• Former insurance executive Wendell Potter of the Center for Media and Democracy reveals how the health care industry fights reform by putting profits before patients.
• Does the government have the right to ban movies? Ted Baehr of the Christian Film & Television Commission explains why he’s seeking to halt screenings of the new movie Bruno.
• It’s the Friday Night Free-For-All!
“The medical/insurance industry needs an overhaul…”
It needs to be indicted for mass murder.
Change BO to Dubya and then it all makes sense….
It is freedom of speech, Flap.
They called that a ‘freak out’ back in the day.
And public nudity and viewing an R rated movie are entirely different issues.
Just like the guest, you want to confuse the issue so nobody can make sense of any of it.
“Think of the children.”
The #1 rallying cry of the fascists…
“I’ve wanted to call you a punk several times. You’ve made me angry a few times.”
I wonder if that caller has any idea how angry a liberal gets if they actually listen to punks like O’Reilly, Limbaugh or Hannity.
This is my question … I truly wonder if any breathing conservative has a beating heart in their chest or just a ball of slime.
Maybe they just hide their compassion and keep their empathy for others deep within themselves as they call it a ‘debate’ to sit there and lie about the nation and the president.
–
“Marijuana is not safer than alcohol. It is worse than alcohol.”
What utter hogwash. I personally know multiple people who have died from alcohol abuse. How dare this man claim to the ‘real facts’ when it’s clear he does not.
There has never been one single fatality linked to marijuana use or abuse, and alcoholism is a worldwide epidemic harming families and individuals across the world.
I believe that caller is just one of many people out there who choose to be misinformed on the issue so they don’t have to face their own personal addiction to alcohol and how it very possibly is a strongly negative aspect of their life.
They simply cannot process that they are in fact: drug addicts.
If your **** lasts longer than four hours,——-Get more Astroglide.
Only registered user allowed |
Seventy percent of the American people want a public alternative to private health insurance, and so does the president, but Aetna, Blue Cross, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser, United Health and Wellpoint ride into DC on their private jets and dictate to the government what health care reform is going to look like?
WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??????
EricG Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Corporate arrogance. Just like before. The elites never get it. They know nothing of want and nothing of what it means to be part of society. There are always exceptions but by abd large they live in ivory towers and never mingle with the peasant folk.
So can’t even put together something like … flying coach … in their heads.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Profits before patients.
I wonder if any plaques or posters with that on it, hang in the CEO offices at health insurance companies ?
July 10th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
“Does the government have the right to ban movies? Ted Baehr of the Christian Film & Television Commission explains why he’s seeking to halt screenings of the new movie Bruno.”
I’m sure Ted Baehr THINKS they have the right to mandate society and surpress free speech, but they do not.
average james Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Yah Eric,
Keyword, THINKS. You got it, bro.
flap Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I’m gonna go outside and parade around naked…they better not arrest me because it’s FREE SPEECH. I’m being artistic. All these idiots trying to stifle my speech!
TDro319 Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Hey! Whatever turns you on! As long and you’re not hurting anybody or it’s not costing me anything, knock yourself out!
Um Cara Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Why would you think any of us would care if you paraded around nude?
Go for it, dude. Wave that freak flag high!
EricG Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
It is freedom of speech, Flap.
They called that a ‘freak out’ back in the day.
And public nudity and viewing an R rated movie are entirely different issues.
Just like the guest, you want to confuse the issue so nobody can make sense of any of it.
“Think of the children.”
The #1 rallying cry of the fascists…
July 10th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I heard this morning somewhere that 90% of Americans are happy with their current health insurance and nothing needs changing. It might have been Missy Francis on CNBC.
HA!!! Liar!!!
We had Cigna at work for a while. They sucked. Bad. Eventually, they switched us to BCBS and while they still sucked, BCBS didn’t suck quite as bad as Cigna sucked.
I eventually ended up with an individual policy after my employer closed up and left town. I was first turned down for an individual policy by, ironically, BCBS. Even though they insured me for years in a group plan, they wouldn’t underwrite me at all as an individual because I had hayfever (sneezing) and a back injury on my medical record from years ago.
I sent them a letter from my doctor explaining that “he currently has no health deficiencies” but that wasn’t enough. BCBS only suggested I try for the state’s high risk pool but they only have limited slots and it’s REALLY expensive. I hardly considered myself “high risk” based on long since healed injuries from a minor industrial accident a decade ago.
I ended up with an expensive, high deductible plan with waivers from American Family. They’re regularly boosting the quarterly premiums by 20-30% and I’ve never made a claim since I signed up with them 3 years ago. I’m not even confident it’ll be there if I ever do need medical care.
Health insurance industry profits would be maximized if they never paid any claims. If they only took in money but they never paid out any claims, they’d be RICH. While that might make some sense to the true capitalists among us, it’s kind of hard on their customers.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
When our plant closed up, an old coworker got on to a group health plan through his new temp job.
As the temp agency didn’t pick up any of the new insurance premium, he paid the whole works.
$12,000/year for him, his wife and one son remaining at home. And that was three years ago. Who knows how much he’s paying today.
The health insurance industry will bankrupt the nation if we allow this to continue. It has to stop, now.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Deeply appreciate your posts on this subject, Mouse.
anonymouse Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I run regularly and I try to get in two or three marathons each year. I run 26 miles (in a crowd) in 3.25-3.75 hours.
Yet somehow, BCBS (or any health insurance underwriter for any company) considers me a high risk for health problems because I fell off a truck ten years ago in the rain and injured my back, it’s long since healed. I also had hayfever but I haven’t sneezed in years, that also still shows on my medical records and that alone was enough for the BCBS underwriter to exclude me from individual health insurance.
Thus, I can’t get individual insurance from anyone free of waivers for anything back/sneezing related. Better yet, only a limited few companies will write waivers (BCBS won’t) and even then the waivers are wide enough you could float a battleship through. I finally ended up with American Family health insurance and they wrote the waiver excluding anything lower back related that I’m pretty sure means they wouldn’t pay for an appendectomy if I ever needed one.
I can’t believe some of the comments supporting the current health insurance scheme in the USA. Some of “us” are … hopeless.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
1) You’re Canadian and 1/2 of your income is “lost” to taxes but single-payer health insurance is part of the package.
$60,000/year income -> $30,000/year lost to taxes and single-payer health insurance premiums.
2) You’re American and 1/3 of your income is lost to taxes.
$60,000/year income -> $20,000/year lost to taxes.
But, you’re also paying your insurance company $12,000/year in premiums.
$60,000/year income -> $20,000/year in tax + $12,000/year for private health insurance = $32,000/year lost to taxes and health insurance premiums.
Single-payer health insurance doesn’t “cost”, it “saves”.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 1:54 am
unless you decide that you don’t want to pay for insurance and avoid the big medical industry…in which case 10,000 dollars has been stolen from me.
libpatriot Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 3:19 am
G’night, Guido.
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Single-payer absolutely will save because we won’t be paying the insurance giants their 30% profit margin.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 7:46 am
save what???
Save ourselves from evil corporations that spur on innovation and advancement?
The medical/insurance industry needs an overhaul..but not in the form that congress is steering us and not a single payer system.
OldLefty Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Innovations like:
“[T]hey confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors,” former Cigna senior executive Wendell Potter said during a hearing on health insurance today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Pottersaid companies routinely drop seriously ill policyholders so they can meet “Wall Street’s relentless profit expectations.”
“They look carefully to see if a sick policyholder may have omitted a minor illness, a pre-existing condition, when applying for coverage, and then they use that as justification to cancel the policy, even if the enrollee has never missed a premium payment,” Potter said. “…(D)umping a small number of enrollees can have a big effect on the bottom line.”
“What we have is rationing by corporate executives who are beholden to Wall Street. And it happens all the time,” Potter said.
Many corporations ARE innovative, but not when they get too big and too essential.
You want to see corporations provide innovation? Look at those who in the high and low tech fields from electronics to kitchen and garden appliances.
The drug companies spend more money on PR and advertising than on R&D, most of which comes from the NIH.
OldLefty Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Sorry, ruling what will not post:
Innovations like:
“Potter said companies routinely drop seriously ill policyholders so they can meet “Wall Street’s relentless profit expectations.”
Many corporations ARE innovative, but not when they get too big and too essential.
You want to see corporations provide innovation? Look at those who in the high and low tech fields from electronics to kitchen and garden appliances.
The drug companies spend more money on PR and advertising than on R&D, most of which comes from the NIH.
OldLefty Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:45 am
“They look carefully to see if a sick policyholder may have omitted a minor illness, a pre-existing condition, when applying for coverage, and then they use that as justification to cancel the policy, even if the enrollee has never missed a premium payment,” Potter said. “…(D)umping a small number of enrollees can have a big effect on the bottom line.”
OldLefty Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:46 am
“[T]hey confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors,” former Cigna senior executive W. Potter said during a hearing on health insurance today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
OldLefty Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 9:49 am
OK, so I can not post, the name W3ndell
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
July 12th, 2009 at 2:04 am
“The medical/insurance industry needs an overhaul…”
It needs to be indicted for mass murder.
anonymouse Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
The last time I researched it, American drug companies spent four times on advertising what they spent on R&D.
If I never saw another Cialis ad, I wouldn’t miss it.
“If your ***** lasts longer than four hours, consult a doctor!!!”
I don’t need to hear that, just before supper time.
average james Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
If your **** lasts longer than four hours,——-Get more Astroglide.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Lefty said: OK, so I can not post, the name W3ndell
K: Lefty, the name W*ndell is a secret govt code name for a CIA covert operation to spread butch wax over the eastern end of Afghanistan. BO has decided that if all rural Afghanis start wearing pompadors and waxing their ’staches they will be much more amenable to meeting us at the bargaining table… You have, unfortunately, stumbled across this secret operation and must be eliminated. Please step away from your computer…
EricG Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Change BO to Dubya and then it all makes sense….
July 11th, 2009 at 10:04 am
I couldn’ post it either…
July 11th, 2009 at 10:04 am
“I’ve wanted to call you a punk several times. You’ve made me angry a few times.”
I wonder if that caller has any idea how angry a liberal gets if they actually listen to punks like O’Reilly, Limbaugh or Hannity.
This is my question … I truly wonder if any breathing conservative has a beating heart in their chest or just a ball of slime.
Maybe they just hide their compassion and keep their empathy for others deep within themselves as they call it a ‘debate’ to sit there and lie about the nation and the president.
–
“Marijuana is not safer than alcohol. It is worse than alcohol.”
What utter hogwash. I personally know multiple people who have died from alcohol abuse. How dare this man claim to the ‘real facts’ when it’s clear he does not.
There has never been one single fatality linked to marijuana use or abuse, and alcoholism is a worldwide epidemic harming families and individuals across the world.
I believe that caller is just one of many people out there who choose to be misinformed on the issue so they don’t have to face their own personal addiction to alcohol and how it very possibly is a strongly negative aspect of their life.
They simply cannot process that they are in fact: drug addicts.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:34 pm