Showing posts with label bayh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bayh. Show all posts

Friday, January 29, 2010

First, do no harm Senator


Steve Benen nails exactly what's wrong with the senator's thinking:

Getting reform done isn't just about passing some bill; it's about helping millions of Americans suffering under the current system. As anyone even passively familiar with the debate surely knows, the tens of millions of Americans with no coverage are struggling with a burden unseen in other major democracies. Thousands more join the ranks of the uninsured every day. Tens of thousands of Americans die every year because they have no insurance. Hundreds of thousands of others fall into medical bankruptcy -- and most of these medical bankruptcies involve people who have insurance, but whose coverage proves inadequate.

Bayh's argument, quite literally, is that those suffering under a dysfunctional status quo will just have to continue to suffer, because the legitimate legislative procedure needed to help them might annoy Republicans.

Helping those who are suffering isn't as high a priority as maybe getting some GOP help on a few issues?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Mrs. Bayh...


sits on the board of WellPoint. Congratulations on the 727% increase in profits this year alone. Denial of benefits really pays doesn't it?

From Jason Rosenbaum at Fire Dog Lake's Seminal:

Like the rest of Wall Street, WellPoint – one of the nation’s largest insurers, with 14 state Blue Cross brands in its portfolio – is having a banner year.

Today, WellPoint announced that profits jumped 727%. In the middle of the biggest recession in generations, WellPoint is raking in the cash hand-over-fist.

Why the jump? Turns out, last year WellPoint spent even less on actual health care than it did in 2008.

In 2008, it spent 83.6% of the premiums it took in on care – paying for doctors, drugs, and the like. In 2009, they spent only 82.6% of your money on your care. That seemingly small difference actually belies bigger discrepancies. An analysis by the Senate Commerce Committee [pdf] found that while WellPoint spends about 85% of every premium dollar on care in the large group market that big businesses can tap into, they spend as low as 73% of every dollar collected through individual plans, and 79% on small group plans purchased by small businesses.


More at link