monthly premium, before I had to give up coverage altogether two years ago, was $650 per month, with increases coming every two to three months like clockwork.

Lifetime benefits for someone on the Blue Cross $2500 deductible PPO plan that I was on, at the time, were $2.5 million.

Lifetime maximum benefits for the HIPAA version of the same plan: $600K.

Nothing's going to happen until the insurance companies have an incentive to do something other than what they are doing now, which is to bleed the people who can't afford coverage dry. They're making money and all of the sad stories about sick people who can't afford to get well are falling on deaf ears.

[aquart]

6. Did you snail mail that to your congressman and senators?

Exactly that?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. If I thought any of them would read it, I might have

But the answer is no, because I don't believe that those people have any interest or incentive about doing anything to fix the system unless they receive an immediate benefit.

I don't believe that people with money care about people without money who are sick and / or dying. I think politicians pretty much care about getting votes and lining their own pockets.

[Hissyspit]

3. Here's some more statistics:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5910923&mesg_id=5910923

[armyowalgreens]

7. Thank you

[excess_3]

4. how many die that do have health insurance?

3 4 5 million per year?

[armyowalgreens]

8. I fear you are close to being accurate.

[annabanana]

5. NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE! - exactly. They should be liable for

those deaths that are clearly preventable. And I mean personally responsible.

[armyowalgreens]

10. They should be fiscally and criminally responsible.

But I highly doubt that will ever happen.

[armyowalgreens]

11. Just realized my math was incorrect. It's just under $80 million...

Which would pay for 4,000 cancer patients chemo-therapy or 11,500 average nights in a US hospital.

It's even more disgusting than I thought.

[Hissyspit]

12. BILLIONS go annually for administration costs. Can't remember the number.

Something like $11 billion in 2006. Or was it 40?

[redqueen]

13. Most importantly - call your Rep and Senators. We need to flood them with calls.

Let them know how important this is to you.

[armyowalgreens]

14. Bump for the day shift.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

15. It's nothing short of GENOCIDE! eom