Who does AHIP, big pharma and the health care special interests fear most--Michael Moore or the next president of the United States?
The answer is depressing, because much as I want to believe that real reform is on the horizon, I have this little demon in my head telling me I'm kidding myself.
You see, when the insurance industry fears Michael Moore more than the likely next president of the United States--we're in some serious trouble.
The for-profit Murder by Spreadsheet insurance industry knows that it will prevail in largely maintaining the status quo even long after a Democrat is sitting in the White House. Yes, there will be some semi-significant feel good tweaks here and there, but the essential nature of the system will remain. Make no mistake, Wall Street and profits will continue to drive deny you and me healthcare.
Now, with the release of SiCKO, the media is wondering, can a film refocus the debate and move us toward single-payer, the only solution to our healthcare catastrophe? Can Michael Moore accomplish what the political class has failed at so miserably? Probably not, there's too much $$$ at stake. But at least the world will watch SiCKO in horror, and learn the truth about America, this great beacon of liberty where basic healthcare is a privilege not a right.
Will Michael Moore and SiCKO shame the political class into finally acknowledging the unthinkable? That for-profit health insurers have duped, scammed, conned and ultimately betrayed the American people. That a dangerous and predatory industry bought itself not one or a few, but all the seats at the healthcare table. Unlikely, but healthcare reform activists, like PNHP, are planning major campaigns to leverage the movie to the max.
Now, the big test: Can 113 minutes of sharp-edged film help change the U.S. health-care system for the better? Fierce political debates over health-care reform have accomplished virtually nothing in recent years, but Moore is determined to make sure this time is different. "Do you know of anyone who hasn't had a problem with the insurance company, or getting some procedure covered?" he asks. "Anyone who sees this film will understand exactly the mess we're in right now."
http://www.businessweek.com/...
The American people must assume some responsibility for our utterly deplorable and collapsed healthcare system. We meekly step aside as our elected officials award themselves "Cadillac" healthcare. As you know, this is Senator Clinton's characterization of the health benefits Members of Congress receive not mine.
Why am I "blaming" myself for all this shit? Here's why. I've mentioned in the past, I receive lots of emails refering me to all manner of healthcare atrocities.
The other day I received this article from a newspaper in Delaware. It captured my eye. It is a plea from the Insurance Commissioner, literally begging citizens to bombard their elected officials and force them to vote for pending health reform legislation.
Basically it's us against them. Either the lobbyists win, or we crush them like the roaches they are.
The members of the Delaware General Assembly will meet for 13 days in June before they finish their work for the year. In that time, they will have a number of opportunities to vote for bills designed to make insurance more affordable and fair for the people of this state.
These bills are supported by many Republicans and Democrats, but whether they pass or fail this month is largely up to you.
Several of these bills are opposed by the insurance industry, which is the biggest interest group in Dover, with 28 registered lobbyists. To put that number in perspective, the entire chemical industry in Delaware has four registered lobbyists. The state's farmers have one.
With that level of opposition to some of these pro-consumer bills, your legislators need to hear from you that insurance reform is a priority and that these bills should be passed. Legislators in Dover listen to their constituents -- which means you can have an impact on the fate of insurance reform this year.
Here are the bills that need your support to change the way insurance companies do business here:
http://www.delawareonline.com/...
What I find unspeakbaly awful is that good legislation like this, designed to help average Americans access basic healthcare, is opposed by the same AHIP scumbag lobbyists that our Democratic candidates have every intention of hopping into bed with.
- Senate Bill 6 would create a health insurance pool for small businesses and families. This pool would give families and small businesses many of the same advantages that large companies now receive when they buy health insurance.
. . .This bill could provide much-needed relief to many families and small businesses being pressed by spiraling health insurance rates. But it has been opposed by major health insurance companies.
- Senate Bill 37 would allow the Delaware Department of Insurance to regulate health insurance rates. If this bill passes, health insurance companies would have to justify that the rates they want to charge are necessary and not excessive.
- Senate Bill 58 aims to protect consumers from deceptive health coverage plans. Known as "discount medical plans," these plans are often advertised on telephone poles, posters in stores or the Internet.
- House Bill 92 creates a process for hospitals and doctors to have claims for payment by insurance companies be resolved quickly and with little cost, instead of going to court. The trouble that health care providers have getting paid by insurance companies is one of the factors driving up health care costs.
. . .As commissioner, I hear every day from people who can't find affordable health insurance, or who are using their savings to pay for health coverage, or have seen auto or home rates soar because of something on a credit report. These bills tackle those concerns head-on.
But they won't happen this year unless legislators' phones start ringing and their mailboxes start filling up.
Matt Denn is Delaware's insurance commissioner.
http://www.delawareonline.com/...
Back to Michael Moore, SiCKO, the failure of the political class to deal with the implosion of our system, and our collective failure as citizens to demand change. Michael Moore can open the door then either the American people charge through or we surrender our lives and the lives of our children to an unmerciful system .
There are plenty who are skeptical that health care is headed for substantial reform, despite the efforts of Moore and others. "It won't happen," says Berkeley professor John Ellwood, co-director of the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Health Policy Research Program. He cites a recent New York Times/CBS poll that states most folks are generally satisfied with their health care. "Too many people like their doctor and the care that they're getting," he says. "There's no groundswell of protest."
As I said in the beginning, the insurance industry thugs, lobbyists and crooks have their figurative guns loaded and they're hunting for Michael Moore. The triumph of Michael Moore and SiCKO is the ultimate condemnation of the political class in America. Moore's success is due to their failure.
What role will Moore play in the debate? The filmmaker says he intends to hold a series of premieres for his film, with top Washington politicians and Schwarzenegger and others in California as well. "It takes something that grabs folks' attention in this state to get folks to write their assemblymen—and maybe a movie can do that," says Steve Maviglio, a top aide to California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who has his own universal health-care plan. Moore is also a close friend of fellow Michigan resident Representative John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who has introduced his own national heath insurance overhaul. Moore says he'll likely testify before Conyers' committee on the bill.
. . .It's that kind of notoriety that already has many in the health-care industry readying their responses to Moore's film—even before any of them have seen it. "Where there are issues raised by factual inaccuracies, obviously our member companies and we will point them out," says Mohit Ghose, a spokesman for American's Health Insurance Plans, whose members include Humana (HUM), Cigna (CI), and Aetna (AET). Ghose says his group instead wants to advance "a positive agenda" that will provide universal health care "but also maintain and preserve the affordability of that access and coverage."
. . ."With Sicko, he uses powerful images and tells fascinating real-life stories to drive change." Weinstein says that after the companies learned "what they are up against, [they] hired PR firms and have their arsenal of lobbyists chomping at the bit to work elected officials."
http://www.businessweek.com/...
I hope more than anything that Michael Moore and SiCKO force our Democratic presidential candidates to respond truthfully to reality like this.
Presidential candidates propose solving the problems by tinkering with the current system. But as long as insurance and drug companies – those mostly responsible for enormous cost increases – are included, that approach won’t work. The simplest and most cost-efficient plan would extend Medicare to everyone. Employers, relieved of the health-care burden, would pay a tax far less than their current insurance costs. The savings by eliminating the middlemen and the ability to negotiate drug prices would permit the coverage for those now bare.
http://www.fortwayne.com/...
For-profit healthcare, can anyone spell The Assault on Reason?