WellPoint Eats Its Young

THIS is why we need health insurance reform. This is exactly what Michael Moore was talking about — showing endless examples — in Sicko.

To paraphrase George W. Bush, you’re either with us or you’re with the HMO butchers. Or as Helen Hunt said in As Good As It Gets, “those fuckin’ HMO bastards, pieces of shit.”

WellPoint uses a computer algorithm that specifically targets women who have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. WellPoint then cancels the woman’s health insurance, using whatever flimsy “reason” they can dream up. Good thing we don’t have any of them socialist bureaucrats standing between a patient and her doctor.

Here’s the pattern: The woman has a well-paying job and a health insurance policy with WellPoint. She pays her premiums on time and has had no health problems. Shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer, WellPoint’s army of “investigators” will pore over every detail of her life, determined to find something — anything — that she “omitted” from her application form. When they find it, or pull it out of thin air if they have to, her insurance policy is canceled.

“Aha, you purchased a bottle of Ibuprofen in 1998. You didn’t tell us about your pre-existing headache condition. Gotcha!”

This time-honored practice is called rescission. Tens of thousands of employed, insured and paid-up policyholders have had their health insurance canceled through this process. But it’s just now come out that breast cancer patients in particular were being targeted by WellPoint.

Now, for the low-IQ inbreds who hold up signs saying “No on Obamacare,” “Socialized Medicine!” “Your Health, Your Problem” — maybe they’ll have some constructive advice for these women.

Why don’t they tell these cancer patients, face to face, to get up off their dead asses, put down the bong and get out there and get a job.

Health Care Reform: “Failure is not an option”

That’s what Charles Schumer said yesterday during the health reform debate. He also said “We're not going to not pass a bill.”

Also NOT an option: The endless dithering, posturing and masturbating that threatens to derail any and all health care reform.

Our underworked overpaid “representatives” need to get off their asses and get a bill passed and ready for Obama’s signature before the end of the year. I’m as strongly in favor of the public option as anyone — better yet, a single payer system. This is clearly indicated in lots of earlier posts and comments at other blogs.

But the public option — and now abortion (it figures!) — can NOT be allowed to derail the entire package. Too many legislators are willing to scuttle the entire bill if it isn’t perfect. And this is exactly what the Health Insurance Harem (formerly known as the GOP) wants. This is not the time for “I won’t vote for a bill that contains/doesn’t contain ______________.”

This article lists fourteen changes that will take effect in January 2010, if — and only IF — Obama signs a health care reform bill before the end of this year.

Among these changes: ending the disgraceful and immoral practice of rescission. This is where an insurance company nullifies a patient’s policy — in order to sleaze out of paying the patient’s medical bills — by “discovering” something the patient “omitted” on the insurance application form. “So, you bought a pack of Rolaids five years ago. You didn’t mention anything about your pre-existing stomach condition. Your policy is hereby canceled.”

This practice is a huge moneymaker for the health insurance industry, and it needs to be stopped ASAP.

Health insurers will also be prohibited from placing a lifetime cap on a patient’s coverage.

The article ends with: “Later on, as with Social Security and Medicare, there will plenty of opportunity to amend the law in Congress. For now, let's help Democrats get HCR passed.”