Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking about health care.
I want to know why the largest managed health care group in the country is advising our legislators on health care policy. Sounds like lobbying to me.
My day started when I made a phone call to my Congressman in support of keeping single payer health care on the table. I explained to senior aide Jessica, in charge of health care issues for Congressman Brian Baird, that in order to bring costs under control we need to cut the profit making insurance companies out of the picture.
She parried that we were not going to get single payer insurance because it’s politically not possible. It’s a dead issue.
I told her I was going to work on getting more citizen support. She said that the Congressman was elected to make the decisions on what is best for us. We elected him to represent us, not to do what we ask him to do. She just kept telling me it won’t work.
So I went to Brian Baird’s website and looked at what he’s proposing. He’s supporting Ron Wyden’s Healthy American’s Act. This proposal is heavily supported by information provided by the nonpartisan Lewin Group.
However, just because they’re nonpartisan does not mean they are unbiased. Through a bit of digging, I found that Lewin Group is owned by UnitedHealth.
Who is UnitedHealth? They are the largest managed health care group in the country.
I am thoroughly pissed at what I’ve learned. I’m so angry I’ve dropped the F*bomb three times this evening, once in front of my grandson. Please talk me down. This can’t be as bad as it looks. Can it? How is this different than Cheney going into a room with the oil executives and hammering out energy policy?
UnitedHealth Profit Rises on Government Medical Plans
In March, UnitedHealth agreed to aquire Sierra Health Services Inc., a Las Vegas-based health plan with 860,000 customers, for $2.6 billion. In May, UnitedHealth bought the Lewin Group, a Washington-based health-policy consulting firm, for an undisclosed sum, adding to its expanding capabilities in analyzing and mining health data.
<snip>
Of more than 150 companies that sell Medicare Advantage plans, which provide extra benefits such as lower out-of-pocket expenses and health-club memberships, UnitedHealth is the leader, with about 1.3 million members. Medicare will spend $76.3 billion this fiscal year to provide Advantage benefits to 8.6 million senior citizens.
Medicare Advantage was a ``bright spot'' for UnitedHealth in the quarter, said Carl McDonald, an analyst with CIBC World Markets in New York, in a note to clients today.
``This is likely a function of the benefit changes UnitedHealth made to its Medicare Advantage product this year, as it raised premiums, cut benefits and exited unprofitable counties,'' McDonald said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avOG0v4eR7p8&refer=home#
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