Congressional Democrats on Wednesday accused the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross of putting profits ahead of policyholders, saying the giant insurer sought to rid itself of costly sick customers to maximize income as it lavished generous salaries and benefits on top executives.
Internal documents from WellPoint Inc. showed that proposed rate increases of as much as 39% for California customers who buy individual policies would "return California to a profit of 7%." Anthem executives told state officials in a Sacramento hearing Tuesday that the company's profit was no higher than 5%.
The accusations about profiteering came during a hearing into Anthem's proposed rates by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The full committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), said that other documents raised the possibility that WellPoint may have manipulated "actuarial assumptions" to remain within guidelines set by California law requiring health insurers to spend at least 70% of premiums on medical care.
Waxman said WellPoint was proposing its highest rate increases on its most generous plans while developing alternative "downgrade options" that reduced benefits for policyholders. He added, the insurer paid 39 senior executives $1 million each in 2008 and spent $27 million on 103 executive retreats in 2007 and 2008.
"Corporate executives at WellPoint are thriving, but its policyholders are paying the price," Waxman told the hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "Health insurers like WellPoint may get richer, but our nation's health will suffer."
That's exactly why we need the public option!
ReplyDeleteKaren - The evidence gets more overwhelming all the time.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what Anthem Blue Cross did to me.
ReplyDeleteMy rate was raised $134/month (37%). This was on a policy with a $5000 deductible. If I was willing to raise the deductible to $7500, my rate would go up only $37 (~10%). So, I could pay $1608/yr more in premiums, or $2500 more in deductible.
I have had this policy for about 8 years. This last year (2009) was the first year that I reached the $5000 deductible due to cataract surgery in both eyes. I did not exceed it by very much. They have paid out very little for me. They have been able to keep most of my premiums. Yet, it get a 37% increase.
The good news. I turn 65 next month. I called them up and told them to go fuck themselves!
Ah, the American Dream. You too can become a multimillionaire. All you have to do is stab a bunch of sick people in the back.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly why we need the public option...and firing squads!
ReplyDeleteMr. Critter - I hope when you told them to go forth and propagate you got an extreme buzz.
ReplyDeleteTom - More like the American nightmare, if you are a sick person.
ReplyDeleteJJ - OK, you wouldn't be satisfied with getting the public option, you be up for locking and loading too, well it is your second amendment rights.
ReplyDeletePropaganda! You are just trying to get the government between the doctor and his or her patients instead of the insurance company which every soul loyal to free markets knows is God's will.
ReplyDeleteFat and worthless executives who never did a real day's work in their life deserve lavish lifestyles as long as the Marching Morons wearing Lipton and Nestle tea bags cower in fear over the socialized Boogeyman looking to turn off grandma's life support. The only problem is that the rest of us wanting reform get caught up in their ignorance.
Beach - Propaganda it is, but it, rather than nonpropaganda. I find the latter so tasteless and lacking in charm.
ReplyDeleteThe signal to noise ratio (S/N) is a scientific and engineering term that describes how much signal is degraded by background noise.
ReplyDeleteIt is an apt metaphor to describe our experience of media and politics. If the “signal” represents an accurate and honest reporting of news, then distortions, mendacities, and spin represent noise.
Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh are noise. Celebrity gossip and tabloid journalism are noise. Blathering pundits and crosstalk are noise. So-called “Death Panels” represent noise.
Sedition works under cover of noise; static conceals a culture war that is loud and clear to those of us who listen.
When I read reactionary rhetoric that paints liberals in eliminationist language … “dangerous … a mental disease … traitors …. vermin to be eradicated” … these invoke for me the sound of breaking glass and the reek of burning flesh. Noise is scary.
"Congressional Democrats on Wednesday accused the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross of putting profits ahead of policyholders"
ReplyDeleteYeah we know....now we know that you know up there in the granite halls...now do something about it.
Octopus - The venomous rhetoric from the far right is very intimidating and it is meant to be. Threats and lies are all they have, there is no reasoning, no compassion, no willingness to consider other views, if they were outnumbered 99 to 1 politically the noise made would be deafening.
ReplyDeleteWalking Man - If the Democrats in Congress had an itch, it would take them two years to scratch it. Action now is needed.
ReplyDeleteHolt - Agreed. The rhetoric is much like a psy-ops campaign ... it is meant to demoralize and intimidate (which is why I devoted two recent posts to predatory Freeper trolls and a certain nutty professor).
ReplyDeleteGoldfinger! C'mon, everybody sing.
ReplyDeleteFiring squad? Bah, guillotine, then we can have a soccer match with the heads afterward.
I am in favor of a public option. Actually I am a single payer kind of guy, but it is not going to happen despite such horror stories. The Democrats, more by accident than design, will get Health Care Reform and it will happen this year, through reconciliation. It won't be what we want but it is a start.
ReplyDeleteRandal - IF you insist:
ReplyDeleteGoldfinger
He's the man, the man with the Midas touch
A spider's touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don't go in . . . I can't hear you . . .
MadMike - I'm listening to it right now, we don't seem any closer, it's still a cluster.
ReplyDeletereconciliation and public option!
ReplyDeleteCan everybodys hear me? LOL Loved the post Mr. Ender. :-)
Gwendolyn - I hear you. Ta Ms Barry.
ReplyDelete