Tweet
Thank you, Aetna, for wanting us to know. Your boldness is breathtaking and your timing is impeccable. This month, as the Senate is embroiled in heated debate over health care reform, one might expect insurance companies to be on their best behavior – the same way restaurants are when the health inspector drops by. But not you, Aetna. You don’t care how closely your policies are being scrutinized on the national stage - you still have the guts to make fearless corporate decisions:
Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations… In an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.
"The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering," said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. "We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year."
Very impressive, Aetna! Not once in that quote did your CEO make reference to sick people, or people who might die from lack of coverage, or people who will go bankrupt trying to afford higher premiums. In fact, Mr. Williams didn’t let the concept of people and their pesky needs interfere at all with his important considerations of "business," "pricing," "results," "margins," "earnings potential," or "financial impact." No danger here of health insurance becoming something more than profit-seeking.
So thank you again, Aetna, for wanting us to know; for making it crystal clear at this crucial point in the debate that for-profit care doesn’t care at all. It’s long past time for a health system that is based on helping people and not just on the bottom line.
89 Comments
You gotta love those catchy slogans from insurance companies…
“Nationwide is on your side”
“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there”
“You’re in good hands with Allstate”
Uh, right.
What are the chances that a Democrat in the US Senate will take these amoral freaks’ behavior to the floor and pound them senseless, and further demand that Republicans join in efforts to address this repeated and predictable atrocity?
Given the Republicans beautifully executed defense of their votes on the Franken amendment (and the resulting near-silence of Senators of conscience), what are the chances that any Gooper will give a crap?
Sen. Sanders: “Senator McCain? How many Aetna customers live in your great state of Arizona?”
Sen. McCain: “Fuck off you commie prick!”
Zero.
Corp toolz rule.
Franken. Some day. Couldn’t hurt to ask/tell him, though.
How many millions did the CEO get this year? Last year?
Two-thirds of a million people priced out of their insurance, on the altar of profit. Which Senator is it who represents Aetna’s home state, again?
“Which Senator is it who represents Aetna’s home state, again?”
That would be Senator Joe “Aetna” Lieberman (I-Aetna)
Teddy,
You have made the direct relationship that I apparently overly exuberantly disparaged in 13.
Joe Lieberman is literally in the employ of AETNA and their ilk.
Why’d you get moderated? What did you say?
Larue, (apologies, I didn’t see your comment last night)
I was moderated because I chose to use the common colloquialism for Lieberman deserves “a token of public odium.”.
I stand by my statement but will elevate my choice of language.
I really need to stop paying attention to things like this. It just makes me sick. And I don’t have health insurance.
It’s not ‘uninstructive’ that asking them in person… will get you arrested.
For asking…
You know, the health(ha!)insurance industry is a lot like Iran. Try to bring pressure to bear and they get in your face defiant.
They learned their lessons well. The system will take “No!” for an answer, and layers of lawyers and myriad connections to powerful pols are their best friends.
They are bold enough to lie straight out to Congressional committees. Fearlessness is a powerful shield.
Yeah, along with Wall street, credit card companies, Pharma ect. The Pols are just too beholden to them to bite the hand that keeps them in office.
Mega corps paid good money and now they are king of The Hill. House and Senate members are their serfs and average citizens are livestock to be milked, fleeced, or slaughtered according to the owner’s whim.
They will jack us the same way the Credit Cards creeps do: They can and they will. Who is to stop them? With Credit Cards it’s easy: pay them, cancel them. Health Insurance? Not so much. You play their game or not. It is your choice…until you have no choice.
Or we could threaten to stop paying everything else except the things that keep us alive. No credit cards. No tv. We need the tubes to communicate our nasty, crazy plans. Carpool to cut the oil profits. Eat less meat. Recycle things you haven’t thought of. Not exactly a strike but a sloooooow down. Easy for me to say, I am already there. You know what, it ain’t that bad.
Doing the same thing here:)
Simplifying is great and will help make for a better society in the long run, etc, etc – but how does that help the 600,000 who can’t afford their health insurance in the immediate situation?
Rush would say that they need to “re-prioritize expenses… like tuition, and food. And good for them…”
I am serious about this question. What can we do about this?
What can we do? Well, we’ve got to get the right kind of people in office. As long as the Dems are fighting their own party to get their platform enacted, nothing will change.
We’re missing the INDIVIDUALS behind the story.
Who is losing AETNA coverage?
AETNA has a history of going to company management and persuading them to layoff or shift to contractor status individuals with medically controlled chronic illnesses such as diabetes or asthma. How many of those 600,000 members have a pre-existing condition such as diabetes or asthma?
Note what this means under current laws, where people can’t get new insurance with pre-existing conditions.
The senior management and board of directors of AETNA is well aware of this unethical although not illegal practice. ~~~EDITED IN MODERATION: Let us NOT go there, please.~~~
I’d be curious to know how many folks have been personally screwed by Aetna. When I was in school, I spent two years fighting a falsely denied claim.
My mother was telling me about the coverage she and my father had from them after he retired.
First they covered 80 percent.
Then it was lowered to 80 percent of what Medicare didn’t pay.
Then it became ‘Medicare already paid 80 percent, so we don’t owe you anything’.
It might not be getting the shaft, but they surely weren’t returning service for dollars.
Of course if it wasn’t for the whole money equals free speech thing, we could put some sane limits on corporate influence.
Even then a non-starter, it would require legislators to act against their own selfish interest. You’d have about the same chance if you asked them to take a pay cut or give up their government health care.
Too make things even worse, the Supremes have agreed to hear the case involving Hillary the Movie. Want to guess which way the Roberts court is gonna rule on that one?
Pretty soon we will be paying taxes directly to the corporations. ….oh wait, mandates
“Very impressive, Aetna! Not once in that quote did your CEO make reference to sick people, or people who might die from lack of coverage, or people who will go bankrupt trying to afford higher premiums.”
What people fail to realize is the S&I Insurance companies are in business for one reason only. That reason is to make a PROFIT for their shareholders, send out dividend checks, pay out multimillions to their executives, and on and on and on.
Policy holders (patients)only factor into the equation when they start to request payment for medical services. THEN, the policy holder (patient) goes from being a contributor to the financial wealth of the company to being a “Medical Loss” that is dragging down profits. The policy holder (patient) is no longer just another number, but a drag on PROFITS.
We need to put a stake in the heart of the predatory, obsolete, expensive, yearly S&I Insurance industry. Let it go the way of the Buggy Whip and Slide Rule industries!
“I still don’t get how my health care should be controlled by a system that was invented to compensate shippers for losses incurred due to storms and pirates.” – RUCerious! – Think Progress dot Org
If this graf will not get Democratic legislators up off their asses – shareholders over HC customers – and give them all the moral authority they need to steamroll Republicans, I do not know what would.
Given that unemployment is likely to remain high for several years and with high unemployment the Consumer Spending driven American economy will not recover. I think its fair to say that several insurance companies will drop unprofitable customers from their rolls.
So just why is Congress bending over backwards to save insurance companies? Given that insurance companies invest their money in the stock market and the very likely possibility of another financial collapse there is a good chance there will be no insurance companies to save next time.
Now, TCU – you know the answer to that one./s
They are bribed to over look their common sense and their voters.
After reading your comment the other night I went back and checked out the comments relating to the Politico article about Jane.
Wow.
Hoss, those comments weren’t, in the scheme of roiling jive ass crazy, THAT bad against Jane. Not by ANY fucking standard of fuckery.
Sure, there were a few . . . but that’s NORMAL and not all that bad, in that Politico article, in those comments.
I’m sure you’ve seen lots worse, as I have. But it’s not even worth mentioning what the Politico comments came out about Mz. Hamsher, it’s typical . . .
Why do you mention it? And you know I respect yer opinions . . . . I would NOT have thought you’d mention something of such little slight . . . . . I’d bet BOB cusses a meaner and bluer streak!! *G*
(tryin to lighten it up here)
*G*
Linguini n Clams with garlic bread, hoss?
*G*
I’m buyin, and makin . . . ;-)
YOU have long earned a decent meal for a man of your means and stature in this community.
I’d be HONORED to cook for ya!
(returning after watching the rerun of Monk finale)
Wow is right, I think. Perhaps it seems horrible to us and not Larue because we (I sure do) usually spare ourselves reading such stuff.
But I really wish Politico had left out the mention of Andy Stern; that led to some of the worst comments; and that, really is no surprise. Any suggestion of a relationship with a man always lead some people to conclude that the woman’s accomplishments are entirely tied to that relationship. Disgusting, and depressing.
(in full disclosure, years ago I kept a dating relationship secret from all but closest friends because the man was very well-known in our profession and location, and I was brand-new. I did not want to become known first as “R’s gf,” and as far as I could tell, we successfully avoided that. And then when I left that job a few years later, I watched my replacement, also an outsider, become known as “P’s gf” in record time. It’s appalling, and pretty much the norm.)
Yes, I’m talking too much, I guess – maybe because I’ve observed it a few too many times.
Ok, yeah.
The personal stuff about Andy was sad.
But Mz. Hamsher offered it up in her interview.
Fair fodder once it’s out of the barn.
And given that, she would not have DONE so if she didn’t expect to get some flack about it.
I mean, Mz. Hamsher comes from Hollywood. There’s NOTHING sacred that’s not fucked with in that game that she’s not been scored by, scorched by or burnt with . . . my point being, she’s tougher n shit.
Has to be, to get to here, from there.
Ergo? The boyfriend stuff was on the table and she KNEW it was out there. And coming to get her.
She’s tough, she planned for this.
Now, can we move forward with her? *G*
Cuz she’s sure as shit tougher n I thought she was, and tougher n what YOU are giving her credit for.
See what I’m sayin? Hope ya do . . . NO one who has gone thru HollyWood is unprepared for a future where their personal shit is gonna be on the line . . . Mz. Hamsher’s been there, and ready for it. Long ago.
At least, that’s how it seems to me . . . but hey, what do I know . . . I can’t speak for Mz. Hamsher, only myself and my thoughts and perceptions.
You’re right, or course.
And if everyone who personally knows someone ‘important’ has to sit out civics, we would not have a society.
Uh, am I ok in what I said? With you?
Not sure about your comment, cuz I’m not USED to bein agreed with . . . am I ON it? Really?
Sorry to question ya . . . . just being cautious about my comments as this is a HUGE time of change here at FDL.
Of course!
I read the piece and reread it again twice. On balance…
I would not want Jane Hamsher as an opponent, and ferocity and independence come through. Very un-Politico-like, IMHO.
Yup! What Newt said about Jane..
I’ve made myself very depressed. I going to sign off, have a drink and finish watching the Muppets special.
That’s the best idea I’ve heard all night!
Enjoy. Tell the muppets I said, “Hi.”
Or think of it this way can the insurance companies handle the insurance payoffs for another Hurricane Katrina or an Earthquake right now?
Do we really trust the insurance companies books? Even if we do trust the insurance companies books the possibility of a large payoff would mean the insurance companies would have to unload assets given the state of the market other people would sell too.
The stock market is not stable right now a bunch of selling could cause a panic.
Maybe we need Congress to get paid for with bonds that pay what the the average man gets in pay and benefits relative to inflation.
Suppose the average pay and benefits are now $30,000 at the end of a 2 year a Congress term. A Congressman would either get more or owe the government if the pay and benefits of the average man went up
or down.
The only exception would be war in which case benefits would be frozen at half what the average man gets in pay and benefits after all we all know Congress generally does not serve in the army so if we sacrifice our lives they can sacrifice their pay.
Combat Vets like John Kerry and McCain however would be the exception.
We need schools funded Congress has kids and grandkids if public school is not good enough for all of them then Congress is beneath them as well. Also America can’t afford anymore Elite Bush legacy admissions, NeoCons, or Helicopter Ben’s.
The Private Education system is held hostage by funding from wealthy donors who want their kids taught the special truth that always favors the upper class.
America cannot afford a special reality view in policy any more.
If he doesn’t know, he should be informed that Directors of companies like AETNA have no qualms about raising health insurance rates on policies for people in good health who have easily controlled chronic illnesses.
I doubt that Joe’s family members don’t have chronic conditions such as COPD asthma, diabetes, hypertension, or excess weight which would would get them cancelled, or more likely see their premiums rise at an exorbitant increase, perhaps double common increases.
These firms have policies which already approach a 50% medical loss rate – meaning less than half your premium ever reaches a doctor. I had one of these policies and by coincidence so did a friend of mine who had meetings with Board members and senior management at several insurance firms. We were both incensed to discover that it is common practice to recommend such employees be fired, laid off or “offered alternative employment” such as contractor status which would remove them from the company insurance which is far less expensive since it is a large pool.
Not to abuse my privileges but for his actions and lack of curiosity about the impact of his actions Lieberman deserves a token of public odium.
Punaise would probably be proud of this nice phrasing.
HR676……
New variety of pepper?
?? but definitely hot…..
Heh, nuttin to sneeze at . . .*G*
I’m dusting off my pitchfork. It’s those 600,000 … and it’s the rest of us. Phoughk the damned insurance companies. Glad I don’t own any stock in ‘em. Sorry my ins. company apparently owns me.
That anti-trust exemption is looking mighty tasty about now. Hit them where they live.
they sure have abused it!!!
Sure, but they are not now the same kind of companies they were when the exemption was granted.
Stockholders and all, nowadays…
So fucking what6!! They had their chance to make health care available to all BUT They chose profits over lives!! I sure wonder how have died because of them???
I make no excuses for those dogs.
If the same Congress that granted that gift to them was sitting today, they would have them in front of cameras every friggin day, and not for photo-ops.
Making lemonaid. Making prototype of new-pocket pitchfork sharpener. You too can sharpen on the go! No more struggling. ~~~EDITED IN MODERATION~~~ Act now and we will throw in the incredable “yacht borer” Call today.
~~~ModNote: Less with the graphic depictions of violence, please.~~~
If everyone who has Aetna insurance would just change to any other insurance……everyone on Monday….then let’s see what happens! Or….does Aetna OWN certain areas? Can we all say MONOPOLY? The ‘American Way’ is so totally screwed.
O
L
L
>
>
>
>
>
>
Crap…..you didn’t scroll me, didya?
I was kinda hoping it was me!
naaaaaaaaaaaaaaa not you Dearie (:>))
Parasites is what these health insurance companies have become. Utter and complete parasites.
Worse, they’ve turned into the lethal kind now.
Yes, and on a mass scale.
Who will survey those Aetna customers a few years out to see how many died for lack of meds or treatment?
I didn’t think the Politico article was bad….but the comments (particularly at CommonDreams.org) were sour grapes. Jane is great…..we’re lucky to have her…….and we’re lucky to have each other!
Btw, when was the Muppet special on? Or is it pay-per-view or something?
I don’t know but this YouTube is great… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY
Anthem Blue Cross just upped by premium to over $500 a month, and I still have a couple thousand a year in medical costs that they don’t cover. I can’t stand it any more!
Anthem? Isn’t that one of Ayn Rand’s novels?
hiya Nahant
We are going off Aetna, and on to HealthNet. I guess this makes me feel better about it but for some reason I still feel like I am going from frying pan to fire.
I am told by family members who use HealthNet for Medicare, that the fire it is.
I think that the other Senators should rub Aetna in Joe’s face and ask him why there should be triggers after such actions like this. The triggers have been pulled!
“Triggers? We don’t need no stinkin’ triggers!”
Oh and perhaps Congresspeople should send out mailers to their constituents regarding Aetna and other insurers asking them to contact Senator Joe and the Blue Dogs for Blue Cross about their rate increases. Include their email addresses and ask for a bcc.
http://www.connpost.com/ci_13930030?IADID=Search-www.connpost.com-www.connpost.com
Whooo, boy – here’s just today’s Health Net news:
Deal with UnitedHealth under fire; company doesn’t have obligation to re-enroll customers
.
Health insurance is treated in the same manner as a public utility in other nations.
Prior to Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Shrub, all utilities and many types of insurance were strictly regulated by Public Utility or Insurance Commissions. Electric companies, for example, were limited to 15% profit and were not allowed to raise rates without permission – or to build unnecessary plants just to boost costs/profits.
The American public did nothing when everything was deregulated and much was privatized. We were screwed and the media ignored it, while the corporations loved the result.
Aetna and others need to be strictly governed by a national insurance commission – including regulation of rates, profits and services. Until that is done we are at their greedy mercy. The only other alternative is single payer, but Maximus Baucus, Repug Rahm and Brave Barack took that off the table.
Insurance companies are not public utilities. Nor are banks, home-builders, pharmaceutical companies, etc. Just because you think it is desirable for everyone to have insurance or a home or access to credit or prescription drugs does not mean the companies who provide those services are public utilities. They are businesses. Claiming that an insurance company is the same as a utility is the most ridiculous thing yet I have read on this subject.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners sums it up this way on their website: http://www.naic.org
Unlike banking and securities products, which are about access to credit and risk taking, insurance is a legal promise—a guarantee—to pay benefits if and when a certain event occurs. Insurance products are rooted in the separate contract, tort, and social policy laws of each state where they are sold and require a more accountable, accessible type of protection that states can best provide. Congress endorsed state oversight of insurance in 1945 with the McCarran-Ferguson Act and specifically recognized and reaffirmed the benefits of the state system in 1999 when it modernized federal financial supervision laws in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Since then, however, insurance industry Washington lobbyists have pushed for a federal insurance charter and a new regulatory regime in Washington that would diminish or supplant successful and effective state-based consumer protections.Regulation has been around for 64 years, and the comparison between utility commissions and insurance commissions is apt. BOTH are regulating private companies that have virtual monopolies on vital services.
You may not need water, electric, auto insurance, medical insurance or drugs, but in the real world the rest of us do in this country.
“Claiming that an insurance company is the same as a utility is the most ridiculous thing yet I have read on this subject.”
Like they do quite well in Switzerland? Operation of health insurance there is treated quite similarly to utilities. It has not resulted in the end of Swiss civilization. On the contrary. Swiss employers are relieved of the burden of buying and administering health insurance for their employees which makes them more competitive compared to the U.S. The Swiss grumble about their system as all countries do, but are on the whole very satisfied with the level of care they receive.
You need to get out of your ideological strait-jacket and get informed.
Aetna is in the business to make money. Insurance companies are not non-profit public services.
This article completely contradicts another article just posted on this site concerning cost cutting measures. How is it possible to jump all over Aetna for being concerned about the bottom line while at the same time complaining that cost-containment procedures are being removed from the health care “reform” bill? How is that not also worrying about the bottom line?
If you gripe when comparative-cost commissions (read rationing) are removed from the health care bill or if you complain that the House or Senate is removing language used to set up mechanisms to determine which medical services should and shouldn’t be paid for and how much they should cost (read rationing again), you are no less worried about the bottom line than Aetna. The only difference is Aetna has shareholders to worry about and it has to pay its employees. You don’t make money to pay your employees and keep your shareholders happy by spouting “people not profits” bullshit.
So the solution is to create a health care system where profit isn’t required – kind of like police and fire departments. Can you imagine what those departments would be like if they had to turn profits in order to survive?
I was about to suggest that. Why does an insurance company need investors? They aren’t fronting major start up costs or new, state of the art products, like Boeing. So, instead of government insurance, government grants to cover the start up of non-profits might be an answer. Non-profits look to granting organizations for help from folks like the MacArthur Foundation. Ever look at the foundations backing PBS major productions?
I am going to have a good laugh if I hear that you are one of the 600,000 who has to drop out of Aetna’s coverage because you can’t afford it. Even better if you have a pre-existing condition and can’t find insurance anywhere else. Way better if you then get very ill and are reduced to bankruptcy and physical suffering. But then, in order to have your opinion on this you have to be either A) rich or B) stupid. C) utterly amoral or D) all of the above. In which case you don’t give a damn about anybody but yourself and there is nothing left to discuss.
Masanf,
The problem is literally Health Insurance is the wrong paradigm for paying for health care.
Worse, for-profit firms add no value. You are literally walking into your doctor’s office for care, handing your money to a middleman, who then pockets 20-30% and passes the balance to your doctor, touting the vital role of middleman with an inflated invoice reduced with supposed discounts. The middleman then pays a portion to his congressman to write laws to keep out the competition and also prevent doctors from taking out of network patients without penalties. In another era this would be called a racket.
Unlike property and casualty insurance for natural disasters, we as a nation benefit from having a healthy and therefore more productive population. Adam Smith observed this in Wealth of Nations.
I will further assert that we as a nation all benefit from having a healthier population as merely another form of national security. Of what benefit is a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, division of Marines, or fleet of B-2 bombers if the population they are supposedly securing is in poor health?