PETITION

END THE FOR-PROFIT HEALTHCARE MARKETPLACE

To sign this MoveOn petition  CLICK HERE.

While ‘Obamacare” regulates some injustices, it still puts insurance companies between us and our healthcare.  We believe that no one should be allowed to profit from another person’s suffering.  Stop wasting our money, limiting our choices, allowing unfair practices and causing us financial stress.  Stop allowing big corporations to profit off the backs of sick Americans.

Introduce tax-supported comprehensive universal healthcare, which eliminates medical bills, premiums, co-pays, co-insurance, limitations on choosing any doctor you want, and the need for employers to pay premiums for their employees.  It covers everybody, has better health outcomes, and would save the U.S. an estimated $592 billion in 2014, with money left over to pay down the national debt.  (G. Friedman 2013)

Support  Expanded & Improved Medicare for All:  HR676 and any State bill that creates tax-supported comprehensive universal healthcare in your state.

To sign this MoveOn petition  CLICK HERE.

DETAILS AND REFERENCES:

Stop unfair practices

  • — Stop allowing CEO’s of private health insurance companies to make millions from premiums we pay for healthcare1
  • — Stop allowing Health insurance companies to make billions of dollars in profits while ordinary people pay increasing premiums for fear of going broke from unexpected medical expenses2
  • — Stop allowing hospitals to set ridiculously high prices, while insurance companies negotiate lower rates and limit coverage, leaving sick individuals to pay the full price3
  • Stop the practice of shifting cost burdens from insurance companies to individuals through high deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, and limiting in-network providers4

Stop financial stress

  • — Stop allowing Americans to be financially burdened or to go bankrupt by the (increasing) costs of medical bills, premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance5
  • — Stop making Americans pay a lot more for healthcare and experience significantly more financial stress than people in other countries who pay less and have better outcomes6
  • — Stop pressure on small businesses to pay more and more to cover employees’ healthcare insurance7

Stop wasting our money

  • — Stop allowing well over 20% of our premiums to be used for unnecessary administrative costs that do not cover medical needs, when other developed countries spend considerably less8
  • — Stop allowing providers to set prices that far exceed the value of the medical services they provide9
  • — Stop big pharmaceutical companies from setting high prices beyond the reach of ordinary people10

Stop limiting our choices

  • —Stop encouraging for-profit insurance companies to seek loopholes to limit choices and limit coverage so they can make more money11
  • — Stop forcing Americans to buy insurance products from for-profit companies that do not have their best interests in mind12
  • — Stop supporting for-profit companies that get between doctors and patients and tell doctors what they can and cannot do13

 

There is a solution to the healthcare crisis that goes beyond “Obamacare”, Expanded and Improved Medicare for All14  

 

References

1.  CEO’s from 10 health insurers took nearly $1billion in compensation. Health Care for America NOW. Retrieved August 9. 2012. from

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BREAKING-THE-BANK-CEOs-From-10-Health-Insurers-Took-Nearly-1-Billion-in-Compensation-Stock-From-2000-to-2009.pdf

1.  Editorial Board. (2013. June 4). Healthcare CEO salaries outpace even health care costs. St. Louis Post Dispatch. Retrieved from

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/the-platform/editorial-health-care-ceo-salaries-outpace-even-health-care-costs/article_6059983a-f5ee-56fb-b01c-fb74a22c770c.html

1.  PR Web. (2013, June 26). Strong company financial performance. surging stock market led to robust health plan CEO salaries in 2012. Atlantic Information Services health plan week finds. Retrieved from

http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2013/06/26/strong-company-financial-performance-surging-stock-market-led-to-robust-health-plan-ceo-salaries-in-2012-atlantic-information-servicess-health-plan-week-finds-a-385602.html?newswires#.UgEe8xxcc84

2. Abelson. R. (2011, May 13). Health insurers making record profits as many postpone care. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/business/14health.html?_r=0

2.  Palermo. J. (2013). Obamacare Individual Premiums to Increase 30-40%. Retrieved from

http://spacecoastdaily.com/2013/08/obamacare-individual-premiums-to-increase-30-40/

2.  WKYC Web Staff. (2013, August 1). ODI: Health insurance premiums to increase 41 percent. Retrieved from http://www.wkyc.com/news/smartliving/article/308827/349/ODI-Health-insurance-premiums-to-increase-41-percent

3. Brill. S. (2013, March 4). Bitter pill: Why medical bills are killing us. Time Magazine. Retrieved from

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.2136864.00.html

4. Kuttner. R. (2013, July 18). Medicare ‘cost-savings’ rules pushing costs onto patients:  A sick system. The Boston Globe. Retrieved from

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/07/18/medicare-disguised-form-rationing/W6sF7dkTW08oGOlSekzlFI/story.html

5. Mangan. D. (2013, June 25). Medical bills are the biggest cause of us bankruptcies: Study. CNBC Health Care. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148

6. Burtless. G. (2012, August 2). With health care costs. the U.S. is a huge outlier. Brookings. Retrieved from

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/08/07-healthcare-costs-burtless

7. Blake. B. (2013, July 9). Rising cost of healthcare is hurting small business growth. Forbes. Retrieved from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brockblake/2013/07/09/rising-cost-of-healthcare-is-hurting-small-business-growth/

7. T. J. (2013, June 2). Rising health care costs put pressure on small businesses. Winona Daily News. http://www.winonadailynews.com/business/local/business-report/article_d32ea423-ef49-5160-8780-e5411a5a4efe.html

8. Ungar. R. (2011, December 28). More proof that the American for-profit health insurance model is doomed. Forbes. Retrieved from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/12/28/more-proof-that-the-american-for-profit-health-insurance-model-is-doomed/

8. Kane. J. (2012, October 22). Health costs:  How the us compares with other countries. PBS Newshour. Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2012/10/health-costs-how-the-us-compares-with-other-countries.html

8. USA wastes more on health care bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to all of the uninsured. Medical News Today. Retrieved May 28, 2004, from  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/8800.php

8. Reinhardt, U. E. (2008, November 21). Why does us healthcare cost so much? (Part II Indefensible administrative costs). The New York Times Business Day. Retrieved from

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/why-does-us-health-care-cost-so-much-part-ii-indefensible-adm

9. The Editorials Board (2013, May 15). Hospital pricing gouges patients:  Our view.  USA Today. Retrieved from

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/05/15/hospital-charges-costs-pricing-editorials-debates/2163795/

10.  Cowley, S. (2013, April 26). Doctors blast ethics of $100.000 cancer drugs. CNN Money. Retrieved from

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/25/news/economy/cancer-drug-cost/index.html

10. Angell, M. (2005). The truth about the drug companies: How they deceived us and what to do about it. New York: Random House.

11.  Farwell, J. (2013, August 6). Hospital executive calls anthem insurance plan with Mainehealth a ‘backroom deal’.  Bangor Daily News. Retrieved from

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/05/10/news/state/hospital-executive-advocate-call-anthem-insurance-plan-with-mainehealth-a-backroom-deal/

12. Volaky, I. (2013, March 22). Health insurers threaten to increase premiums even as profits soar. Think Progress. Retrieved from

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/22/1761011/health-insurers-threaten-to-increase-premiums-even-as-profits-soar/

13. Pugh, T. (2013, March 7). Few insurers now cover services required in 2014 under health care law. McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved from

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/07/185171/few-insurers-now-cover-services.html#.UgElRhxcc84

14.  Friedman, G. (2013, July 31). Funding HR676: The expanded and improved medicare for all act: How we can afford a national single payer health plan. Retrieved from

http://www.pnhp.org/sites/default/files/Funding%20HR%20676_Friedman_final_7.31.13.pdf

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