Americans Who Battle Cancer Are Twice As Likely To Go Bankrupt, Even If They Have Health Insurance

Americans Who Battle Cancer Are Twice As Likely To Go Bankrupt, Even If They Have Health Insurance: Cancer patients are much more likely to go bankrupt than Americans who aren’t faced with a cancer diagnosis, a new study finds. Even the Americans who have access to health insurance aren’t necessarily safe from bankruptcy, since the high cost of treating cancer can still put an untenable strain their finances. A team of researchers [...]/p

Obamacare Is Already Forcing Private Insurers To Lower Their Premiums

Obamacare Is Already Forcing Private Insurers To Lower Their Premiums: As Thursday’s development shows, that public information empowers consumers by forcing insurers to compete with one another to attract customers. Or to put it another way — and contrary to conservative fear-mongering about the law — Obamacare is working exactly as it was intended to. And with 24 million Americans expected to gain coverage through the marketplaces by 2016, that’s great news for Americans’ pocketbooks — as well as their health.

California Insurance Commissioner Blasts Insurance Giant For Its ‘Unwarranted’ Rate Hikes

California Insurance Commissioner Blasts Insurance Giant For Its ‘Unwarranted’ Rate Hikes: California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday slammed UnitedHealth Group — the nation’s largest private insurance company — over its decision to cut benefits and raise premiums for health plans used by close to 5,000 California small businesses. The combination of cuts and hikes would amount to a nearly eight percent rate hike for small [...]/p

Horror Care: How Private Health Care Is Shortening Our Lives | Common Dreams

Horror Care: How Private Health Care Is Shortening Our Lives | Common Dreams
"Our private health care system has indeed failed us. We have by far the most expensive system in the developed world. The cost of common surgeries is anywhere from three to ten times higher in the U.S. than in Great Britain, Canada, France, or Germany.
Everyone has their hand in the money pot: insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, physicians, hospitals, equipment suppliers, the AMA. Steven Brill notes that the medical industry has spent $5.36 billion on lobbying in the past 15 years, compared to $1.53 billion spent by the defense/aerospace industry and $1.3 billion spent by oil and gas interests."

The US Healthcare System - Government Sanctioned Extortion

The US Healthcare System - Government Sanctioned Extortion
"I've been calling the for-profit health insurance industry "government sanctioned extortion" for a few years now. It wasn't until I read Time magazine's cover story this week, "Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us" that I realized that the whole medical industrial complex is complicit in the crime! And some of the worst offenders are the so-called "non-profit" hospitals that are raking in billions of dollars in profits and their obscenely paid executives."

How Insurance Companies Can Discriminate Against Some Americans Simply Based On Their Genes

How Insurance Companies Can Discriminate Against Some Americans Simply Based On Their Genes: Underscoring the complexity of protecting consumers in an age of accelerating technological innovation, NPR reports that some insurance companies specializing in life insurance and long-term care can choose to discriminate against Americans based on their genetic makeup — and the companies could even subject prospective customers to genetic testing. Thanks to the 2007 Genetic Information [...]/p

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Shocking: Aetna CEO pledges to make Americans 'suffer,' 'lay them off' if fiscal cliff deal not made

Shocking: Aetna CEO pledges to make Americans 'suffer,' 'lay them off' if fiscal cliff deal not made
"Mr. Bertolini should be careful as to how he speaks about the American people when discussing deficit issues, because, as most experts will admit, an Aetna-free America withMedicare-for-all is considered one of the best ways in which to sustainably lower the federal deficit."

Ryan Family Financially Benefits From The Health Insurance Industry

Ryan Family Financially Benefits From The Health Insurance Industry: Ryan touts a Medicare plan that would expand the role of private insurers by replacing the traditional Medicare plan with a voucher program that seniors could use to purchase private health plans.

Profits or Patients? Aetna and HCA Answer Without Hesitation | Common Dreams

Profits or Patients? Aetna and HCA Answer Without Hesitation | Common Dreams
"If only we had Medicare for all for life…"