We Need Single Payer 1
As long as health care is a profit center, as long as care for the sick is considered “losses,” executives’ country club memberships will be more important than patients’ well-being:
Despite angry complaints from policyholders, Blue Cross says the changes are necessary because of continuing losses in the Personal Choice plans. And the state Insurance Department says there is little it can do, even after it resisted a proposal last spring to raise rates for the plans by amounts ranging from 10 percent to 58 percent.
One reason: Blue Cross sidestepped the issue by withdrawing its proposed increases. Instead, it told state officials it planned to discontinue the trio of Personal Choice plans in question, which it has offered for the last two decades, and give current policyholders two new choices instead – choices many find unattractive.
Nice end run by BCBS. They took their football, went home, and came back with two new, pricier footballs.
January 7, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Given what I understand about the bill being “worked on”, we’re all pretty much left to the insurance companies to do what they will with us, with no protection. Especially once they start allowing across state lines selling of policies. We won’t have anyone, like the state insurance commissioner, to complain to. The Colorado commissioner won’t have any authority over the New Jersey based company who has just ripped off the suckers who bought their policy.
The wolf has been sent in to guard the lambs. And we don’t even get a kissee for our pain.