Health Care For America Now

As if Karen Ignagni's slippery answers to tough questions weren't proof enough, as if AHIP's history as a front group for the insurance industry weren't convincing, we have this, via Chris Fates at the Politico:

The progressive group Health Care for America Now on Thursday launched another jab at the insurance industry’s health care reform campaign. The new YouTube ad mocks the listening tour launched this week by America’s Health Insurance Plans.

The video spot highlights the fact that calls to the campaign’s 800 number go straight to voice mail. A frustrated caller leaves a message saying, in part, “If you really want to listen, pick up the phone.”

You heard that right. AHIP's new listening tour lists an 800 number as a contact, and that 800 number goes directly to voicemail. Here's the original video:

As Fates notes, he got the same message when we called in. And AHIP didn't return his request for a comment. Big surprise.

The health insurance industry wants to seem like it's listening to you, but they are only looking out for one thing: Their bottom line.

It didn't take long for AHIP's fake campaign to come crumbling down.

UPDATE:

Slate's Timothy Nash ads this:

Trivia point: The same phone number was previously used in a lobby campaign by the Poker Players Alliance, whose chairman is former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York, aka "Senator Pothole." The alliance, which represents the online gaming industry, fought unsuccessfully against a bill restricting online poker.

In a stunning example of how insurance industry practices are part of the problem, a 19-year-old Florida woman was denied the brain surgery she needed and then told she was not covered under the plan her parents paid into.

From TampaBay10.com:

Caitlin needs immediate surgery for her condition, and she was hours away from getting it.

The problem? Her insurance company, Aetna. They approved the operation 15 minutes too late. Caitlin lost the operating room to another patient and had to be rescheduled.

Then, the company came back with an even bigger shocker. They told her they would not cover her brain surgery at all, that her benefits ran out.

The family would now have to foot the bill at a staggering $113,000. Tampa General Hospital was requiring $55,000 down, and the rest after the operation.

Read more on TampaBay10.com.

This is exactly why it is so important that we don't trust the insurance companies on health care reform. We have to make sure that Congress is ready to pass real reform in 2009.

If you are in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow, come on out to help us stop the insurers from thwarting real reform. More details here.

At Netroots Nation yesterday, we ran into Melody Townsel, who has a horrifying story of her ordeal with her health insurance company that she kindly shared with us. Watch it:

You heard that right. Townsel's insurance company declined to cover her daughter's hospital bills because of her daughter's "attempted suicide." Her daughter was two years old. Only after five appeals did Townsel force her insurance company to provide the coverage she deserved from the start.

It doesn't take much to realize the silliness of the insurance company's argument. These kinds of stories - more common than many realize - illustrate how badly our health care system is broken. Insurance companies have an incentive to deny coverage and boost their profits whenever they can, even if their reasoning defies logic. Though the insurance industry claims it's in the business of making people healthy, they routinely deny coverage at every turn. And it's all perfectly legal and acceptable.

This is wrong.

Hard working people in America should have a right to health care, health care that covers their illnesses and doesn't make excuses to boost profits. Quality, affordable health care should be a right in America. That's what Health Care for America Now is fighting for. With your help, we'll make stories like Townsel's a thing of the past.

In response to dramatic increases in healthcare costs, many employers have reduced benefits for workers and their families, or have shifted costs to their employees through increased employee contributions, co-pays and deductibles. Some employers have been forced to eliminate benefits entirely, leaving workers and their families without coverage. Some employees may never recover from the financial devastation of a major injury or illness.

In most of the country, American employers have no legal obligation to provide health care benefits to employee and their families. Instead, they provide health care benefits to attract and compensate employees, and to make up for the lack of government- sponsored health care for American workers. Limited coverage under Medicaid is available for the poorest of the poor, and Medicare is available for seniors, but most American workers and their families who have coverage receive employer-provided health care. Other industrialized countries provide government-sponsored health care for workers and their families, but American workers must obtain health care benefits from their employers, obtain coverage on their own, or go without coverage.

Health care costs have risen dramatically during recent years, with premium costs rising three times faster than wages or inflation. The average premium for family health insurance
coverage today is more than $12,000—a number which could double by 2016 without significant reform.

Larger employers have responded by reducing health care benefits for employees and their families, or have shifted health care costs to employees through increased employee contributions for premiums, higher co-payments and deductibles, and increased premium costs for family coverage.