It's after 3PM and normally I do my blog entry following my morning coffee and CBS Sunday Morning program. However, today I just needed a little more time and inspiration to develop what I wanted to say in my writing.
I decided to write about my favorite subject which is Health, apropos for the historic vote in congress on Health Care reform, in addition to the running of the Los Angeles Marathon. What is interesting about both of these events are the people involved in them are extremely passionate about health but in two completely different ways. One is curative and the other preventative. The curative being, government trying to resuscitate or rather "fix" somehow a completely broken Health Care system by trying in essence to put a band aid on a massive coronary, however I suppose a band aid is better than nothing. And... for many individuals here in the US, congress is also deciding their health destiny. The other being (for many running today) trying to prevent ever having a massive coronary (although some are destine to have one anyway). While I do think to some extent marathon running is extreme, it is exercise and that is a means toward prevention of certain diseases. So I guess in a way these are to extremes that have the common thread of health. Although, I think I would rather be running in the LA Marathon today than to be in that fire pit of of HELL called congress.
Whatever comes out of that hell hole today (which I do hope reform does happen because to lay dormant is certainly NOT progress) my hope is that individuals realize we have the power to a very large extent to dictate our personal health outcome. Can the unforeseen happen? Of course it can, however 70% of the cost the US spends on Health Care (crisis care) is in large part for diseases that are completely preventable. I strongly believe that if we all took an interest in our own wellness we would be headed collectively in a much better direction. No you don't have to run a Marathon but getting outside for a walk, a hike or just playing and being active puts you on a path toward a better and more productive outcome. It is truly that simple. Making better choices about food or addictive substances that wreak havoc with your body is a power we take for granted. It's all about choice and making the best choices to live a health life with unlimited vitality.
So on this historic day no matter what the outcome is with regard to Health Reform, choose to reform your own health and I guarantee you will come out a winner....just like all those people who pump their arms over their head when they cross that finish line at the end of 26.2 miles - they are champions of their own health destiny.
Yours In Health ~ L
Showing posts with label health care reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care reform. Show all posts
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
New Report: Private Insurance Mergers Lead to Near-Monopolies Across the Country
Below was taken from The Website Health Care for American NOW -
I feel this information is so important it should be posted everywhere. We need to be informed and involved in order to effect a change.
Sen. Schumer and Health Care for America Now Warn of Private Insurers’ Monopolies; Former US Antitrust Official Calls for Investigation
Washington, DC – Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – in releasing a new report today that shows extreme health insurance industry consolidation has resulted in a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments in the markets they dominate. As a result, health insurance premiums have skyrocketed, going up more than 87% - on average - over the past six years.
“This is the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition,” Senator Schumer said. “A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers. We believe that it is fully possible to create a public health insurance plan that delivers all the benefits of increased competition without relying on unfair, built-in advantages. If a level playing field exists, then private insurers will have to compete based on quality of care and pricing, instead of just competing for the healthiest consumers.”
After reviewing the report entitled “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market,” David Balto, former Policy Director of the Federal Trade Commission and now a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, sent a letter -co-signed by HCAN - to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division asking for a comprehensive investigation into the health insurance marketplace.
"The HCAN report provides a much needed spotlight on health insurance markets, and what it found is a toxic marketplace where competition and consumers suffer,” said Balto. “Unfortunately, antitrust enforcers have been asleep at the switch for the past several years and have permitted health insurers to acquire monopolies in dozens of markets. Consumers have paid a steep price for this merger mania in higher prices, deceptive and fraudulent practices, and ultimately assembly line health care."
In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated, and insurers are thriving in the anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits and paying out huge CEO salaries. Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007. In 2007 alone, the chief executive officers at these companies collected combined total compensation of $118.6 million—an average of $11.9 million each. That is 468 times more than the $25,434 an average American worker made that year. Moreover, the health insurance industry invests more in buying back its own stock and rewarding its shareholders than in improving system operations, reducing premiums, or in developing ways to pay doctors and hospitals fairly.
"To try to reform healthcare in the current market structure is like setting sail across the Atlantic on a raft," Balto added. He noted while renewed antitrust and consumer protection enforcement is essential, it is not sufficient to begin to restore some semblance of a functioning market. Only a public health insurance option will be able to force private insurance companies to adopt new pro-consumer policies.
“Talk about an unfair advantage,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “There is nothing more unfair than the way the current monopolistic private health insurance market controls both cost and coverage. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice should take a long, hard look at the way this industry operates. It needs rules. It needs regulation. And most importantly, it needs real competition from a public health insurance option.”
“It will be extremely difficult to return competition to the farm after the barn door has been left open,” Balto explained. “Insurance companies will fight tooth and nail against any antitrust or consumer protection enforcement, and they have the monopoly profits to fund a One Hundred Years War of litigation.”
Contact Jacki Schechner for call information at jschechner@healthcareforamericanow.org or 202-454-6196. For more information about Sen. Schumer call Brian Fallon 202-224-8346.
PLEASE Note:
This report makes use of data published by the American Medical Association, which is not a member of the Health Care for America Now coalition and did not collaborate with HCAN on the writing or research presented here.
The AMA data presented in this report included figures for both statewide areas and metropolitan statistical areas. All data for self-insured employer-sponsored plans refer to preferred provider organizations (PPOs), not combined data for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and PPOs.
HCAN attributed the following statement to the AMA in individual state reports: “The American Medical Association reports that the number of health insurance companies has declined by nearly 20 percent since 2000, and as a result 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated.”
This sentence should have the following footnoted citations:
David Balto, “The Right Prescription? Consolidation in The Pennsylvania Health Insurance Industry,” Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, July 31, 2008. Accessed at http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/balto_testimony.html;
American Medical Association, “Competition in health insurance: A comprehensive study of U.S. Markets: 2008 update.”
Please JOIN: http://healthcareforamericanow.org
I feel this information is so important it should be posted everywhere. We need to be informed and involved in order to effect a change.
Sen. Schumer and Health Care for America Now Warn of Private Insurers’ Monopolies; Former US Antitrust Official Calls for Investigation
Washington, DC – Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) joined Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – in releasing a new report today that shows extreme health insurance industry consolidation has resulted in a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments in the markets they dominate. As a result, health insurance premiums have skyrocketed, going up more than 87% - on average - over the past six years.
“This is the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition,” Senator Schumer said. “A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers. We believe that it is fully possible to create a public health insurance plan that delivers all the benefits of increased competition without relying on unfair, built-in advantages. If a level playing field exists, then private insurers will have to compete based on quality of care and pricing, instead of just competing for the healthiest consumers.”
After reviewing the report entitled “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market,” David Balto, former Policy Director of the Federal Trade Commission and now a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, sent a letter -co-signed by HCAN - to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division asking for a comprehensive investigation into the health insurance marketplace.
"The HCAN report provides a much needed spotlight on health insurance markets, and what it found is a toxic marketplace where competition and consumers suffer,” said Balto. “Unfortunately, antitrust enforcers have been asleep at the switch for the past several years and have permitted health insurers to acquire monopolies in dozens of markets. Consumers have paid a steep price for this merger mania in higher prices, deceptive and fraudulent practices, and ultimately assembly line health care."
In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated, and insurers are thriving in the anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits and paying out huge CEO salaries. Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007. In 2007 alone, the chief executive officers at these companies collected combined total compensation of $118.6 million—an average of $11.9 million each. That is 468 times more than the $25,434 an average American worker made that year. Moreover, the health insurance industry invests more in buying back its own stock and rewarding its shareholders than in improving system operations, reducing premiums, or in developing ways to pay doctors and hospitals fairly.
"To try to reform healthcare in the current market structure is like setting sail across the Atlantic on a raft," Balto added. He noted while renewed antitrust and consumer protection enforcement is essential, it is not sufficient to begin to restore some semblance of a functioning market. Only a public health insurance option will be able to force private insurance companies to adopt new pro-consumer policies.
“Talk about an unfair advantage,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “There is nothing more unfair than the way the current monopolistic private health insurance market controls both cost and coverage. The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice should take a long, hard look at the way this industry operates. It needs rules. It needs regulation. And most importantly, it needs real competition from a public health insurance option.”
“It will be extremely difficult to return competition to the farm after the barn door has been left open,” Balto explained. “Insurance companies will fight tooth and nail against any antitrust or consumer protection enforcement, and they have the monopoly profits to fund a One Hundred Years War of litigation.”
Contact Jacki Schechner for call information at jschechner@healthcareforamericanow.org or 202-454-6196. For more information about Sen. Schumer call Brian Fallon 202-224-8346.
PLEASE Note:
This report makes use of data published by the American Medical Association, which is not a member of the Health Care for America Now coalition and did not collaborate with HCAN on the writing or research presented here.
The AMA data presented in this report included figures for both statewide areas and metropolitan statistical areas. All data for self-insured employer-sponsored plans refer to preferred provider organizations (PPOs), not combined data for health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and PPOs.
HCAN attributed the following statement to the AMA in individual state reports: “The American Medical Association reports that the number of health insurance companies has declined by nearly 20 percent since 2000, and as a result 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated.”
This sentence should have the following footnoted citations:
David Balto, “The Right Prescription? Consolidation in The Pennsylvania Health Insurance Industry,” Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, July 31, 2008. Accessed at http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/balto_testimony.html;
American Medical Association, “Competition in health insurance: A comprehensive study of U.S. Markets: 2008 update.”
Please JOIN: http://healthcareforamericanow.org
Saturday, May 30, 2009
People are PISSED OFF about HeathCare - And they have every right to be
I just received notice that my health insurance premium is going up AGAIN!!!! It just went up...oh yeah - that was a year ago. My husband and I are self employed and have to carry our own individual insurance. He just turned 50 in April and last month his premium went up just because he is now in a new decade...Happy Birthday Honey!!! It went up $45 a month - $540 more a year and that's before I received this latest new increase that is effective in July. Now it's going up even more. And what are we getting for this increase? Less benefits I am sure - I didn't have the stomach to read the thick booklet that came with the notice. It actually made me ill and I refuse to go to the doctor because my insurance would not even cover it. My doctor is out-of-network. In a two year time period both our policies have increased our health insurance costs to over $1,200 more a year. I could buy food with that. Instead I am lining the pockets of a Blue Shield executive...UGH.
I AM SO PISSED OFF!!!!! I WANT TO SCREAM!!!!!
Apparently their are many others are out there with the same rant as me. I scourged the internet looking at blogs, articles, anything I could read to find out how others out there felt. I learned I am not alone. In fact, I am in abundant company on this. One person blogged, "We should all cancel our health insurance at the same time" - I thought... "that is brilliant!!!" What if every single person REALLY canceled their health insurance? It would be like when we all wanted to stop buying gas for a day. Great idea to get the point across BUT it ain't ever gonna happen except in my dreams. Although, I am certainly thinking seriously about canceling mine (ours) right now and just taking my chances. I'm healthy, no "medical" issues, and I do a lot of self care so the chances are very low I would seriously get into trouble with my health. At this point, as it is with the docs I do see, whenever I go, the insurance company never pays a damn dime anyway - I pay out of pocket because my stupid deductible is so high and they rarely pay for my "out-of-network" doctors anyway.
I really hope President Obama listens to the cries of Americans wanting better Health Care and Health insurance choices. I would switch to a single payer system in a heart beat and watch those insurance companies scramble when everyone leaves to go for it too. That would stir the bastards up and have them get the hell off their high horses. Give 'em something to compete against Barack!!!...Make them sweat - raise their blood pressure - stress them out and have them know what it feels like to be caught by the short hairs.
In the meantime I will just vent, wait for something better to happen and dream that it does happen in my life time.
I AM SO PISSED OFF!!!!! I WANT TO SCREAM!!!!!
Apparently their are many others are out there with the same rant as me. I scourged the internet looking at blogs, articles, anything I could read to find out how others out there felt. I learned I am not alone. In fact, I am in abundant company on this. One person blogged, "We should all cancel our health insurance at the same time" - I thought... "that is brilliant!!!" What if every single person REALLY canceled their health insurance? It would be like when we all wanted to stop buying gas for a day. Great idea to get the point across BUT it ain't ever gonna happen except in my dreams. Although, I am certainly thinking seriously about canceling mine (ours) right now and just taking my chances. I'm healthy, no "medical" issues, and I do a lot of self care so the chances are very low I would seriously get into trouble with my health. At this point, as it is with the docs I do see, whenever I go, the insurance company never pays a damn dime anyway - I pay out of pocket because my stupid deductible is so high and they rarely pay for my "out-of-network" doctors anyway.
I really hope President Obama listens to the cries of Americans wanting better Health Care and Health insurance choices. I would switch to a single payer system in a heart beat and watch those insurance companies scramble when everyone leaves to go for it too. That would stir the bastards up and have them get the hell off their high horses. Give 'em something to compete against Barack!!!...Make them sweat - raise their blood pressure - stress them out and have them know what it feels like to be caught by the short hairs.
In the meantime I will just vent, wait for something better to happen and dream that it does happen in my life time.
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