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Health Insurance CEOs to Hand Over the Goods
Sometimes you just can't take the watch out of the dog.
From Henry Waxman's latest shop comes this letter, delivered to health insurance company execs, requesting financial disclosures on salary, perks, revenues, and expenditures. It begins:
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is examining executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.
What a grand idea. And they're not just asking for bundled totals, companies need to aggregate claims, revenue, expenses, and total profits for the following sectors: the self-insured employer market, the insured employer market, the individual market, and all government programs they're part of (like Medicare or Medicaid). Which means analysts will get true cost and revenue data over the past four years according to various types of plans. Oooh, a rich dataset to work with, good news for the good guys.
CEO fiscal and compensation information
It seems to me that Waxman should have asked for this information a long time ago. If we hope for a vote in September, 2009, you know these folks will drag their feet and not make it available until February, 2025.
Private info
They should never give this information. It is purely a 'witch-hunt' targeting the big bad insurance companies. Strange that only one industry is targeted.
Pleeeez. This one industry
Pleeeez. This one industry needs to be targeted.
WHAT?!?!
Have you SEEN how many MILLIONS the CEO's earn every year? Have you SEEN their profits for the past 6 years? Have you seen how many people they have kicked out? or refused to help? WHY in the world would you defend these greedy bastards who steal their money while refusing to provide the health care their clients have paid for? They are corrupt thieves, and they are destroying the country. THAT is why they need to show their records. Have you been paying attention at all?! How could you even ask?!?
Considering that the
Considering that the healthcare insurance firms have a virtual lock on their markets...--- that`s exactly why the industry should be investigated... After seeing what has happened in the deregulation environment of the last 30 yrs --- it`s about time that the government gets back to it`s job of making sure there is a `fair and balanced` competitive environment for American business to thrive in... for the sake of the industry and for the benefit of the consumer...
Might seem anti free market as many people bow to... but it`s more in line with our past history....
witch-hunt
My goodness, this is fabulous dark dry humor, jgsisler, worthy of Dublin’s great Jonathan Swift, of "Gulliver's Travels” & "A Modest Proposal" fame. I so hope your ancestors are also Irish, as this is truly terrific parody- if not, I’m putting you in for honorary Celtic credit.
I write only to underscore your wonderfully subtle satire, as I'm betting some readers will take your remark at face value, wondering why on earth any potentially ill human being would stand up for these vampiric behemoths, who even under the Klieg lights of national scrutiny are still brainlessly sucking all life from the American public, its steadily failing host.
And to then add perfectly furtive suspicion as to why that Primary Parasite would have been asked to come clean out of their well-insulated, plush closet to present themselves to the paying public, and why “only one industry is targeted”- that’s brilliant!
As the Insurance Trusts have done their 19th century best to obfuscate & misdirect consumers, spinning out dizzying nonsensical arrays of nearly identical products designed to limit (and if at all possible, prevent) actual provision of service, your masterful refocus on that one industry may well help folks to see the shadowy root ball at its feet. Through piquing the Gentle Reader's interest as to whom else you imply has provoked this unruly witch-hunt, perhaps the untrammeled seeming independence of Big Pharma may be seen for the monstrous, closely inbred graft of the Insure-Us-Against-YOU-People boyos that it is.
jgsisler, I commend you. Your short carping pen has given the sharp-witted readers of Mother Jones great service, in both your laudable channeling of the perpectiveless soul of the dollar-bound fringe Right and in your droll depiction of their desperate flailing for any solid ground in the quicksand they created.
Thank you so much.
Yes, earlier would have been better
But still, the deadline is Sept 14, 2009, so there's hope.
He has no right
Congress has no right to be requesting this information. The insurers have broken no law. The last time I checked, in the absence of a court order, we still have a right to privacy and so do the insurance companies. Their records are their business and no-one else's. I hope the insurers refuse to comply and force the issue into court. No sane judge would back Waxman on this.
Insurance Companies Are Going to be Made to Give Up Info.
All these insurance companies are publicly-traded corporations. Therefore, Congress gets to ask them questions about their business practices.
Dear Healthcare is a TAX
Perhaps you should go live somewhere where you don't have taxes or health care, so you won't be annoyed by either. I wonder what you get by protecting and defending the corporate thieves getting filthy rich at the expense of the American people...
Thank you for underscoring
Thank you for underscoring the right-wing insanity of your Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, who said at his confirmation hearing that he could read no right to privacy in the Constitution!
Congress has no right to be
Congress has no right to be requesting this information. The insurers have broken no law. The last time I checked, in the absence of a court order, we still have a right to privacy and so do the insurance companies. Their records are their business and no-one else's. I hope the insurers refuse to comply and force the issue into court. No sane judge would back Waxman on this.
Would you care to cite some substantiation for this other than "It offends my sense of fairness"?
Congressional committees have broad authority--which authority is rooted in Article I enumerated powers and codified in the rules of each house--to examine the effectiveness of statutes in the areas under their jurisdiction. That authority includes the power to compel testimony or production of evidence. There is no recognized "right to privacy" that would enable anyone to refuse to comply with a properly issued Congressional subpoena (which, by the way, this is not; it is merely a formal request, which might or might not be followed by a subpoena). There are narrowly defined privileges that limit compelled testimony, but "the records are my business and no one else's" is not among them.
Commrade Waxman
I don't remember when the Central Planning Czar was granted dictitorial powers...even though he thinks he already has them. Where were the information requests for AIG, the banks that were bailed out, GM and Chrysler? And what about the phamacutical companies that have crawled in bed (I would say under the bed) with Big O? Grossly un-American!
Just a thought - - -
Does anyone else (genuine MoJo readers) have the feeling that the Republicans and /or the health care industry are paying shills to lurk here and post viral, hateful comments? Extreme rightwingers reading MoJo? What? for fun? Yeah, right.
Pro-Insurance Posts are by Insurance Companies
Don't believe a word these people say who are defending insurance companies with a 'right to privacy' argument. They are plants from the insurance companies trying to 'balance' our negative comments because they know if they don't we are all pissed off and support this. They are wrong and it's going to backfire. They SHOULD be investigated. So should all the banks who took TARP money.
Actually
I am one of the "47 million" who has no healthcare and I do not believe that anyone has a "right" to it and I do not want it shoved down my throat. You people don't see what is going to happen here. You will have over 50% of your income going to the government just like they do in Europe and you will get little in return. You'll get a little healthcare while you're young and still able to contribute taxes to the fund, but once you get old or disabled the free ride ends. There is NO WAY Obama is going to deliver on tax cuts for 95% like he promised and still be able to pay for this. Taxing the super rich will not work because you know what? They have enough money that they can stop whatever they are doing and live off their savings on a tropical island somewhere. That means they simply shut down their businesses and walk away and everyone working for them LOSES THEIR JOBS AND THEIR PRECIOUS HEALTHCARE! Now we suddenly have an additional 2 TRILLION that appeared in the accounting of the deficit raising it from 7 trillion to 9 trillion and you really think the country can afford to pay for this without going broke? You people are out of your minds.
Oh, and I found this site completely by accident in a Google search for something completely unrelated and it drew my interest. I am not a Republican or insurance company shill.
Right-wing shills trolling MoJo, drolly posting
The risk for right-wing shills touring MoJo is that...horror of horrors...they may find their convictions rumbling and shaking a little. Who knows? They may even find information that opens their minds, or alters their viewpoints a smidgen.
I've certainly found myself pondering a thoughtful comment on a conservative blog, and finding myself in agreement with something that expands and stimulates my own thinking (albeit rarely).
Like all insurance cos.they
Like all insurance cos.they make money on denial of payouts. They pick and choose who they let in and when to terminate ( not a good risk) .The Fools who think this is great are just that,Fools. Medicine should not profit companies but the people who provide it( in the form of compensation) and patients who benefit from such service.This is a Big Casino and Las Vegas was not built by winners.Patients and Doctors lose with our current "system",follow the Money.
You're right
Health insurance should be treated differently than other types of insurance because you are dealing with people's lives and health which is far more important than insuring their property. Targeted legislation aimed at the deficiencies in the current system can fix the problems without a government takeover of the system.
re Youre Right
Maybe my last post got by a few readers . I believe in single payer and the protection of a person/household not to go broke when illness strikes. I do not want to be held hostage to company profits ,nor would you. I would rather my money go to a insurance pool(single payer,non profit ) than an insurance co. Fact is the government is WE The People , Companies are the stockholders. Yes health insurance should be treated differently, it should be single payer ,non profit. I would gladly pay into a system to help a fellow citizen call it a tax, so be it. I pay $1,350./mth for health ins. ,I call that a rip off . Thanks
waxman
Hooray for Henry!!!!! Being a californian I'm proud that he represents us!!! Great job.
What? They'll Leave??? Oh Whatever Will We Do???
So we should stay in an abusive relationship on the premise that the abusers might leave us all by our lonesome? Where have we heard this before? Any individual who takes all their wealth offshore to avoid taxes should have their citizenship revoked. Any corporation which does so should have their shipments into the country turned back. How's that for some real nationalism? These super-rich got that way by exploiting the productive capacity of people and resources that are already here. What? Oh, their tax revenue won't be coming in, I guess our government won't have the money to force lopsided trade deals or influence foreign elections or install dictators. Hmm, let's see how long they last in those other countries when indigenous anti-capitalists take control of their governments unopposed, because heaven knows they're itching for it. Let's see whether the sum they pay to all the Xe contractors they need to keep the mob at bay is really less than these oppressive taxes and regs they seek to avoid.
Who are the investors in Health Care Insurance Companies
How do I find out who invests in health Care companies. I am especially interested in politicians who invest, I want to know who profists from the Status Quo!
Who are the investors in Health Care Insurance Companies
How do I find out who invests in health Care companies. I am especially interested in politicians who invest, I want to know who profits from the Status Quo!
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