Insurance Commissioners Refuse to Bow to Insurers on Health Care Rule
State insurance commissioners today beat back efforts by big insurers to gut a proposed new rule that requires they spend a certain amount of premium dollars on actual medical care, not wasteful administration, marketing or executive pay and bonuses.
The insurance industry sent more than 1,000 executives and lobbyists to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) meeting in Orlando to try and get the rule changed, according to the coalition, Health Care for America Now (HCAN). Large insurers have spent more than $769 million on federal lobbying since 2007, according to HCAN, along with record amounts of political spending through election front groups like 60 Plus and the Chamber of Commerce.
Give Now to Expose the Chamber’s War on Workers
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Want to get in the ring and help battle the Chamber of Commerce? American Rights at Work is holding a fundraiser to help expose the Chamber’s war on workers. The $7,000 in seven days campaign doesn’t aim to compete with the mega-millions the Chamber collects from its Big Business patrons. But your donation can help the workers’ advocacy organization spread the truth about the Chamber. Donate here.
Last year, the Chamber spent more than any other lobbying organization in the country: $144,496,000. And it plans to spend $50,000,000 to influence the upcoming elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Health Insurance to Sick Kids: Suffer
It didn’t take long for Big Insurance to look for loopholes in the health care reform law. Just days after it was signed by President Obama, insurance companies are trying to weasel out of provisions designed to end the abuse and outrageous practices the insurance industry has inflicted on consumers and patients for years.
Sick kids are their first target.
Starting Sept. 23, the bill will ban insurance companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. But as The New York Times reports this morning, insurance lawyers are claiming the bill’s “fine print” allows them to refuse to cover children with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, diabetes, orthopedic problems, birth defects and other illnesses.
Today: We Tell Health Insurers Stop the Hikes, Back Reform
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is leading a large union contingent in a march from the AFL-CIO and AFSCME buildings to a mass rally at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the meeting of the big insurance industry front group, the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
Many unions and union-related groups are working together on the rally, but some are making a major effort, including AFSCME, AFGE, AFT, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU), Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), United Steelworkers (USW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), SEIU, Alliance for Retired Americans, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), Pride At Work, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ).
Join us here where James Parks and Danielle Hatchett from our online team will live tweet the march and rally, starting at 10 a.m. Follow #m9 for the latest updates on Twitter from some of the thousands of participants expected to attend.
Health Insurance Groups Will Stop at Nothing to Kill Reform
Stunning in their brazenness, insurance industry groups like Humana have sent out mailings to Medicare beneficiaries trying to scare seniors into erroneously believing that health care reform will harm their Medicare benefits.
This from the Alliance for Retired Americans:
On Monday, Medicare demanded that certain private insurance companies cease sending out potentially misleading mailings to beneficiaries regarding health care and insurance reform.
