Not ONE person here addressed this...

[Highway61]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2407713

I read the above post this morning about health care insurance costs. No one addressed the distribution of monies. We are all suffering at the hands of these companies. I was offered a job at a "call center" for a health care insurance company. What you do is handle the EOB's (explanation of benefits) to folks who have been denied and/or paid a small portion of an original bill. In other words, ya get yelled at a lot by regular folks like us who can't understand why an insurance carrier paid only $15 toward a $100 charge or denied completely. You know what they offered me in salary? $10/hr in Jersey (median house prices are 400K). TEMP to Perm. When and IF you get to perm you have to "contribute" a part of your salary to the very same insurance carrier you work for!!
So then I did some homework. The CEO of this insurance company was raking in $19.28 million a year in salary! WTF!!! (I told them where to stuff it)
No one seems to address this. Pure and simple...it is greed. No longer is a profit OK.... but common sense tells you that anyone will pay ANYTHING for their life. What a concept...however it works and they are getting away with it.
My husband was just notified that his contribution for his health benefits will rise 10% at the beginning of 2008. However his pay increase is 2.3%. Not ONE person voiced any complaint about this where he is employed. Not a single one.

Here are some examples of CEO pay:

MetLife: Mr Herikson $6.98Mil/year
Cigna: Mr Hanway $38.79Mil/year
Prudential Arthur Ryan $16.31mil/year
Chubb: Mr Finnegan $40.69mil/year
United health Group Mr Hensley $4Mil/year

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/12/lead_07ceos_CEO-Compensation_Comp_Name.html

There is a serious illness that is an epidemic.... it's called Complacency. Wonderful Country, America.

:rant:

[madrchsod]

1. taxpayer paid universal health care-medicare.

expand medicare and increase the number of fraud investigators to weed out corruption.by using the existing system the cost would be far less than what the insurance companies charge the patients and health care professionals

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Always has been greed

and they also work to make it hard for doctors and hospitals to get their money. My doc was dropped by Blue Cross/Blue Shield because she wouldn't let them tell her how to treat patients. No kidding, insurance companies are telling doctors what they can and cannot do (if they want to get insurance money), which is ridiculous. No wonder physician's groups are in favor of non-profit single payer insurance. It would save them a lot of headaches and allow them to treat patients the way they feel is best.

[Highway61]

7. You are right on the money

(no pun intended) when you say that. The DO dictate to doctors what is and what is not OK to do.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. My brother the doctor says the same

Sometimes when there are overlapping possibilities for payment (insurance and workman's comp or insurance and a pending lawsuit) the potential payers will dither for months over relatively minor charges.

[L0oniX]

3. Death money is what those figures represent. These parasites profit from death.

These health insurance people are the enemies of... we the people.

[cosmik debris]

4. A CEO is paid to produce profit

Not to provide health care. If that bothers you, look for a nonprofit health care organization.

[madinmaryland]

5. Does such a thing exist in the US?

[cosmik debris]

8. The only example I know of in the USA

Is the Shriner's Children's Hospital.

[redqueen]

13. So... do they take adults?

Perhaps you've solved the healthcare crisis in this country, single-handedly.

[cosmik debris]

14. Not that I know of.

I was not trying to solve "the health care crisis in this country". I was trying to make the point that health care providers expect to make a profit. Nonprofit health care providers do not survive.

Complaining about the profit that health care providers make is pointless unless you have a better way to get them to provide health care. Without the profit motive, how would you get corporations to hire doctors and nurses? Why would they invest in MRIs and ultrasound machines? Who will build a cath lab just to give away their services?

[redqueen]

15. I thought this was criticizing insurers making a profit...

not providers.


Where are the providers mentioned? Aren't MetLife, Cigna et. al. insurers?

[cosmik debris]

18. Health care is seldom provided to those without insurance. n/t

[redqueen]

19. Why the non sequitur?

:wtf:

I take it from your response that you recognize that this thread is discussing how insurers, not providers, are screwing people over from hell to breakfast.

What point were you trying to make there? Do you think that the only kind of insurance that can ever exist is for-profit insurance?

[cosmik debris]

23. No thank you

I'm not interested in a fight. My point is made. Take it or leave it.

[redqueen]

24. Point?

Yeah... if you think so... :wtf:


p.s. No fight sought... just an explanation. Sorry to hear you're not interested in explaining either your non sequitur or your reasoning.

I can't see your contributions in this thread as anything but an attempt to hijack it, frankly.

[freeplessinseattle]

27. Exactly! this is such an Ayn Rand style argument

yuck.

[redqueen]

29. So, by "Ayn Rand style", do you mean nonsensical?

Cause that's how I read it.

[0007]

31. Perhaps it was meant to defend 'Political Conservatism' ? ? ?

Sounds crazy to me also!

[Highway61]

6. I've been a nurse all my life

There is no such thing as "non profit" anymore...trust me when I say that. Did you see sicko? If not...maybe you should. So MANY people are falling through the cracks and as far as "medicaid" goes...my God, you have no idea how bad the care is, if any.

[cosmik debris]

9. I've also worked in many hospitals.

I know the score.

[bobthedrummer]

10. Here's a pdf from Project Censored's Peter Phillips and Bridget Thornton

that parallels "Sicko" and has more depth about the CEO's of the death culture

"Practices in Health Care and Disability Insurance"
http://www.projectcensored.org/Health_Study_Final.pdf

[Highway61]

11. Interesting read

Thank you

[bobthedrummer]

12. You're welcome, and welcome to DU Highway61

[JeanGrey]

28. Disability insurance is a worse racket! I paid into a long term

disability policy for 10 years. Then I became disabled. What they DON'T tell you is they force you to file for social security disability and when you get it (oh yes they provide the "help you" service to get it free) They then take it from you! That's right. They were supposed to pay sixty percent of my salary. So you think if I ever get sick, I'll have sixty percent of my salary plus my social security. Nope!! They then reduce the amount of your benefit BY the amount of your social security check! And of course, they keep this all a big secret until it's too late. That's because they don't want ANYBODY having anything NEAR what they made while they were working, oh no, they want to keep you broke and poor. Bastards.

[uppityperson]

16. Thanks for your story. Insurance is legalized gambling and moneymaker

as a health care provider that bills insurance, I may have talked with you. People tell me they don't want to use their insurance because they are afraid that will make rates rise. I tell them not to worry, that rates will raise anyways because the CEOs want to make more and more and more and besides, the insurance companies are not there to help you but to make money. They are betting they take more than they give out. It is sick. And thank you again for your story, nice to hear from someone who has worked inside that system.

[Highway61]

17. Your welcome

And boy do you speak the truth!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. And as in all gambling "the house (in this case, the ins. companies) always wins"

:grr:

[uppityperson]

25. Yes, and if they don't they still won't pay until you bother them enough.

[Trailrider1951]

22. I'm with you all the way, Highway61

Those millions of dollars should go toward PAYING THE FRICKEN BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lonestarnot]

26. Those top 1%ers are a special privileged inbred doncha know.

So like why look at them or what they do? It's like doesn't any fucking body, not one fucking person, care to do anything about this minute by minute rip off?

[redqueen]

30. Unfortunately, most of those in a position to change it aren't interested in doing so. (nt)