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Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more

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WI_DEM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:10 PM
Original message
Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more
WASHINGTON - For the first time, the health insurance industry is offering to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to sick people.

The offer, in a letter the industry to key senators Tuesday, is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation's health care system to curb costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people.

In the letter, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association say they are willing to "phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market" if all Americans are required to get coverage.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20090324/49c868d0_3421_1334520090324-6648525
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county worker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
1. Man they must be running scared. Let's wait and see what else they are willing to do.
Edited on Tue Mar-24-09 02:12 PM by county worker
Single payer may be closer than we think.
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DJ13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:12 PM
Response to Original message
2. "Please dont create single payer! We'll be good, honest!"
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Schema Thing Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:13 PM
Response to Original message
3. They deserve the death penalty
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TechBear_Seattle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:14 PM
Response to Original message
4. There is no business enterprise as greedy and dishonest as the insurance industry
I am exceedingly suspicious when the insurance industry steps forward, voluntarily and without without being under extreme pressure, and says, "We are willing to give up money."

My first reaction is to start counting my arms and legs, then toes and fingers, then make sure all my relatives are in place, then.... well, you get the idea.
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Supersedeas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #4
16. read the fine to very fine print, then the parentheticals, then the conditioned conditionals with
caveats galore
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uppityperson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:14 PM
Response to Original message
5. Thank you for the article
I really hate these insurance companies
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mainegreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:17 PM
Response to Original message
6. From what I've seen on the back end, many Large Insurers are currently in chaos.
Not good times for them.
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OHdem10 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:24 PM
Response to Original message
7. All these "Layoffs" means they have lost lots of premium payers???
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Raineyb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:27 PM
Response to Original message
8. They've probably already raised their premiums on healthy people
to match the premiums on sick people.

At any rate I'm highly suspicious of such a move. Clearly they're trying to pretend to behave so as to not be regulated further.

Regards
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subterranean Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:55 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. That's the first thing I thought of, too.
Instead of charging sick people more, they'll just raise their rates for everyone else. How dumb do they think we are?
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PA Democrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:29 PM
Response to Original message
9. Yeah, sure.
I don't trust health insurers further than I can spit. If they agree to take on people with preexisting conditions without additional fees, I'll bet you they will refuse to pay for any treatment for those conditions.
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dkofos Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 02:58 PM
Response to Original message
11. NO INSURANCE IN HEALTH CARE!!
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dixiegrrrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 03:57 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Yes, exactly right.
We need affordable health care, not mandatory insurance.
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Vinca Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 03:19 PM
Response to Original message
12. Instead they'll gouge everyone. nt
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Belial Donating Member (503 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. You took my thought..
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Kansas Wyatt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-24-09 04:21 PM
Response to Original message
15. They had their chance and they chose to be GREEDY instead.
Piss on insurance companies! Kick their sorry asses to the curb and tell them they better start pounding the pavement to gated communities, because that's where their future business is from now on.

This is nothing more than an admission that they have been robbing sick people. How rich... Now, when they feel threatened, because of their own track record, they promise to conduct themselves like reputable insurance companies.
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