Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
In September, as Adam Freedman reported, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a 'zero tolerance' policy against health insurers who slander Obamacare by claiming that the legislation is causing them to raise their premiums. In a letter to the insurance lobby, Sebelius wrote:
Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections...
Flash forward to today. I received a notice in the mail from my insurer, Anthem Blue Cross, informing me about a rate increase of 22% to my monthly premiums. In the section of the notice entitled "Why are your rates changing?" the letter lists the following five reasons:
- Advances in medical technology and subsequent increases in utilization.
- Price inflation for medical services that exceeds inflation in other sectors of the economy.
- Cost-shifting from people who are uninsured and those receiving Medicare and Medicaid to the private sector.
- Compliance with government regulations, including the recently enacted health care reform legislation.
- Lifestyles, such as physical inactivity and increases in obesity.
You know? I'd actually like to see a Republican Congress hold hearings of health insurers to discover why exactly they're raising their premiums. By exposing the real effects of Obamacare in action, hearings would act to bolster the GOP's case for repeal.
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Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
There would be a riot. I cherish the thought.
Jun '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Just for starters, how can you eliminate any lifetime limits without increasing the insurers risk, therefore forcing them to charge higher premiums? How can you force an insurer to accept all preconditions without throwing their ability to determine their risks totally into oblivion? If I were in the health insurance business, my only recourse for spreading my risk would be to sell less health insurance and more of any other kind of insurance. And isn't that precisely what this law intends to do? Obama and his cohorts have said it very plainly. All one need do is listen to their very words. This is but the first step to government takeover of the entire health care industry, ergo our lives.
Jul '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Yes. Wall to wall C-Span coverage. Line by line. Videos of families in nightmare situations driven there by the logic of that abortion of a legislative process. Drive the stake into the beast. Pound, pound, pound! Start by reading the Malkin material into the committee record. Produce a political bill of indictment cataloging and ranking the abridgments of freedom and decency these thugs have thought to foist on the families of the greatest nation on Earth.
Compile the dramatizations for Netflix. Andrew Breitbart, can you hear me? John Boehner, are you with us or against us?
Let's roll.
Edited on Dec 3, 2010 at 9:47amJun '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
They accidentally omitted a bullet point:
6. Our CEO's (Angela Braly) overall compensation rose 51% to $13.1 million from 8.7 million in 2008
Edited on Dec 2, 2010 at 6:00pmNov '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
This conversation always seems to turn to comparisons with the Canadian system. But Americans generally don't have the facts straight about the nature, or costs, of the system. Two pieces from the Winnipeg Free Press that give some basics on cost:
All over map on medicare - Winnipeg Free Press
The cost in dollars of 'free' medicare - Winnipeg Free Press
As for the nature of the "public" system, you should avoid the groaners: Mainly, there is no NATIONAL health insurance program -- it is provincial (and constitutionally so. Something similar is true in the US).
It is not all bad: having experienced both the US and Canadian system, I'll say the one-payer system is far more convenient and less prone to misunderstandings over $$$. There is (usually) better communication of patient data between medical professionals. But the problems are very serious: inferior medical facilities (though medical staff are excellent in general); government-imposed PC guidelines hamstring care; limitations on services; overly intrusive bureaucracy; unreasonable wait for procedures (as with many here my personal stories about this are tragic...). Uneven quality and accessibility from region to region.
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Those naughty insurers! Commisar Sebelius will punish them!
I agree -- the hearings might be a good idea. But at the same time, I'd rather that conservatives didn't lead with the argument that Obamacare raises costs. The main issue, as Sisyphus points out above, is liberty. Even if somebody could prove that the individual mandate will bring down costs, it's still a terrible idea from a constitutional and philosophical point of view.
Aug '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
I work at a non profit research institute and just the other day we had a meeting where our human resources people were outlining our own Anthem Blue Cross rate increases. Most of the folks there, I think, vote Democrat and I just could not resist asking first, "were these increases bigger than those in past years?". Answer- yes. Then in my best dead pan voice I said "gee, I thought Obamacare was supposed to lower healthcare premiums". One of the big Libs there shot me a dagger-like glare...
May '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Diane Ellis, Ed.: ..."Why are your rates changing?"...
5. Lifestyles, such as physical inactivity and increases in obesity.
Did they just call you lazy and fat?
May '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
R. Craigen:
It is not all bad: having experienced both the US and Canadian system, I'll say the one-payer system is far more convenient and less prone to misunderstandings over $$$...
This is a ridiculous and true story. When I was a teen-aged exchange student in Sweden my host father looked at us all holding our restaurant menus and announced, "We will all have the fish. It's easier on the kitchen and the server." I wanted a cheeseburger. My point...not everything is better because it's easier.
The one payer system is less prone to misunderstandings over $$$? It's also far easier to milk Medicare/Medicaid than it is private insurance, because they don't discriminate between paying the fraudulent claims and paying the legitimate ones. They all get equal opportunity.
Jun '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Nice comment Andrea. I'll take the cheeseburger, too.
Jul '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
I think the take-away here is clear. Anyone who suffers a ridiculous rate hike is not a victim of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi axis of evil, but rather is fat and lazy. Like those lard butt children on SEIU insurance.
Got it.
Jun '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
I would agree on the liberty argument if the liberty to forego health insurance also meant the liberty to forego healthcare, but that's not our system. Like forced savings for retirement (Social Security), a large percentage of Americans have no private savings for retirement, daring the rest of us to deny them sustenance in their old age. A person's earnings have to be allocated to cover the need for healthcare and for retirement, i.e. the paycheck cannot be entirely spent for current wants and needs, socializing the inevitable costs of healthcare and retirement.
Aug '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Diane Ellis, Ed.:HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a 'zero tolerance' policy against health insurers who slander Obamacare by claiming that the legislation is causing them to raise their premiums....
5. Compliance with government regulations, including the recently enacted health care reform legislation.
But Diane, in the United States, isn't truth still a defense against slander?
At least for now.
Jun '10
Re: Calling Kathleen Sebelius: Anthem Blue Cross Just Slandered Obamacare!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Diane Ellis, Ed.:HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a 'zero tolerance' policy against health insurers who slander Obamacare by claiming that the legislation is causing them to raise their premiums....
5. Compliance with government regulations, including the recently enacted health care reform legislation.
But Diane, in the United States, isn't truth still a defense against slander?
At least for now. · Dec 3 at 6:00am
Well, libel, actually, but a falsehood would be exposed by counter-argument, only the truth is punished. There is no ready defense against arbitrary administrative actions by agencies, your lobbist just can't get a meeting, a merger or acquistion is questioned until it falls apart, the IRS parks a permanent audit unit in your HQ etc. Only some serious campaign cash will get you off the S-List. ("Special List")