Originally Posted By Sport Goofy <a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/30/bisb1130.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ama-assn.org/amedne...1130.htm</a> More price increases to pad the bottom line for Aetna. They will force 600,000 customers off their rolls in the process.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<They will force 600,000 customers off their rolls in the process.>> Let me guess...the one's who make an above average number of claims?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Let me guess...the one's who make an above average number of claims? >> Actually, it's not even as sinister as that. They just expect that many people to drop their coverage after they raise their rates to the point that it is too expensive for these people/companies to maintain policies. An amazing business strategy, really. They are wholly focused on margins and will diminish their entire customer base just to eke out bigger margins.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/04/aetna-forcing-600000-plus_n_380130.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...130.html</a> From the article: "The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering," said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. "We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year." The premiums that Aetna customers paid this year did not meet their earnings potential. Translation? Aetna didn't gouge their customers enough, nor deny enough payments. But next year... look out. Premiums go up, more customers get dropped from enrollment, and more claims will be denied. Don't you just love the compassionate conservatism double speak? Don't you just love how this guy speaks of the outcomes of his business -- saving the lives of his clients -- as if he were manufacturing widgets? Yeah, it's all about the bucks. None of these bastards care about anyone other than themselves and their accumulation of massive wealth. This is Social Darwinism. Time for a bloody revolution, mate.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka "Earning potential"...what a disgusting phrase to be used when referring to healthcare.
Originally Posted By DAR That's pretty hard to defend. Although the nice thing about the private industry in general is if your not happy with the service you receive you can take your business elsewhere. When something is government run, with the exception of the schools, your kind of stuck. Hopefully people if they want will still be able to keep the option of staying with a private insurer.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Although the nice thing about the private industry in general is if your not happy with the service you receive you can take your business elsewhere.>> In theory only. You continue to refuse to acknowledge how health insurance currently works for a significant chunk of America. Most small business employers who can afford to offer health insurance -- and those numbers continue to dwindle every month -- only offer one insurance provider, which keeps you stuck with that provider. For those that offer two or more providers to choose from, there's often very little difference between the providers, and you can only change providers once a year during open enrollment. For individuals in private individual plans because their employers do not offer health insurance, or they hold multiple part-time jobs and don't qualify because they aren't full-time, or they're self-employed contractors... you're stuck with whatever you can get. And there are many different factors which put you at extreme risk for the companies dumping you, be it pre-existing conditions, middle age, chronic health conditions, et al. Health insurance is NOT competitive. That is a myth. Competition amongst health insurance providers is bunk. The industry is a government protected monopoly. The notion that government options keep you stuck is BS. Seniors and disabled individuals on Medicare have more freedoms than those on individual private plans. Fact. And more and more individuals are forced to be self-employed, or work for companies which cannot afford to offer health insurance to their employees. <<Hopefully people if they want will still be able to keep the option of staying with a private insurer.>> Of course you do, in vain attempts at justifying for keeping a worthless and immoral industry alive. For-profit health insurance is destroying our economy and the middle class. Time for it to go.
Originally Posted By andyll << Although the nice thing about the private industry in general is if your not happy with the service you receive you can take your business elsewhere>> Not true in general with health care. 90% get their coverage through a work group policy. If you have a break in service with a group policy all pre-existing conditions come into play and you make not be allowed back in. So technically you can change health care but realisticly you can't. <<But what if I don't like the government run plan? >> You buy a private plan?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Although the nice thing about the private industry in general is if your not happy with the service you receive you can take your business elsewhere. >> What are your options if you don't like your employers insurance? Can you even afford those options? << But what if I don't like the government run plan? >> Not really a fair question considering that, based on all of your commentary, you are pre-disposed not to like it. And who says you have to "like" your health insurance. The bottom line is that either you are being treated or you are not. The problem with the current system is that it prevents tens of millions of people from receiving treatment and denies access to care. It is also bankrupting our families, small businesses, and government. What's not to like about a system that provided treatment to everyone, is more affordable for everyone, and doesn't drive our government off the bankruptcy cliff?
Originally Posted By DAR <<And who says you have to "like" your health insurance. The bottom line is that either you are being treated or you are not.>> Like it or not you're still a customer and should be happy with the service you receive. If I'm not happy I think I should have the right to take my business elsewhere.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<If I'm not happy I think I should have the right to take my business elsewhere.>> And with true competition, you could. But our health insurance industry is legally protected from anti-trust regulation, and easily discriminates against whole segments of our society who want to purchase their policies. If you want the right to take your health insurance business elsewhere if you're not happy as a customer, then you should support health care reform with a public option. Without the public option, there will be no true competition in the industry. The public option will keep the insurance providers honest and competitive.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***When something is government run, with the exception of the schools, your kind of stuck.*** I don't know what you're talking about. With the exception of certain emergency services (police, fire) there is almost without exception a private alternative to public offerings. Libraries/bookstores, postal service/fedex, Amtrak/reliable transportation, etc... ***But what if I don't like the government run plan?*** Then buy a private one.
Originally Posted By DAR But if you guys had your way there wouldn't be any private insurance. It would be solely government run health care. Tell me how that's fair.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal That's simply untrue. You would have the option to pay for whatever health care you wanted. And if you couldn't pay for private insurance then there would be a government run insurance to cover you.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Just found out that we have to get physicals for our insurance in 2010. Never had to do that before. And we are paying more for less benefits. Fantastic.
Originally Posted By dshyates "But if you guys had your way there wouldn't be any private insurance. It would be solely government run health care. Tell me how that's fair." I'm not sure where you get that from. I don't remember seeing ANYONE saying that they want private insurance outlawed. We simply want an economical government option as part of the health care landscape.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Extending Medicare to everyone does NOT eliminate private insurance. In fact, it makes private insurance more affordable through supplemental plans. I've posted about this before, so I don't need to go through it again. But "MediGap" supplemental plans are affordable options to make Medicare even better. They are not paid for by government funding nor ever would be; they're only offered by for-profit private insurance companies. Medicare plus a MediGap supplemental plan puts 98% of the current non-Medicare private insurance plans to shame. This would be a win-win for everyone, including the for-profit health insurance companies, all of which offer MediGap plans. If private insurance companies didn't make any profits from the MediGap plans, they wouldn't offer them.
