The five biggest health insurers made over $12 billion in profits last year, which is $8 billion more than the year before. They have achieved these obscene profits by raising their rates in many states by double digits and dropping over 2.7 million customers from their health insurance plans. What's more is that AHIP has spent hundreds of millions of dollars into ads that deliberately distort the truth and outright lie to health care consumers in an effort to block reform. If they win, we lose.
Many studies have documented the fact that patients of color are less likely to receive the same quality of medical care as whites, and that those differences often translate to worse health outcomes. The pattern holds up even after taking into account demographic factors such as income, education and health insurance status.
To figure out why this is, a group of researchers from Yale University’s School of Public Health and the Urban Institute focused on 133,821 patients who were treated for one of 10 surgical procedures at hospitals in New York City or the adjacent counties of Westchester (to the north) and Nassau (to the east) between 2001 and 2004.
The researchers picked New York City because of its diversity of ethnic groups and abundance of hospitals. They picked the 10 procedures – for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, coronary artery bypass graft, angioplasty, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, carotid endarterectomy and total hip replacement – because prior studies have shown that surgeons and hospitals who perform them more often produce better outcomes.
Carrying pitchforks and torches a group of labor unions and health care groups marched down Church Street in Hartford Tuesday night to let the state’s largest business lobby know that they want health care reform.
John Murphy of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group said the Connecticut Business and Industry Association symbolizes what the group is up against in its fight for quality, affordable health care.
CBIA makes most of its revenue from selling insurance to small businesses, Murphy said. He said it is blocking reform efforts because under a government run system health care system it would lose money.
If you've watched any local television lately, you have probably seen an advertisement from the "Committee for Truth in Politics" that is anything but true. Americans for Financial Reform responded to the advertisement in a recent e-mail to its members:
You may have seen this ad from the "Committee for Truth in Politics" on TV that claims that financial reform is really a $4 trillion bank bailout - a claim that doesn't resemble any truth, as Factcheck.org explains. And where did this group get the idea to say black is white and up is down? From a man named Frank Luntz.
Frank Luntz is a pollster for many of the corporations that created our financial meltdown, including Merrill Lynch and bear Sterns. This is the same Luntz whose health insurance reform talking points - on how to best stir up fear and confusion in the American people to derail reform and protect insurance industry profits - showed up across the web and in the mouths of lawmakers. So it shouldn't be surprising that he's at it again, this time writing a 17-page memo on how to kill financial reform.
CCAG is committed to our financial security, and is partnered with Americans for Financial Reform to push for the change we need in light of the global economic crisis.
In his first State of the Union address, President Obama reinforced his ambitious agenda to fix the economy and enact financial reform, including measures to hold Big Banks accountable for their reckless actions that led to our financial crisis and the loss of millions of jobs:
"The House has passed financial reform...And the lobbyists are already trying to kill it. Well, we cannot let them win this fight. And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back."
After you've written, be sure to call Senator Dodd at (202) 224-3121. Thank him for supporting the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) without weakening states' ability to protect consumers and to please continue to fight for an independent CFPA.
Click on the read more link below to learn about Americans for Financial Reform.
Learn more about moving your money from a "too big to fail" bank to a local community bank at the Move Your Money Project website: http://moveyourmoney.info.
There is a lot of talk about the recent special election in Massachusetts being a referendum on health care reform. It was not. In fact, Massachusetts has already moved comprehensive reform and 98% of Massachusetts residents have health insurance as a result. It was a referendum on a particular candidate in a climate in which people, hard pressed and frustrated by the economy, are impatient for change.
And nothing has changed.
People still need quality, affordable health care. Our friends and loved ones are still being denied care for pre-existing conditions. We still need to address the health care crisis, and cannot continue to allow medical expenses to bankrupt our country's families and businesses.
It's time to finish reform right. There are two things you can do right now to help:
An election in Massachusetts didn’t change the fact that thousands still lose their health insurance every day. People are still going bankrupt. Insurance companies are still denying care. We still need health care reform, and we need it done right.
We voted for change in 2008, and politicians in Washington must deliver that change, or else.
Dear President Obama, Speaker Pelosi & Majority Leader Reid:
After the special election in Massachusetts, I'm sending you this letter again because I feel it is crucial you understand that you must finish health reform right and deliver real change to America.
To finish the job and deliver a health reform bill that meets the needs of America’s families, we urge that you and conference leaders resolve a number of critical outstanding issues. These issues may be summarized under two goals:
1. MAKE GOOD HEALTH CARE AFFORDABLE
Low and middle income families must be able to afford health insurance, and employers must be asked to provide good health coverage for their employees so health care is affordable at work. Health care should not be paid for with a tax on health benefits.
2. HOLD INSURANCE COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE
If the insurance companies win, we lose. Insurance companies must be held accountable with strong regulations and consumer protections, and we must be given the choice of a national public health insurance option available on day one across the United States.
You have my full support in addressing these critical issues before legislation is sent to the White House for a final signature.
HARTFORD — Connecticut Health Care For America Now released a study Thursday that spotlights how private health insurance companies “waste premiums.”
Health Care for America Now is comprised of more than 1,000 organizations representing more than 30 million people nationwide.
Connecticut HCAN supports the “Ensuring Value for Premiums” amendment to health care reform legislation pending in the U.S. Senate. The legislation, introduced Dec. 4 by U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., requires private insurance companies to spend 90 percent of their revenue from premiums on health care-related costs. The remaining 10 percent of the premium would be used to build in overhead, profits and other non-medical payout charges.
Private health insurance companies spend, on average, 81 percent of their premium revenues on health care-related costs. In Connecticut, one company, Wellpoint, spends 83.6 percent of premium dollars on care.
By comparison, Medicare spends almost 98 percent of its premium revenues on health care-related costs.
As you know, our Senior Senator Chris Dodd has been a champion for health care reform, standing firmly behind a public health insurance option, which 68% of Connecticut residents (and a large majority of the U.S.) support.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced earlier this week that a public option will be included in the Senate Bill, it was a direct result of Sen. Dodd's leadership on the issue.
And so Senator Reid deserves our thanks for standing with Chris Dodd -- and with us -- to put forward a health care bill with a public option. More importantly, since Senator Lieberman has threatened to side with Republicans and insurance companies, we want Senator Reid to turn a deaf ear to those threats. Let's tell Senator Reid that a majority of Connecticut residents stand with him and Senator Dodd, and urge them to pass health care reform with a public option, using the reconciliation process if necessary.
We, the undersigned residents of Connecticut, urge you on behalf of the 68% of our neighbors that want a public health insurance option to ignore Senator Lieberman’s threats to side with the Republicans and insurance companies in blocking real reform and to use the reconciliation process to pass the Kennedy/Dodd public option if necessary.
Please consider forwarding this message to your family, friends & neighbors, and as always thanks for all that you do.
John Murphy
CCAG Political Director
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Senator Dodd released a statement on the Public Option today:
“I fought for a strong public option – in the HELP Committee and in this merger process – because it is the best way to keep costs low and insurance companies honest,” said Dodd. “Majority Leader Reid has made a bold and right choice to endorse the HELP Committee public option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out. At its core, health care reform is about making insurance more stable and affordable for those who have it, and available to those who don’t, while improving quality and lowering costs. I believe that the public option is a key component to successful reform, and I will continue to lead the fight for it on the Senate floor.”
He's taken his leadership role on health care reform seriously, and you can thank him for it. Just call 1-877-264-4226 to be connected to Senator Dodd's Washington office, and thank him for fighting for real reform.
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