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Insurance Industry Already Finding Ways To Game New System
Insurance Industry Already Finding Ways To Game New System
By Dan Froomkin | Huffington Post
The insurance industry's attempt to weasel out of one of the few provisions of the new health care reform law that took effect immediately is a harbinger of what's to come.
In this case, the companies that were balking at covering sick children quickly relented under media, congressional and White House pressure.
But far from being satisfied with a windfall of new customers and massive government subsidies, the nation's insurance companies appear to already be busy devising ways to game the new system. Their goal, as ever: Maximizing profits by paying out as little on actual health care as possible.
And next time they start to weasel, Congress and the White House -- and the media -- may not be paying attention anymore.
"This is what you're going to see as each element in this plan comes up for implementation," said Marcia Angell, a former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine who now teaches at Harvard Medical School. "This insurance industry is going to give up nothing."
In the short run, companies are expected to keep doing what they've been doing, which means, among other things, jacking up their rates. "There's nothing to stop them from raising their premiums, and that's what they're going to do," said Angell, a supporter of "single-payer" health insurance.
The new law's ban on discriminating against adults with preexisting conditions doesn't kick in until 2014. Read more.
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This new Bill's intent was to allow the insurance companies to not only have a windfall of new customers, but also have the means to CONTINUE raising premiums, at will, because this Bill leaves them in charge of "FOR PROFIT" programs, the same as it has been.
Does anyone remember the real reasons to undertake the healthcare debate. I beleive it was something about: The high cost of healthcare. As usual, our congressmen/women, quickly turned it into a political issue, rather than a cost-controlling debate for the people. As soon as they decided to make it a political debate instead, all the "For-Profit" industries reminded the elected members of the congress, who gave them the $$$ to get elected or re-elected. "TIME TO REPAY ELECTION DEBTS, NOW".
If not the recipant of more $$$ from the healthcare industry's deep pockets of bribery, Mr Obama always had his hand fully extended to except as many $$$ as the healthcare industry was willing to let him have.
Also, the leadership in our House and Senate chambers, were likewise, already bought by the healthcare industry, and Corporate America's "Bribe Squad".
"We the People" of the United States, got exactly what these elected officials, along with the healthcare industries direction, only what the industry was willing to put on the table, for debate reasons only, with little or no actual regulations to ensure that most of the articles of the Bill could easily be skated around when the time and need becomes reality to them.
I've been saying and using the phrase: " A GOVERNMENT, for THE GOVERNMENT, by THE GOVERNMENT", OWNED and CONTROLLED BY CORPORATE AMERICA, for several months now. When this Obamacare reform package was first began, as you should have remembered, Mr Obama was talking along the lines of doing something about the high costs, and the people's needs. Yet his real intent was to provide for whatever his healthcare contributors TOLD him what he could or could not do. You should have noticed as soon as he dropped the public option schrade of deception and misleading rethoric in order to appease his Corporate Advisors.
Say what you want, the facts speak loud and clear. The actions are crystal clear. "We the People" do not exist in the Government of this country. Why, because The Government has taken the people out of it's decision process. Corporate America is in total control, and "We the People" are not a part of their agendas.
Until the entire beast, "The Government", is destroyed as it now exists, " IT'S MORE OF THE SAME for WE THE PEOPLE".
Te needed change can be realized at the ballot boses across America. " We the People" still control most of those.