Yes, I said it: California Blue Shield, the so-called "non-"profit, mega-sized insurance company paying a mega-sized salary to CEO Bruce Bodaken supports single payer California One Care -- a plan where "everybody's in and nobody's out."
Ok, well, wealthy Bruce -- or his well-paid spinmeister (Wendell Potter before he became "hero Wendell Potter") Tom Epstein -- didn't actually say, "we support single payer," but Blue Shield's recent decision, to not increase premium rates for individual policyholders for the remainder of the year, was a ringing, unambiguous endorsement of the logic behind single payer health care.
Confused? Explanation below the fold.
As you know, all of Blue Shield's recent mega-sized rate increases have been attributed to "fast-rising healthcare costs and other expenses resulting from new healthcare laws." Well, if that's the case, how does a non-profit organization then justify immediately canceling huge rate increases?
Of course, there was a lot of public pressure that the New York Times reports "frustrated" the bean counters hiding behind their "blue shield" (lower-case letters intended):
The company acknowledged that it abandoned its quest for higher rates after encountering such fierce opposition. “We were very frustrated by the negative attention we were getting,” said Tom Epstein, a spokesman for the insurer, which has been a vocal proponent of many of the changes required by the federal health care law. The law will succeed only if people can afford to buy coverage under the new system, he said.
First of all, good job to the progressive community and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones for fighting back against the bloodsucking private insurance company. (Can you even imagine how pissed the profiteers at mega-profits Aetna and WellPoint are that their friend in the insurance cartel backed down?! They must be so angry!) Now, though, let's look at -- from a financial perspective -- how Blue Shield was able to drop premium increases for "products" that it claims it lost nearly $30 million on last year. Let's let fellow bloodsucker -- from the banking industry -- Citigroup Industry Analyst Carl McDonald do the talking:
Blue Shield’s decision also illustrates how the insurers are able to absorb the losses associated with selling individual coverage because they are generating profits in other markets, like selling coverage for employers. “It’s a reflection of how well Blue Shield and the industry are doing in their overall business,” said Carl McDonald, an industry analyst for Citigroup.
Here's the money line: "illustrates how the insurers are able to absorb the losses associated with selling individual coverage because they are generating profits in other markets." In other words, when you don't divide everyone up into tiny little pools -- employer-based, individual-purchased, etc. -- it's much easier to keep rates down. When you look at health insurance as "one big pool," you don't have to jack up rates and abuse certain segments of your population with immoral premium increases. That's what single payer (in California, California One Care) would do writ large: put everyone in a big pool so costs are lower for all.
In the words of former California Governor Ronald Reagan, "tear down that wall" between the employed and individuals -- put them all in the same pool.
Thank you, Blue Shield, for proving that insurance companies only subdivide policyholders into artificially-erected groups in order to increase profits and allow for premiums to be jacked up as much as possible -- and, yesterday, for showing us that when we dispense with such a cruel system, rates indeed can be kept down for everyone.
While it's definitely possible to look at Blue Shield's decision yesterday as a cynical attempt at self preservation, it is also possible to -- looking on the bright side of life -- see this decision as a major step forward for the single payer movement.
It will, however, only be a major step forward for us if we seize the opportunity to frame this acquiescence to consumer demands in the right way.
We absolutely must use this Blue Shield decision to call bullshit on the mega-profit insurance company rhetoric that rates can't be lowered because of "high medical costs" and the fact that "individuals are dropping coverage" -- Blue Shield's decision to kill the rate hikes proves that single payer logic -- everyone in the same pool -- works. That, indeed, it is the only equitable and sustainable way to finance health care. (Note: Wendell Potter just wrote an outstanding column refuting the poor mouthing of mega-profit insurers when they complain about low profits and high medical costs. READ IT.)
No longer can Angela Braly and Mark Bertolini tell us that WellPoint and Aetna can raise rates in California (or elsewhere) because of "high medical costs" or "individuals dropping policies." Blue Shield has proved them wrong. All Aetna and WellPoint need to do is finance their individual policies with some of their immense profits from the employer- or group-based side of their business. HA! Yeah right?! They'll never do that.
You're right -- they probably won't -- and that's why keeping up the pressure that we put on Blue Shield on each and every insurer that tries to raise rates in California is absolutely essential. It is an essential component of the single payer battle. Putting pressure on the mega-profit insurers to do what Blue Shield did will put them between a "rock and a hard place" -- it will not only cause them financial pain, but also expose the lies and distortions undermining their public relations campaigns designed to convince individuals not only of the necessity of rate hikes, but also the "impossibility" of a single payer system being any better than the current mega-profit system.
We can use Blue Shield's less-than-altruistic-self-preserving decision to kill its rate hikes to advance single payer, but only if we're smart, and only if we act fast.
Blue Shield gave the single payer movement a gift yesterday -- let's seize the day and use it to make a massive jump forward in the campaign to ensure good quality care for all.