Reply #32: Excellent post. I've worked @ 2 different health ins cos, lots o links: [View All]

[gulfcoastliberal]

After I graduated from college, I worked at Blue Shield of California, which is technically a not-for-profit organization - although they do make plenty of profits:
https://www.mylifepath.com/bsc/aboutbsc/aboutbsc.jhtml

Blue Cross of California, a totally separate entity (owned by Wellpoint), is a for-profit entity as are most of the BlueCross/Shield "franchises". The big plans have been in a merger mania and Anthem is now known as Wellpoint after acquiring Anthem (which owned Blue Cross California): http://ir.wellpoint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=130104&p=irol-irhome

Others like United Healthcare: http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/invest/stock.htm
have always been for-profit and my old boss at BSC told me he used to work there and they'd fire/rehire hordes of employees based on making quarterly analyst projections.

Don't forget Humana:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=92913&p=irol-IRHome

At least BSC didn't do that kind of layoff/rehire thing since they're not publicly traded. But the publicly traded companies have market caps of billions. Even Blue Shield California paid for lobbyists, and the CEO was in DC lobbying for something when 9/11 happened - I remember because he had to drive back in a rental car.

Then I worked at BlueCross/Shield of Florida in the prover credentialing dept. They are also technically not for profit although they own at least one private jet for the CEO and his deputies. They also offer life insurance and other assorted companies:

http://www.bcbsfl.com/index.cfm?section=&fuseaction=Subsidiaries.home

Kind of a ramble, but I think the bottom line is health insurance companies are making big money and have big political influence, just like other billion dollar corporations. This country is fucking over small business and some states are taking measures to help small business offer either state-subsidized private plans or even completely state-funded plans for small business' to be able to band together to offer their employees benefits. Right now employers are trying to force "consumer driven" plans, an article of which is on the business page of the Sac Bee today but I don't have an online subscription so here's the same article from sunherald.com:
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/12974512.htm

The bottom line is we need Federalized single-payer healthcare. But the real bottom line is it's all about the quick buck.It's a shame that when Bill & Hillary were crafting a very good plan, they fumbled when Hillary held secret meetings a la Cheney/energy, which added ammo for the health insurance companies, who were spending millions on ads - remember the PR firm of Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli (now just Porter/Novelli) PR ads invented by Ben Goddard featuring "Harry & Louise" "concerned" they would "lose" their doctor and choices for health plans if the federal plan came out? (BTW, Novelli is now CEO of AARP and good friends and an admirer of Newt Gingrich - splains a lot about how AARPs priorities changed big-time).

The quick buck chasers (in this case executives of health plans) also have access to tons of firms like Porter Novelli:

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/051105_message.html

About Ben Goddard:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18417-2004Nov28.html

AMA (bunch of hypocrites) "concerned" about mega mergers of providers snip at end of article:
The AMA is concerned that the United States is heading toward a commercial health insurance system dominated by a few publicly-traded companies that operate in the interest of shareholders, and not primarily in the interest of patients. It is time for the federal antitrust enforcement agencies to reexamine their enforcement priorities which have resulted in minimal scrutiny of health insurers and aggressive pursuit of physicians.
http://www.physiciansnews.com/commentary/305.html

So, the bottom line is even though companies would save billions by lobbying for single payer national healthcare, the executives at most corporations instead are probably in cahoots with the health plans (which I've hopefully demonstrated are multiheaded hydras), thus no lobbying for the national plan. Hope some of this makes sense.