Ho Hum, Another Private Health Insurance Scam
June 25th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under
By pandora
Truly shocking news.
Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee.
And health insurance companies claim they can’t compete with a public option… seems to me they can’t compete without cheating.
Comment by Unstable Isotope on 25 June 2009 at 11:26 am:
I’m getting kind of numb about this stuff now. How much more evidence do we need that our system is broken? 3/4 of Americans are ready for a change. Unfortunately the minority that don’t want change have too large of an influence so we keep having to put up poll after poll, horror story after horror story to get out elected officials to do the right thing.
Comment by cassandra m on 25 June 2009 at 11:59 am:
It is stuff like this that is the motivation behind the GOP suiting up against this. Protecting the insurance companies’ ability to extract as much money from as many pockets as possible while delivering little health care in the process.
But I’ll say it if no one else will — Who could have known that insurance companies are taking more money from us than they need too?
Comment by Another Mike on 25 June 2009 at 12:49 pm:
This is the last line from that article: Ingenix performed an important function, Hemsley said, because paying whatever doctors charge “is simply not economically tenable.”
It could just as easily be said that paying whatever insurers charge is simply not economically tenable.
If these companies don’t want to pay legitimate claims, they should be in another business. That is the risk they take, collecting money from employers and employees paycheck after paycheck, hoping to never have to pay back a dime of it. Then when you need the insurance, it’s “screw you” and you get dropped. Legalized larceny. Nice work if you can get it.
Comment by MJ on 25 June 2009 at 12:59 pm:
The auditors in our IG office find this every year with the companies that are in the FEHB. And guess what, we usually compromise with them on settlements instead of getting all of the money back.
Comment by Delaware Republican on 25 June 2009 at 2:49 pm:
How about the $60 billion in annual Medicare fraud? Now, there is real money which Obama doesn’t seem to be able to do anything about.
The public option is a sham which will not make patients any better or save any money. The public option will create more hassles and reduce the quality of care.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22184921
Mike Protack
Comment by Phil on 25 June 2009 at 3:09 pm:
The government will be the one doing the major extracting in the future. Just look at all of your other tax programs that you want to pass. VAT, Cap and Trade, Carbon, and Health Care benefits. Then add Fed. and State income tax, Medicare, FICA, and all of the other taxes and fees the government levies. I mean come on, when is it going to be enough? Before we go into any kind of healthcare reform that will cost the country hundreds of billions, we should straighten up the mess we already have.
Comment by PBaumbach on 25 June 2009 at 3:21 pm:
Mike’s msnbc quote “Law enforcement officials said it’s just one of the many widespread, organized and lucrative schemes to bilk Medicare out of an estimated $60 billion dollars a year — a staggering cost borne by American taxpayers.” has zero references to who exactly did the estimation of that $60 billion dollar figure.
Also, don’t conclude that it is Republicans who are stonewalling the public option. We have our own Tom Carper at the head of the list of obstructionists.
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Comment by Truth Teller on 25 June 2009 at 5:37 pm:
Once again Mike P. is a dollar late and a dollar short – just read in today’s Washington Post where the Department of Justice under Eric Holder made a sweep from Detroit to Florida Doctors , Insurance schemers and patients who committed medicare fraud. Get your facts straight Mike your getting to be like Fox Noise who yesterday reported that Governor Sanford of South Carolina (and South America!) was a DEM. I think they were trying to be fair and balanced. HA HA
Comment by Delaware Republican on 25 June 2009 at 7:04 pm:
The facts are very straight. There is widespread fraud and inefficiency in Medicare and all involved know it is a treasure trove of fraud and wasteful payments.
http://www.aapsonline.org/fraud/medfraud.htm
“Medicare fraud is estimated at 10% of total dollars spent, and can be expected to increase as the “baby boomers” reach Medicare-eligible age.”
Again, Delaware Liberal is clueless and uninformed.
Mike Protack
Comment by anon on 25 June 2009 at 7:11 pm:
Here’s backtracking Protack. Do you all recall this man touting HIS universal health care plan?
Dont blame this one on the republicans, this is a Demorat matter. Baucus and the other democrats have taken millions in campaign funds from the corporations they are now trying to reign in. They have a trillion dollar plan which is obscene.
Anyone who knows this topic, should understand there is already enough money in the health care system to pay for every human being in this country not just for medical, but dental, mental, vision, long term, nursing home, aids, prisoners, you name it. This is a farce from the democrats in the Senate whose campaign coffers are filled to the brim. They are corrupt, bought off, paid off and catering to the one who brings them to the dance.
A public option would be administered at l.5% as opposed to 31% the insurance companies rake off the top. Something is wrong with these neo con democrats refusing to fix this broken, sick system. The republicans are sure to win many seats back in 2010.
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Comment by Tom S on 26 June 2009 at 7:28 am:
Ho hum the public health care at our VA!
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/966157.html