LA Times - "Consumers who buy individual health policies feel trapped"

[TomCADem]

I hope the Democrats do not cave into Republican demands to start from scratch. Can you imagine another year of town halls, hearings, etc.? As Dean said, Democrats need to start acting like a majority.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/19/business/la-fi-insurance-trap20-2010feb20

Health insurers across the country are dramatically increasing rates and slashing benefits for many of the estimated 17 million consumers with individual insurance policies, while making it almost impossible to obtain affordable alternatives.

The problems have captured national attention as President Obama steps up his campaign in Washington for a healthcare overhaul and Congress investigates rate hikes of as much as 39% by Anthem Blue Cross in California.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and members of Congress this week continued a drumbeat of criticism of insurers, including Anthem, saying they are putting profits ahead of customers who must buy individual policies rather than group coverage.

Sebelius released a report Thursday that drew attention to big rate hikes sought by insurers in several states, including California, Oregon, Michigan and Connecticut.

[MrModerate]

1. The insurance companies are panicking. They're terrified that their ploy . . .

of getting the Dems to cobble together a hopeless bill that would either 1) never pass and/or 2) be a total disaster that simultaneously pours zillions of dollars into their coffers -- that ploy seems to have come unstuck. Apparently, someone gave Harry Reid a Webster's Dictionary in which the term "majority" was defined. Other Dems have figured out what the word means, and the whole complicated mess the Insuros have wrapped HCR in appears to be unraveling.

So the Insuros are going to gouge while the gouging's good, no matter that their aggressive ghoulery will just harden the public's opinion against them. Remember this is an industry that only cares about results three months at a time, and has been comfortable for decades because they've owned enough polticians to always stave off any real reform.

Is real reform going to emerge? Probably not -- Dem backbone is a very evanescent quality -- but there is a glimmer of hope that wasn't on the scene a few days ago.

Except for those people with individual policies in markets where the Insuros have upped their bloodsucking game. Those folks have no practical hope, until and unless something sensible (like single payer, anybody?) emerges from the muck.

[SoCalDem]

2. As well they should.. Think about it..

Their business model is simple..

1) charge a LOT of money as premiums
2) pay OUT as little as possible

If people no longer send them premium-money, they have NO business plan..no reason to exist.. They cannot move their business plan globally..Most other civilized nations have no need for them, and would laugh at them.

they are a specialized parasite, only feeding on people who have to send them money in order to even have a chance at seeing a doctor...a visit that will cost them MORE money at the point of check-in, and perhaps after the vist for uncovered services..

The insurance parasite is only the "broker"..connecting the patient & doctor, and uses money paid to them from others who are NOT "using" their insurance, to pay the doctors for the ones who are using the service..

It's a nice little ponzi scheme they have going, and they can ONLY have good results here in America..

If we shut them out, they have nowhere to go.. They will have to vacate their fancy digs and go back to issuing policies for autos & for homeowners & for fires & dog-bites ...the real uses for insurance.. insuring against things that are UNLIKELY to happen

[upi402]

3. If we all stop paying -SOMETHING will have to be done

I will stop paying cobra and SCHIP my kid. If we all end up at the ER, their doomed to fail business model will fail sooner.

[wroberts189]

4. I live in CT and we lost our coverage....

Raised our rates 24%..making it impossible to pay.
Slashed our benefits.


Removed a small billing grace period that allowed us to be a little late if we needed to.. all without notice...except the one that said we had been canceled.

knr

[glowing]

5. It even sucks if you are empoyed. Depending on the size of the company

and how much money you make, insurance is very expensive.. and because it increases every year, a real raise to cover COL increase just doesn't happen.

[justgamma]

6. It's Obama's fault.

My daughter must work with some righty's. They are claiming that it's Obama's fault that the premiums are going up. He just raised the rates so he could push through hcr. :banghead:

[gratuitous]

7. How very odd

This article seems to be saying that individuals don't have much bargaining power when it comes to negotiating with large, multi-billion dollar insurance corporations. But according to the Republicans, the magic of the free market is supposed to force all those insurance companies to compete for our health insurance dollar. But with pre-existing condition exclusion and other mean little tricks, it's as if the insurance companies can just screw consumers over and over, and nothing can be done.

Could the Republicans possibly be mistaken about how markets work, and how the anti-trust exemption for the insurance industry affects citizens? Naaaaaahhh! Hey, isn't time for another round of campaign contributions?