Health Care Reform ~ Part of American Recovery Act
The Buzz around Washington is growing – and the news is not good.It's becoming clear that some members of Congress want to put health reform on the backburner until at least 2010. But with medical costs rising fast, Americans need action on health care now. President Obama is outlining his priorities when he addresses the nation tomorrow night. Will you join me in calling on the president to put health care reform at the top of his list?
Click here to ask President Obama to make health reform a top priority in his speech tomorrow. We can't truly fix our economy without fixing our health care system. Until we reduce medical costs and improve access to quality care, there will be Americans forced to choose between seeing a doctor and making a house payment. And that is unacceptable.The president's speech tomorrow has the ability to put health reform back on Congress' radar – where it needs to be if we're going to have meaningful reform in 2009. The good news is that we know President Obama agrees with us. Health care was at the top of the president's agenda throughout his campaign. Now let's make sure he knows we're counting on him to follow through when he addresses Congress – and the nation – tomorrow night.
Click here to tell the president that health care must be a top priority in tomorrow's speech.
Click here to ask President Obama to make health reform a top priority in his speech tomorrow. We can't truly fix our economy without fixing our health care system. Until we reduce medical costs and improve access to quality care, there will be Americans forced to choose between seeing a doctor and making a house payment. And that is unacceptable.The president's speech tomorrow has the ability to put health reform back on Congress' radar – where it needs to be if we're going to have meaningful reform in 2009. The good news is that we know President Obama agrees with us. Health care was at the top of the president's agenda throughout his campaign. Now let's make sure he knows we're counting on him to follow through when he addresses Congress – and the nation – tomorrow night.
Click here to tell the president that health care must be a top priority in tomorrow's speech.
Thanks for your help in making sure health care stays on the agenda for 2009.
Sincerely, Don = Underdog...
posted by Stick a Fork in me, I`m Done ! @ Monday, February 23, 2009
4 Comments:
Health insurance companies play a major role in our current healthcare crisis. These companies make huge profits and their CEOs make millions, while the rest of us face skyrocketing healthcare costs, impossible bureaucracy, and life-diminishing insurance denials.
HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY PROFITS IN 2007:
1. UnitedHealth Group -- $ 4.654 BILLION. UnitedHealth Group owns Oxford, PacifiCare, IBA, AmeriChoice, Evercare, Ovations, MAMSI and Ingenix, a healthcare data company
2. WellPoint -- $ 3.345 BILLION. Wellpoint owns BLUES across the US, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, Empire HealthChoice Assurance, Healthy Alliance, and many others
3. Aetna Inc. -- $ 1.831 BILLION
4. CIGNA Corp -- $ 1.115 BILLION
5. Humana Inc. -- $ 834 million
6. Coventry Health Care -- $626 million. Coventry owns Altius, Carelink, Group Health Plan, HealthAmerica, OmniCare, WellPath, others
7. Health Net -- $ 194 million
The huge insurance company profits—BILLIONS EACH YEAR—could be used to provide quality healthcare for millions of people, and to pay physicians adequately for their work.
We need to get the insurance companies OUT of healthcare . The only solution is a NON-PROFIT SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE SYSTEM – and the single payer should not be an insurance company or a group of insurance companies.
The solution? The United States National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676. You can read about it here: http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.insurancecompanyrules.org/learn_more/the_roster/ and http://www.pnhp.org/
Learn about The National Health Insurance Bill (HR 676) at: http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php
Martin Luther King said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane."
Congressman John Conyers has introduced HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act, to ensure that every American, regardless of income, employment status, or race, has access to quality, affordable health care services.
To end the inhumanity of our failed healthcare insurance system, where profits are more important than patients’ health, ask your Representatives to support John Conyer's HR 676 Bill.
HEALTHCARE SHOULD BE A RIGHT, NOT A BUSINESS.
For more information on HR 676, see:
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php
CONSIDER THESE HEALTHCARE FACTS:
1. The severe shortage of primary care physicians---due to declining reimbursements and impossible administrative hassles from health insurance companies --- seriously threatens the quality of healthcare US citizens receive now and in the future. Have you tried to find a primary care physician? Most are not taking new patients.
2. Americans are paying more for health insurance and receiving fewer and fewer benefits
3. Health insurance companies continue to raise their premiums while decreasing and denying coverage.
4. Health insurance companies deny healthcare claims on a regular basis, and change their coding schemas frequently to avoid paying legitimate claims.
5. Physicians are forced to pay huge administrative costs and employ large staffs to deal with health insurance companies
6. Health insurance companies continue make profits and to compensate their executives out of proportion to any known formula
ANNUAL COMPENSATION OF HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY EXECUTIVES (2006 and 2007 figures):
• Ronald A. Williams, Chair/ CEO, Aetna Inc., $23,045,834
• H. Edward Hanway, Chair/ CEO, Cigna Corp, $30.16 million
• David B. Snow, Jr, Chair/ CEO, Medco Health, $21.76 million
• Michael B. MCallister, CEO, Humana Inc, $20.06 million
• Stephen J. Hemsley, CEO, UnitedHealth Group, $13,164,529
• Angela F. Braly, President/ CEO, Wellpoint, $9,094,771
• Dale B. Wolf, CEO, Coventry Health Care, $20.86 million
• Jay M. Gellert, President/ CEO, Health Net, $16.65 million
• William C. Van Faasen, Chairman, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, $3 million plus $16.4 million in retirement benefits
• Charlie Baker, President/ CEO, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, $1.5 million
• James Roosevelt, Jr., CEO, Tufts Associated Health Plans, $1.3 million
• Raymond McCaskey, CEO, Health Care Service Corp (Blue Cross Blue Shield), $10.3 million
• Daniel P. McCartney, CEO, Healthcare Services Group, Inc, $ 1,061,513
• Daniel Loepp, CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, $1,657,555
• Todd S. Farha, CEO, WellCare Health Plans, $5,270,825
• Michael F. Neidorff, CEO, Centene Corp, $8,750,751
• Daniel Loepp, CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, $1,657,555
• Todd S. Farha, CEO, WellCare Health Plans, $5,270,825
• Michael F. Neidorff, CEO, Centene Corp, $8,750,751
The only way that we all will have affordable, quality care is to get the insurance companies OUT of healthcare! We need a NON-PROFIT, SINGLE-PAYER healthcare system now!
If you want to learn more, go to:
• http://www.insurancecompanyrules.org/learn_more/the_roster/
• http://www.pnhp.org/
• http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php
This is Hannah Bevills, I am an editor with Hospital.com. We are a medical publication whose focus is geared towards promoting awareness on hospitals, including information, news, and reviews on them. Given the relevance of what you are offering from your site and what our mission is, I feel we may be able to collaborate in some way or another, I look forward to your response regarding the matter. Thanks!
Hannah Bevills
hannah.bevills@gmail.com
Hospital.com
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