"This is precisely why we need a public option," Representative John Dingell (D-MI) said on Tuesday, June 16 at a Congressional hearing with top insurance executives about the health insurance company practice of cancelling policies retroactively to avoid paying claims.

The insurance executives were: Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California; and Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health.

Dingell, however, falls short of pushing for the single payer health insurance program favored by a majority of Americans. In a statement released June 24 Dingell said, "This discussion draft is NOT an attempt to create a single payer system nor is it a first step towards a single payer system."

On June 16, Representatives Bart Stupak (D- MI) and Joe Barton (R-TX) pressed the health insurance officials for more information about cancellation procedures.

Representative Barton said, "I think a company does have a right to make sure there’s no fraudulent information. But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also."

Stupak, the committee chairman, said, "When times are good, the insurance company is happy to sign you up and take your money in the form of premiums. But when times are bad … some insurance companies use a technicality to justify breaking its promise, at a time when most patients are too weak to fight back."

The Los Angeles Times reported, "An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period."

A few American citizens who were victims of retroactive cancellation presented the following facts. A lady from Texas lost her health insurance coverage after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The reason for cancellation was that she had failed to disclose a visit to a dermatologist for acne. Another lady was cancelled for failing to report that she had once taken weight-loss medication and had irregular menstruation.

The executives found themselves on the defensive with a very, very weak defense.

(Continued below)

Would you offer coverage to people to have preexisting conditions?

Health Insurance Employees Rewarded for Cancellations

The committee discovered employee performance documents that showed Blue Cross employees were rewarded for cancelling health insurance policies. One employee received a perfect 5 indicating exceptional performance for cancelling thousands of policies and saving the company over $10,000,000 in claim payments. Unfortunately, this is not new.

In 2007, HealthNet was fined $9,000,000 for such practices. At the time, it was discovered that HealthNet had avoided paying $35,000,000 in claims by retroactively cancelling health insurance policies. At the time, Blue Cross stated they did not tie employee performance to policy recission, a fact turned on its ear with the 2003 employee evaluations that showed Blue Cross had lied.

This is the system Congress thinks it can fix with a bandaid approach? No, this is the system that demands a government sponsored single payer health insurance option is the only option to true health insurance reform.

More About Health Insurance Reform

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Opposes Public Option

Single Payer Health Insurance for America

Public Insurance Option is Not Optional

Medical Bankruptcy Shows Broken Health Care

Single Payer Health Insurance in Trouble

Single Payer Health Insurance Ignored

What others are saying about Single Payer Health Insurance

Last Left Turn Before Hooterville: Single-Payer Health Care – Can … – Single-payer health care is a term used in the United States to describe the payment of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers from a single fund. It differs from typical private health insurance where, through pricing and …

The Indypendent » Fighting to Cure a Sick System – Single-payer healthcare advocates argue that only by having the federal government provide business-and taxpayer-funded health insurance can everyone receive guaranteed healthcare access. This system would also save money by eliminating …

See How Well That Healthcare Reform Worked Out? Mass. Health Plan … – Single payer off the table? Most countries use a social health insurance model (i.e., we’re all in, nobody out) model based upon Germany’s system. Read this about Germany and then tell me this isn’t what we should be working for: …

America’s cry for Single Payer Health Insurance as a public option falls on more and more deaf ears, a clear signal that the health care reform wanted by citizens is NOT the health care reform being considered in Washington.

There is a little town in Manitoba, Canada called Kelwood. It’s so small I could not find it on any maps. So, the best I can tell you is that it’s close to Riding Mountain National Park and the town of McCreary in southern Manitoba about 200 miles from North Dakota.

Kelwood is the home of Alana Levandoski, a singer-songwriter best known for a concert she held in Winnipeg in honor of a group of survivors from the war in the Sudan who moved to Canada. But there is another connection between Kelwood and Winnipeg that relates to the need for public option insurance in the United States.

On July 29, 2008 two young boys were visiting their grandparent’s farm just outside Kelwood. They decided to pass the time shooting targets. Twelve-year old Sam hurriedly raised his rifle to shoot at a bird, hitting himself in the head with the scope. The pain from the impact caused him to drop the gun. It fired…and put a bullet in the right side of Sam’s brain.

Sam was rushed to the hospital in Neepawa for medical treatment. From there he was transported to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg where he underwent a four-hour surgery that began a 12-day stay at HSC. Having lost peripheral vision in his left eye in addition to the left side of his body being paralysed, numerous therapies were begun. During those twelve days, his vision returned and the paralysis went away.

Sam is now re-learning parts of his life affected by brain injury. I contacted Sam’s mother, Jodi, and asked a simple question: "What sort of financial costs did you have with Sam’s incident?" Remember, this is Canada. Yet, I thought that everything provided to Sam couldn’t be free like we’ve been told about the Canadian public health care system. There was the hospital in Neepawa, then the hospital in Winnipeg. There was the brain surgery. There were the numerous therapies.

Jodi responded, "Here in Canada we pay for medicare thru our taxes so there hasn’t been any financial issues for us since the accident."

Can you imagine how much that would cost in the United States? Can you imagine how much the deductible and co-pay would be if you had insurance? And that doesn’t count the monthly health insurance premiums paid for the coverage? Even the single payer health insurance option wanted by most Americans would not be totally paid for by taxes and, yet, our national leaders seem to have forsaken those positions to become followers of the health insurance industry and its lobbyists.

Shame on them. (continued below)

Others Speak About Public Option Health Insurance

Single Payer Health Care Plan On The Table – Talk Radio News Service – Single payer health care supporters held a hearing yesterday at the Committee of Education and Labor to testify on the need for health care reform. Those who testified to the committee was U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Geri Jenkins …

Frances Anderton: Don't Diss Single Payer Health Care If You Haven … – I feel pity for a person who does not know what it is like to go to a doctor and have the first question be, “what’s wrong?” instead of, “who’s your insurance carrier?”

Single payer health care: big breakthroughs, interview with Rep … – Less than a month after 13 single payer advocates were arrested protesting the exclusion of single payer, it is at the table in both Houses, making progress while the multi-payer pro-insurance reform is faltering.

Related Articles on Uncle Brice’s Blog

Single Payer Health Insurance for America

Medical Bankruptcy Shows Broken Health Care

Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP

Medical bankruptcy has become a part of the health care debate, partly due to a recent report by by Harvard researchers. The report, itself, has a good share of debate about its numbers. They stated that medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007.

Of course the aginners jumped in with both feet and their normal pompous attitude. (If you haven’t read earlier posts I should explain that aginners are folks who are against just about anything that’s good for all the people.) One of ‘em wrote, "So, where do we draw the line between ‘medical bankruptcy’ and financial irresponsibility? If someone has a 8 month emergency fund and has been maxing out their 401k and is insured for medical and disability, it’s hard to figure a way that any illness would drive them to bankruptcy."

Now, let me ask you this? Are you financially responsible because you, like that writer, have an 8-month financial emergency fund? Have you maxed your 401K contributions? Do you have full coverage medical and disability insurance? I’m assuming he thinks raiding your retirement fund that lost 40% of its value last year is a good thing? Now I’m sorta under the impression that people file bankruptcy to protect their future, not devastate it.

I’d recommend you look at the charts and statistics developed by the Kaiser Foundation and others about health insurance costs. You can find those charts in the article titled, Sen. Blanche Lincoln Co-sponsors SHOP.

Did you notice that health insurance premiums, and I’m talking about what your employer holds out of your pay, rose to $280 per month in 2008? It was only $135 per month for family coverage in 2000. I called ol’ Jethro Bodine to do some cipherin’ on this ’cause he knows all those guzintahs and such. He figured for a long spell and came back to say the employee portion of health insurance more than doubled during the Bush Administration years.

Did you notice that gasoline prices have risen during those same years? On January 3, 2000, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $1.26. On June 1, 2009, the average price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.50 and that, folks, is within a hair of being doubled.

Okay, everybody raise your hand whose salary doubled during those eight years! Even if you got cost-of-living increases based on the inflation rate, health care costs were rising at double the inflation rate. (continued below)

What will YOU do – or – What WOULD you do?

Many employers are now moving to Consumer Directed Health (CDH) insurance. A person I talked to who wishes to remain anonymous was laid off in 2008, unemployed for 8 months, and eventually found a job with a salary that was $12,000 less than the former position. The new company offered CDH plans. The new plan is not terribly expensive by today’s standards: $125 a month. It pays 80% of most procedures after a $2,300 deductible, and it does not cover dental. So, in addition to the $125.00 per month for the health insurance premium, this employee also puts $75.00 monthly into a Health Savings Account.

Now, this person did have 8 months of emergency funds available when coupled with the $850 unemployment income available after paying COBRA insurance premiums of $750.00 monthly. Only $25,000 of savings had to be used to keep all bills paid.

Let’s think about this person’s situation today. Savings is $25,000 less than it was. Paycheck contributions to health care costs are $200 monthly from a salary that is $1,000 less each month. The $2,300 annual deductible is offset partially by the $900 going into the health savings account. What if something happened now to this person or a family member?

Now, what about the millions of people currently unemployed, uninsured or underinsured? The Harvard researchers were surprised to learn that 78% of those who filed a medically-related bankruptcy had health insurance and that included 60.3% who had private insurance.

What would you do if faced with this situation? Would aginners be calling you irresponsible?

It’s Time for Change

No citizen of the greatest nation on earth should be forced into bankruptcy because of medical costs. Yet, when it comes to health care, the United States of America is not considered to be the greatest nation on earth. It’s not even listed in the Top Ten, and barely listed in the Top Twenty. The government, founded in part to promote the general welfare of its citizens, does not provide for a healthy citizen population.

Single Payer Health Insurance should be an option for all Americans. But it’s not even being considered at this time. The health insurance industry, like the banking industry, is getting its way in Congress. Yes, it’s time for change. It’s time for single payer health insurance. It may be time to replace Congress with people who care.

Public Citizen: Medical bankruptcy study highlights need for … – Public Citizen: Medical bankruptcy study highlights need for single-payer. Statement of Sidney Wolfe, M.D., Director, Health Research Group at Public Citizen Published on Jun 4, 2009 – 6:16:50 AM …

NOW! Blog » Medical Bankruptcy – Time to update that statistic – Bankruptcy is a personal tragedy, of course. But it’s also an economic catastrophe. How do we expect to get out of our economic crisis is health care costs are keeping hardworking Americans down like that? …

The Domino Effect: Medical Bills Bring People to Bankruptcy … – I passed one of the well-known images of Los Angeles’ homeless population today en route to work: a shopping cart laden with plastic bags, taut with.