CIGNA's Commitment to Health Care Reform

Thought you all would like to read this, I used the Google after I read the "PBS: Health care industry is spending 1.4 million day against health reform" OP. This is my current provider...This is probably the general view shared by the entire insurance industry.
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CIGNA's Commitment to Health Care Reform http://newsroom.cigna.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=25

While proposals to reform the American health care system vary widely, there is consensus among all stakeholders that there is a need for meaningful and sustainable reform. CIGNA clearly recognizes this need and is taking a proactive role in contributing to the reform discussions. We recognize that America’s high and growing health care bill (totaling nearly $2 trillion in 2006) is driven by several factors, including wide variations in access, quality and costs, which reflect inefficiencies in the delivery of care.

Increases in the cost of health care have led to higher health plan premiums, which have contributed to the increase in the number of people without coverage. Although almost 250 million Americans have health care coverage, some 47 million are uninsured for at least part of the year according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The discussion about the uninsured and costs of care, as well as quality and efficiency, often revolves around whether the private or public sector—or a combination of both—is best equipped to run the U.S. health care system. We believe neither the government nor the private sector alone can do this alone. Private health plans, the government, employers, health care providers and individuals have important roles to play in expanding access, providing choice, and lowering and controlling costs.

We believe:

* Private health plans should continue to provide innovative solutions that create individual responsibility for health, wellness and financial security and that achieve cost savings.
* The government should play a more active role in facilitating adoption of common regulatory, transparency, technology and transactional standards; enacting tort reforms; making needed changes to the individual insurance market; and providing a safety net for people who do not have the means to buy coverage.
* Employers should continue to provide access to—and assist in the financing of—meaningful health care coverage for their employees and offer benefit plan designs that help their employees improve their health and quality of life.
* Providers should support standards designed to improve both the quality and efficiency of the care they deliver and educate their patients by providing them with the information they need to take greater ownership of their health and wellness.
* Individuals should obtain coverage for themselves and their dependents and take personal responsibility for their own health decisions to the extent they are able.

This paper http://newsroom.cigna.com/images/56/Health-Care-Reform-092107.pdf , developed by CIGNA's Public Policy Council, represents the guiding principles that CIGNA believes are necessary to help all decision-makers engage in fact-based discussions about reforming the health care system.
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Allow to give you some examples from the PDF file they provide, it loaded with horse shit. In short really is says "There is nothing wrong with health care in Amerika, it is still better then any other industrilzed countries care." Well, not according to the WHO and I would much rather have Spain's or France's HCS over the shit we have...any who, here are some whoppers for ya to choke on:

- Americans are demanding new treatments and more intensive diagnostic testing than in other countries.
- Americans have access to considerably more nearby hospitals, resulting in higher fixed costs and lower occupancy than hospitals in other countries.
- Americans also have access to 100% more CT and MRI scanners on average than residents of other industrialized countries.

- Physicians with financial interests in equipment and facilities order two to eight times as many CT and MRI scans as physicians in other countries.
- Physicians in the United States conduct 60% more consultations with patients—and earn 60% more than in other countries.

- 75% of the uninsured are in households in which at least one person works.
- 40.5% are young adults (18-34), many of whom work but, for various reasons, including their belief that the risk of illness or injury is too low to justify the cost of insurance, have not purchased coverage.

The only thing I can see from reading their pdf is "we are not so bad, see we care...we really do...Amerika Prevails!"

Note the same old tired bromides about "innovative solutions" and "personal responsibility." Hey, Bozo, this is a FAILED SYSTEM that you've delivered (and you've had many years to work on it and lots of favors from Congress along the way), so why not just Shut the Fuck Up and admit that the health of our citizens is not a business venture.

Telling me they would be happy to provide coverage for me at $74.00 a month. They went on to spell out very carefully in plain english what was allowed.

I sent the self addressed, prestamped envelope back and told them to late, maybe they should have thought of this earlier.Before the insurance catastrophe they helped create..

I am on medicare (gawd a socialist medicine).