~~ Healthcare Hoax - Insurance company stock value goes up!

[Guest guest]

See proof that insurance companies benefit from the house bill,

H.R. 3962, by looking at their stock value chart.

 

Since November 1st, Wellpoint, the largest health insurer in the US,

has had their stock value go up everyday.

 

You can see the chart at: _WLP: WELLPOINT INC Charts_

(http://finance.aol.com/charts/wellpoint-inc/wlp/nys/classic-charts)

click on _1 Mo_ (http://finance.aol.com/quotes/wlp/nys/classiccharts?dr=1)

or at _3 Mo_ (http://finance.aol.com/quotes/wlp/nys/classiccharts?dr=3)

you can see how it went way down in Sept. when investors must have

been expecting real reform, but has had a 14% increase since Sept. 26.

 

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1 min. video: Kucinich on the healthcare bill

_YouTube - Kucinich: What Do We Stand For: Insurance Companies Or The

People?_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGOGbd_nMx8)

 

_YouTube - Congressman Kucinich Exposes Health Care Hoax_

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFcjxnPpGY8)

 

 

===

 

Since it doesn't regulate premiums, the industry can respond to any

regulation that threatens its profits by simply raising its rates. The public

option will cover so few, that it will not provide competition, but instead

will be a dumping ground for those the insurance company would rather not

cover.

 

 

 

 

_Marcia Angell, M.D.: Is the House Health Care Bill Better than Nothing?_

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-angell-md/is-the-house-health-care_b_35

0190.html)

.... the House bill is not a " government takeover. " Instead, it enshrines

and subsidizes the " takeover " by the investor-owned insurance industry. To

be sure, the bill has a few good provisions (expansion of Medicaid, for

example), but they are marginal. It also provides for some regulation of the

industry (no denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions, for

example), but since it doesn't regulate premiums, the industry can respond to

any regulation that threatens its profits by simply raising its rates. The

bill also does very little to curb the perverse incentives that lead doctors

to over-treat the well-insured.

 

What does the insurance industry get out of it? Tens of millions of new

customers, courtesy of the mandate and taxpayer subsidies. And not just any

kind of customer, but the youngest, healthiest customers -- those least

likely to use their insurance.

 

Insurers also won't have to cover those younger people most likely to get

sick, because they will tend to use the public option (which is not an

" option " at all, but a program projected to cover only 6 million uninsured

Americans). So instead of the public option providing competition for the

insurance industry, as originally envisioned, it's been turned into a dumping

ground for a small number of people whom private insurers would rather not

have to cover anyway.

 

===

 

 

 

_Truthdig - Reports - Kucinich: Why I Voted No_

(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091108_kucinich_why_i_voted_no/)

 

We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only

within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system

which makes money not providing health care. We cannot fault the insurance

companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the

government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the

for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem. When

health insurance companies deny care or raise premiums, co-pays and

deductibles they are simply trying to make a profit. That is our system.

 

Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They

are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy

avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire

their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting

stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the

number of physicians has increased by less than 200% while the number of

administrators has increased by 3000%. It is no wonder that 31 cents of every

health care dollar goes to administrative costs, not toward providing care.

Even those with insurance are at risk. The single biggest cause of

bankruptcies in the U.S. is health insurance policies that do not cover you

when

you get sick.

But instead of working toward the elimination of for-profit insurance,

H.R. 3962 would put the government in the role of accelerating the

privatization of health care. In H.R. 3962, the government is requiring at

least 21

million Americans to buy private health insurance from the very industry that

causes costs to be so high, which will result in at least $70 billion in

new annual revenue, much of which is coming from taxpayers. This inevitably

will lead to even more costs, more subsidies, and higher profits for

insurance companies—a bailout under a blue cross.

By incurring only a new requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, a

weakened public option, and a few other important but limited concessions,

the health insurance companies are getting quite a deal. The Center for

American Progress’ blog, Think Progress, states, “since the President

signaled

that he is backing away from the public option, health insurance stocks

have been on the rise.†Similarly, healthcare stocks rallied when Senator Max

Baucus introduced a bill without a public option. Bloomberg reports that

Curtis Lane, a prominent health industry investor, predicted a few weeks ago

that “money will start flowing in again†to health insurance stocks after

passage of the legislation. Investors.com last month reported that pharmacy

benefit managers share prices are hitting all-time highs, with the only

industry worry that the Administration would reverse its decision not to

negotiate Medicare Part D drug prices, leaving in place a Bush Administration

policy.

During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have

been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The “robust

public option†which would have offered a modicum of competition to a

monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of

129

million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the

rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the

bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the

prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.

 

(http://www.truthdig.com/banners/www/delivery/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=70__zo\

neid=8__cb=4306b49b84__oadest=http://dtrk1.com/a/?818/47991/CD8978/0/ & o

ptionalinfo=)

 

 

Recent rises in unemployment indicate a widening separation between the

finance economy and the real economy. The finance economy considers the

health of Wall Street, rising corporate profits, and banks’ hoarding of cash,

much of it from taxpayers, as sign of an economic recovery. However in the

real economy—in which most Americans live—the recession is not over. Rising

unemployment, business failures, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still

hammering Main Street.

This health care bill continues the redistribution of wealth to Wall

Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which

suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of

health care. America continues to stand out among all industrialized

nations for its privatized health care system. As a result, we are less

competitive in steel, automotive, aerospace and shipping while other countries

subsidize their exports in these areas through socializing the cost of health

care.

Notwithstanding the fate of H.R. 3962, America will someday come to

recognize the broad social and economic benefits of a not-for-profit,

single-payer health care system, which is good for the American people and good

for

America’s businesses, with of course the notable exceptions being insurance

and pharmaceuticals.

_http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091108_kucinich_why_i_voted_no/_

(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091108_kucinich_why_i_voted_no/)

===

American Sickos: Will The Current Bills Help?

Answer in short video: _http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/24691402_

(http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/24691402)

 

===

To be balanced, there are some good points, the 2nd page of this article,

lists them.

 

_OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: We're Not There Yet, But Health-Care

Legislation Takes Giant Step Forward_

(http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/We-re-Not-There-Yet-But-H-by-Marta-Steele-09\

1108-403.html)

 

===

 

The entire bill is now online if you want to read it, or check on details.

 

_HR 3962 _

(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/nytint/docs/the-house-s-health-car\

e-bill/original.pdf) is 1,931 pages long on the Internet,

double-spaced and in large,

legible font—Times New Roman or Georgia, maybe.

It will cost $1.1 trillion over ten years.