The private, for-profit health insurance companies will always be the enemies of true health care reform. The problem is that they are a pure waste in the system. They are the financial equivalent of a parasite. Medicare does a better job than they do. Even if they could play a limited, positive role in a [...]

Reuters reports that WellPoint is under federal investigation for singling out breast cancer patients and dropping their coverage “based on either erroneous or flimsy information.”  They also report that language in the House bill would have protected these women, but it was removed in the Senate version of the bill because “lobbyists for WellPoint and [...]

Federal investigators have told Reuters that WellPoint, the country’s largest insurance company, is using an algorithm to target women with breast cancer for the express purpose of dropping their coverage. Murray Waas writes that WellPoint “specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with the intent to cancel their policies”: None of the women [...]

It’s been a little over a week since the new health care law was signed into law and already the process of gaming the new regulations to maximize health insurance industry profits has begun. We first heard of the health insurance industry’s plans to the game the system when they started talking openly about not [...]

Not a surprise really that upon passage of the health care bill, Max Baucus would openly thank Liz Fowler, the former Wellpoint VP, for writing it: Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, there are a flood of emotions going through all of us today as we pass this reconciliation bill which improves upon the bill the President [...]

If Rahm Emanuel’s plan to jam the anti-choice, anti-EFCA, homophobic Hill onto the ticket was disrupted as a result of our polling, don’t hold your breath waiting for me to get too worked up about it.

Baron Hill may be a favorite of the DC establishment, but he’s got so much negative baggage going in it would be almost impossible for him to win — certainly without the help of the unions. Anything that keeps him off the ticket is a favor to the entire Democratic party.

Oh, and by the way, in case you run into Marc Ambinder:

BARON HILL IS LOSING BY 8 POINTS TO HIS GOP OPPONENT MIKE SODREL

Goldman says the “bear case” scenario — in which earnings per share for the top five insurers would decline an estimated one percent from 2010 through 2019 and the variance with current valuation is projected to be negative 36 percent. If nothing is done, they estimate stock prices will increase 47%.

The Baucus bill was “authored” by a former WellPoint VP.  Tom Carper admits that PhRMA paid good money for advertising in support of the $80 billion deal they cut with the White House, so the Senate must honor it.  And now the overweening concern of Pat Roberts is for the rights of lobbyists.

During a hearing Rep. Dennis Kucinich got a simple but powerful admission from top executives at the largest insurance companies in the country. Kucinich asked, “Do you believe that a health insurers refusal to pay for a patient’s cancer treatment can directly or indirectly cause harm or death to that patient?” In turn each of [...]