I don't think the Health Insurance Reform Act was a great progressive achievement.

[dflprincess]

188. "Some out of pocket expense"

You don't think "coinsurance" (or "cost sharing" as the current bill calls it ) of up to $5,950/year (more as time goes on) will keep people from seeing a doctor? Americans are going to continue to die before they should have as they continue to put off getting needed care because of the out of pocket costs. This does not happen in civilized countries with national health plans of one kind or another.

I have had reasonable experiences with non-profit insurers in Minnesota including Blue Cross MN & Health Partners - but only after we had a Commerce Commissioner & an Attorney General that made it clear they wouldn't put up with the crap insurers like to pull when it comes to paying claims and fudging their MLRs.

On the other hand, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group, and a out of state for profit Blue Cross were nightmares (until Wendell Potter went public, the change in Cigna was like night & day after all the bad press). All three routinely deny claims for items that are clearly covered and they do this because they know most people won't put up more than a token fight. It took me two months to get my 2011 insurer to pay for the annual tests that the even the Profit Protection Act covered.

I worked for UHG though not in an area directly related to healthcare - and they even tried to screw their employess on claims payments. I knew people who worked in claims, the turnover there was awfully high because most of them had consciences that didn't let them stay there long. One thing that might have shocked UHG executives is the number of its employees who believed we need a single payer plan. The was absolute hysteria from the executive floor when an "Onion" article titled "UnitedHealth Group to change tactics - may start paying some claims" started circulating through the coporate email....They expected the IT department to somehow block each an every copy of it.

As of 12:01 this morning I will be insured through UHG again. I'm not looking forward to it - especially with the craptacular plan my current employer has picked.

The for profit insurers, even the non-profits where not overseen properly, are not in business for altruistic reasons. Their executives are only interested in making money and paying themselves obscence salaries. Paying claims cuts into their profits and they will continue find ways around it and they will cook their books to cover their MLR abuses.

Bet on it