Just as I thought, get ready for a cluster Fxxk

[golfguru]

by the health insurance companies.

Your premiums are going to rise minimum 10% in the coming reset cycle.
For most people that will be January 1st 2011.

CEO's at health insurance companies are literally looting the rate payers.
CIGNA CEO just received $112 Million package!
Obscene? No it is worse than that...it is rape pure and simple.

This is what you get when there is no public option. The private companies can
rape you to their hearts content. There is no fear of competition.
They want to make as much profit as possible, as quickly as possible in case
the public option gets passed.


This is one of the main reasons jobs are not growing. Would you hire more people
not knowing how high the health insurance benefit cost will be next year?

Where do I put the blame? With every fricking politician who voted against the
public option, democrat, republican, independent, it does not matter the party.
Just as I have said before, campaign contributions won, people lost.

[golfguru]

1. If you do not agree or like the post, please explain

where I am wrong. Hiding behind the curtain to Unrec shows lack of courage?

[Gordan Shumway]

4. Anal rape references might turn people off

Just a hunch.

[golfguru]

6. noted and revised.

[Gordan Shumway]

8. Thanks for that

but you missed another rape reference. There were two.

[golfguru]

12. I feel violated when my insurance premium jumps

by $100+ per month for the next few years for no fault of my own.
Heck we don't even have any long term pre-conditions in the family.
Sorry but it is rape.

[Gordan Shumway]

36. What you describe is price gouging

not rape. As you describe it you are having your pocket book violated, not one of your orifices. A substantial difference in most people's eyes.

[LostinVA]

5. Using rape to make a point is repulsive to me

[golfguru]

10. Look at post #7 and tell me with a straight face it is not rape.

Can you bother to explain how these mega-million dollar compensation
packages contribute towards advancing people's health?

[LostinVA]

23. Well no, it isn't anal rape, and saying it is is repulsive

And, using brutual rape imagery to make a point is sickening to me.

[golfguru]

33. Stop the semantics and deal with the substance of issue

[PA Democrat]

2. With a preexisting condition, I have a choice of being screwed or going without insurance.

Nice choice isn't it?

Edited to add that my rates went up 11% this year already and I am bracing for an even bigger hike next year.

[golfguru]

3. Yes that is an unenviable situation

The only real solution is if you had the option to sign
on into a public option. A public option does what America thrives on...
competition. The HCR bill as passed has no restrictions on how high your
premiums can be raised, and there is competition from a not-for-profit
public option. Plus they get millions of additional customers, on backs
of the working people who pay premiums.

[KansDem]

7. Here is a sampling of health-care CEO pay...

Ins. Co. & CEO With 2007 Total CEO Compensation

Aetna Ronald A. Williams: $23,045,834
Cigna H. Edward Hanway: $25,839,777
Coventry Dale B. Wolf : $14,869,823
Health Net Jay M. Gellert: $3,686,230
Humana Michael McCallister: $10,312,557
U.Health Grp Stephen J. Hemsley: $13,164,529
WellPoint Angela Braly (2007): $9,094,271
L. Glasscock (2006): $23,886,169
Ins. Co. & CEO With 2008 Total CEO Compensation


Aetna, Ronald A. Williams: $24,300,112
Cigna, H. Edward Hanway: $12,236,740
Coventry, Dale Wolf: $9,047,469
Health Net, Jay Gellert: $4,425,355
Humana, Michael McCallister: $4,764,309
U. Health Group, Stephen J. Hemsley: $3,241,042
Wellpoint, Angela Braly: $9,844,212

http://www.healthreformwatch.com/2009/05/20/health-insurance-ceos-total-compensation-in-2008/

Hey, but if you're for a public-financed, public option, you're a communist!!!

[golfguru]

9. Wow thanks for that information

And you are NOT a communist if you want a public option.
Health care is not a place where profit should be paramount.
People don't alway get seriously sick from their own doing.
There is no good reason to allow the private insurers to run amok
on the backs of sick, or ordinary working people.

[democrat2thecore]

11. But by golly - Obama can say he passed "Comprehensive Health Care Reform"

Except on this issue, he alienated all sides in an effort to please everyone.

[golfguru]

13. Exactly...n/t

[ZombieHorde]

14. I had to unrec this, but I will kick it too.

"Fxxk" - Why are you censoring your own OP? If you don't swearwords in your OP, then don't use them.

"literally looting the rate payers" - Literally? Really?

"Where do I put the blame?" - Then you start interviewing yourself! WTF?

[Hansel]

15. It happens every year. What's the surprise? Has nothing to do with HCR.

HCR hasn't been implemented yet so you can blame them for holding it off until 2014, but with or without the public option, this would have happened this year because the vast majority of HCR, and certainly the part you are referring to, hasn't been implemented.

Insurance companies raise rates every year, where have you been? Its the reason for HCR in the 1st place. If we get our asses out there and vote in progressive candidates maybe by the time 2014 rolls around there will be a public option. But complaining about something that hasn't taken place yet as the reason insurance companies are raising rates isn't going to get you there.

[golfguru]

20. haa..wait till you see your next reset

it will be much bigger than average of last 5 years. Like I said, the
for profit companies want to rake in as much profit as possible before
any public option gets passed....just in case.

[Hansel]

25. And it was headed in that direction anyway. Has been for years.

I use to buy health insurance plans for the company I worked at. I know how they work. They never go down and they have been exponentially going up for years after decades of just going up. It's not like this just started.

You don't like HCR, I get that. But you are trying to use something totally unrelated to it to complain because you didn't get the public option you want. This has nothing to do with HCR. You act like the insurance companies were not going to raise premiums until HCR came along. They were. Because they are headed by greedy assholes. And just like they have been all along they are raising rates to pad their pockets. That's the reason for HCR in the 1st place.

You want a public option in the plan when it goes into effect in 2014, then get out there and start campaigning for it. It's far from too late. But throwing up your hands and crying over spilled milk and pretending like insurance companies raising rates is about not getting a public option is not going to get it. It's just a distraction and waste of energy. And an extremely disingenuous argument.

[golfguru]

31. Actually what I really want is...

A mandatory base plan for every citizen & legal resident run by the government.
It would be similar to HMO with restrictions on procedures, exotic tests, access
to specialists and new unproven medications. But basic healthcare would be
available to EVERYONE and run by a single entity which makes it more efficient
with less paperwork & less overhead. For those who wish to opt out would have to
pay fines amounting to 50 to 60% of the base insurance cost.

By placing every one in the pool makes it affordable to more people. Those in lower
income brackets could be subsidized. Employers can pay for the base insurance and it
would be a partial tax deduction to incentivize them.

For those who want access to the latest and greatest tests and procedures and medications,
they can buy supplemental plans from private insurers. They can visit any specialist of
their choice. This will eliminate the complain that socialized health care takes away freedom.

As it stands now, every one is mandated health insurance but there are no limits on how
high the profits, premiums & increases by private insurers. It is a bad plan.

[depakid]

16. Associating the administration and the party with insurers and PhARMA wasn't very bright

but then, neither was associating one's self with banksters.

At this point, it seems that some in the Senate just don't care- and those in the Obama administration (including the President) just can't help but show their true colors.

[Powdered Toast Man]

17. My parents rates nearly tripled.

From $125 a month to $350

[golfguru]

That is obscene rate increase n/t

[Powdered Toast Man]

41. That was just the start...

Her husband... Step dad... At the same time lost all his sick time and had to take an 18% pay cut.

[golfguru]

19. That is obscene rate increase n/t

[Writer]

18. Then get your stupid ass elected to Congress and then deal with the GOP.

Oh - and by the way - if you're upset about the condition of post-neocapitalist America then GET IN LINE.

[golfguru]

21. So what you are saying is that the current crop of congress

is afraid of the people not voting for them if they had passed
public option. Really? So in other words most people are more
happy with their no holds barred rate increases without the competition
from a public option?

Just fess up...the politicians feared loss of campaign cash more than
they fear the "dumb" public. They took the easy way out, keep the campaign cash
coming and hope we the people would be satisfied with any HCR bill. Especially
the republicans must be exposed to what they are...prostitutes of campaign cash.
What is really sad is that this would have been a winning issue with the public,

Campaign cash won, people lost.

[Writer]

22. Do you not see the complete goddamned irony in that statement!

Yes, people who disapprove of a politician's decision tend to vote AGAINST that politician, which means that the politician will tend to do what the MAJORITY of his or her voters want them to do. So tell me what the complaint is here - that they're following what the majority of people IN THEIR STATE OR THEIR DISTRICT want them to do? No, NOT what the goddamned NATIONAL polls say, but those polled in their GODDAMNED districts! Seriously - WHY IS THAT A FUCKING PROBLEM? I mean, WHY? Because it's a goddamned fucking representative democracy and that's how it fucking works!!!

[golfguru]

28. It is hard for me to believe most people vote AGAINST their interest

How are people happy with a situation where...

There is ZERO restriction on premium rate increases?
There is ZERO restrictions on profits?
There is ZERO competition from another NON-PRIVATE-NOT-FOR-PROFIT option

The reason polls were against the public option is twofold,
first the poor job by president in using his bully pulpit to explain the benefits
and second, not making the public option self-sustaining by finding a way to
get everybody into the pool. Which means every single legal resident would be
required to sign on to a base plan run by the government but then allowed to
buy any additional goodies from private insurers such as exotic & expensive tests
and procedures, and freedom to seek any doctor they wish.

I recognize there is no panacea in health care. But a nationwide pool is the only
real starting point for any fair system.

[LostinVA]

24. Why do you hate Baby Buddha???

:cry:

[Writer]

26. Not only did he make Baby Buddha cry,

but he took Baby Buddha, rolled him in egg wash and bread crumbs, fried him to a crisp, sprinkled him with powdered sugar, then rolled him into a tortilla.

Then he fed him to this guy.

http://micahwoods.typepad.com/.a/6a00e553d5d11088330120a5b0d017970b-pi

I mean, FUCK!

[LostinVA]

30. I thought it was cornflakes and not bread crumbs?!

[BklnDem75]

27. Is there a link?

Or is this nether region news?

[golfguru]

29. It's all over the news and all you need to do is

read post #7. If that does not jolt you, nothing will.

[BklnDem75]

32. Oh snap!

You mean CEO's get a lot of money?!?

[golfguru]

34. Yap and on the backs of the sick and needy n/t

[BklnDem75]

35. Ok...

because this hasn't been the case for decades?

[golfguru]

39. You are missing the whole point...it will be much worse next year

much more than last 5 years average. It is going to make people mad
as hell.

[scentopine]

37. If only this were true... 15% to 20% is more like it. -nt

[golfguru]

38. You are probably right and lot of people are going to be mad

next year. If you are paying $500 now you will pay $600-700 next year.

The HCR as it is written is great for the insurers and very bad for most people.

[golfguru]

40. HERE IS WHAT A HEALTH CARE BILL SHOULD HAVE DONE:

If I was the president..............
I would spend a lot of time on the most important issue facing Americans...
Health care! Except for the really wealthy every one else is worried about the costs.
I would use the bully pulpit 24/7 to explain my plan and its benefits as follows:

A single payer system covering the basic health care needs. It would cover
catastrophic illness, chronic diseases, hospitalization & preventive procedures & tests.
Doctor's office visits and prescription would require substantial co-pays.

Every citizen and legal resident must buy the base plan on their own or via
their employer. Employers would get a partial tax break for covering employees.

The base plan would mimic HMO plans in that you would be assigned to a primary
physician of your choice and restrictions on what procdures, treatments, tests & medications
would be covered. Those who wish to opt out would have to pay fines amounting
to 75% of the base premiums. Those in lower income brackets would be subsidized.
Every doctor would be required to spend 50% of their time on patients in the
government run plan, by law.

Limits would be placed on mal-practice suits to actual loss and suffering.

For those who want access to the latest and greatest tests and procedures and unproven
and unapproved medications, can buy supplemental plans from private insurers. They can visit
any specialist of their choice without needing approval by primary physician.
This will eliminate the complain that socialized health care takes away freedom,
a complain most heard from more affluent people.

If such a HC system was adopted it will virtually eliminate people going bankrupt
due to catastrophic and expensive to treat chronic illnesses. It will give people
incentive to stay healthy since each visit to the doctor will cost co-pay.
It will reduce paper work between providers and insurance companies. Low income
earners will get all the basic health care needed. More affluent people will
have the freedom to buy any exotic treatment from pocket or via their private
insurance. Larger the pool, lesser will be the premiums. Single payer will reduce
administrative costs significantly.

Of course the current crop of for profit insurers stand to lose and will raise hell.
But it is time to stop profits on backs of patients.

The HCR as it stands now, every one is mandated health insurance but there are
no limits on how high the profits, premiums & increases by private insurers.
It is a very bad plan for patients and a bonanza for insurance companies.

There is no such thing as Panacea in National Health care. So a good compromise
plan is the right way to go, before the country goes bankrupt.