Insurance company astroturf

[eridani]

Anyone got any suggestions as to how we can use this?


http://www.healthactionnetwork.com/

As you know, our company has been pursuing responsible and sustainable health care reform as the Senate and House of Representatives have been working this summer -- and will continue to do so going forward.

We have also launched our grassroots Web site, the Wellpoint Health Action Network, to assist you with contacting your elected officials as well as notifying friends, neighbors and family members about this important issue.

Regrettably, the Congressional legislation, as currently passed by four of the five key committees in Congress, does not meet our definition of responsible and sustainable reform. At this stage, the legislative proposals would likely have a significant negative impact on our partners and customers by:

Causing tens of millions of Americans to lose their private coverage and end up in a government-run plan;
Limiting customers' choices of the products they can purchase and how they can purchase health coverage; and
Increasing the premiums of those with private coverage by imposing new mandates and coverage requirements.
Please make your voice heard on this important issue by writing Congress and encouraging your elected officials to get health reform done -- and done right -- by acting in a bipartisan fashion to make health care more affordable, improve quality, and cover all Americans in a sustainable way.

Please visit the Health Action Network and write an e-mail, make a phone call, or alert others about the opportunity to use our Web site to write a letter encouraging members of Congress to reconsider their present course and instead to pass responsible and sustainable health care reform.

Together, we can get health care reform done right.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. Oh barf

[Turbineguy]

2. "...responsible and sustainable reform..."

Is that code for 30% profit margin?

Here's what I wrote to an aquaintence who sends me the latest RW stuff:

"What we have going on now is a group of people who are pulling out all the stops to keep their $700 Billion Profit machine going and this is being added to by the usual gaggle of right-wing nut cases (like Beck and Limbaugh) and a Christian Pastor who prays that Obama will die and go to hell. If you were running a $700 billion dollar profit machine, what would you do to keep it going? Since these profits are based on the misery of others, what sort of morality and honesty would you expect to see?

Consider: What would be the effect of a healthier population? What would be the effect of a more efficient health care distribution system? What would happen if the risks of a flu pandemic were reduced? Who pays for all those who go bankrupt?"

[JuniperLea]

3. By "done right" I'm sure they mean...

Done in such a way as their profits will continue, and increase.

I'm so sick of the greed, and the stupid people who are falling for this crap.

[JuniperLea]

4. Gosh... they've been busy since January...

WellPoint’s shares are down 6% in morning trading as the health insurer gets hit with bad news on two fronts: trouble with its investments and a suspension of the company’s ability to enroll patients in Medicare plans.

The investment troubles: The company racked up $349 million in investment losses in the fourth quarter, on the heels of a $562.6 million investment loss in the third quarter.

The Medicare troubles: WellPoint said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has suspended its marketing and enrollment privileges for Medicare Advantage and drug plans.

A WellPoint spokesman said the company wasn’t going into detail about CMS’s complaints, but according to the Associated Press, Medicare said in a notice to WellPoint that the suspension was levied because of “a sharp increase in the past twelve days in beneficiary complaints about WellPoint and WellPoint’s self-disclosures regarding beneficiaries being denied prescription drugs.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/13/wellpoint-skids-on-investment-losses-medicare-suspension/