A Republican Irony

republican imagesIn a republican irony of all ironies...If history had been different, Doug Holtz-Eakin would be in the White House pushing the republican domestic agenda and blocking health-care reform, at McCain's side. He was McCain's  top health-care guru. He's now unemployed -- and his COBRA health coverage is running out. But...it gets worse. He has one of those pesky "preexisting conditions" that insurance companies often cite in denying coverage. He says, "If you look at my file, any insurance company would go, 'Hmm . . .' "  Hmmmm, indeed.

A new Senate analysis suggests that for-profit insurance companies spend as little as 66 cents of each dollar on health care, “while the rest covers administrative expenses, marketing and company profits, according to the analysis.”  And, of course, they have to pay that $100 million a year plus in compensation to Stephen Hemsley, the CEO of United Healthcare.

Comments

Mary Perez (not verified) 16 years 38 weeks ago
#1

United Healthcare has gobbled up a whole lot of the competition and put in some really stupid rules to govern its employees. To give you an example of what they consider important. When United Healthcare purchased Americhoice(a then black minority owned insurance company), they moved people around from cubicles and floors to correspond to their salary. So if you were a low paid worker and you had a fair sized cubicle, you were moved to a smaller one that befit your low salary. Stephen Hemsley''s salary is obscene.

I find their rules for healthcare reimbursement to be hard to follow. I never seem to use up my deductible. Another example, they purchased LabCorp and immediately proceeded to mandate that LabCorp be used exclusively. A routine bloodworkup would be billed at $1,000.00, adjusted to $200 which would be fully billed to the patient while not even applied to the deductible at all.

Thom's Blog Is On the Move

Hello All

Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.

Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.

From Screwed:
"Hartmann speaks with the straight talking clarity and brilliance of a modern day Tom Paine as he exposes the intentional and systematic destruction of America’s middle class by an alliance of political con artists and outlines a program to restore it. This is Hartmann at his best. Essential reading for those interested in restoring the institution that made America the envy of the world."
David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning and When Corporations Rule the World
From Cracking the Code:
"In Cracking the Code, Thom Hartmann, America’s most popular, informed, and articulate progressive talk show host and political analyst, tells us what makes humans vulnerable to unscrupulous propagandists and what we can do about it. It is essential reading for all Americans who are fed up with right-wing extremists manipulating our minds and politics to promote agendas contrary to our core values and interests."
David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community and When Corporations Rule the World and board chair of YES! magazine
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Never one to shy away from the truth, Thom Hartmann’s collected works are inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America."
Van Jones, cofounder of RebuildTheDream.com and author of The Green Collar Economy