Congressman and Reform Groups Protest “Put-On at the Ritz”
03/10/09
Health care reform advocates rally outside health insurance lobbyist conference; Demand no more profits before people
Washington, DC - A coalition of health care reform advocates rallied outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel today to protest the health insurance lobbyist conference taking place inside. Congressman Eric Massa (D-NY29) joined Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and its coalition partners from the AFL-CIO, the American Medical Students Association (AMSA), and MoveOn.org along with The Vineeta Foundation, DC for Obama, DC Fights Back, and the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care and its coalition partners from California Nurses Assoc., Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare-NOW and Progressive Democrats of America to demand lobbyists stop the rhetoric and start supporting true quality health care for all.
"This is America's time - at long last the US Congress will soon enact legislation giving every American the right to quality health care," said Congressman Massa. "People will no longer suffer and die because they cannot buy necessary health care. This will be done, it must be done, and done now!"
Additional rally speakers included Ethan Rome, Deputy Campaign Manager for Health Care for America Now, Donna Smith, community organizer for National Nurses Organizing Committee who appeared in Michael Moore's movie SiCKO, Geri Jenkins, RN, President of California Nurses Association, Mary Carol Jennings, Jack Rutledge Legislative Director for the American Medical Student Association, and Larry Bryant, co-chair of DC Fights Back.
"We can't trust the very same people who got us into this expensive mess to come to a 5-star luxury corporate retreat and solve it," said Smith, speaking on behalf of the Leadership Conference. "Just like bailed-out bankers, these insurers are here on someone else's dime. Which cancer patients are going to be denied chemotherapy today so private insurers can be at the Ritz? Health is a right, and no one should be profiting from its denial."
After addressing the crowd, Smith led a patient delegation which attempted to get into the Ritz-Carlton to present AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni with an award for being "Best Protector of Profits at the Expense of People's Health," but the delegation was not allowed into the conference and Ignagni would not come out.
See the award online here:
http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/-/documents%20for%20download/ahip_certificate_800.jpg
Karen Ignagni is continually saying one thing but promoting another when it comes to health care reform that actually puts people's health before corporate profits. AHIP has already come out against President Obama's proposal to help fund comprehensive reform by stopping private insurance from ripping off Medicare.
"We're not buying the act," said Ethan Rome, Deputy Campaign Manager for Health Care for America Now. "It's time we had a health care system that provides quality, affordable health care we all can count on. AHIP's so-called reform proposals do nothing to protect our health and everything to protect insurance company profits. They have a decades-long track record of bad practices, and we have no intention of letting them stand in the way of real reform this time around."
Some Facts about AHIP:
- The top 7 "for profit" health insurers made a combined $12.6 billion in 2007 - an increase of 170.2% from 2003.
- In 2007, the average CEO compensation package for the top 7 "for profit" health insurance companies was $14.3 million. Pay packages ranged from $3.7 million to $25.8 million.
- Two UnitedHealth Group executives sit on AHIP's board of directors. This January, UnitedHealth Group agreed to pay $50 million to settle a New York Attorney General investigation into a scheme by health insurers to defraud consumers by manipulating reimbursement rates, plus another $350 million to resolve class action lawsuits based on the same abuses. New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called it "an industry-wide scheme perpetuated by some of the nation's largest health insurers to deceive and defraud consumers."
- Health Net's president & CEO sits on AHIP's board of directors. Health Net dropped 1,600 enrollees when they got sick, saving the company $35.5 million. Health Net "set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved." The insurer "paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies."
- Last year, an AMERIGROUP executive spoke before Congress "on behalf of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)" about "Medicaid's critical role for Americans with disabilities." Just two years earlier, a federal jury awarded $48 million in damages against AMERIGROUP-which triples to $144 million under the federal False Claims Act-for discriminating against people with health conditions and pregnant women enrolled in the Medicaid program.
[footnotes]:
“Insuring Health or Ensuring Profit? A Snapshot of the Health Insurance Industry in the United States,” North West Federation of Community Organizations, Summer 2008 (www.nwfco.org/pubs/2008.0727_insuring.health.or.ensuring.profit.pdf)
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings (www.insurancecompanyrules.org/pages/insurance_company_ceo_compensation_2006_2007)
“Health insurer accused of overcharging millions,” Melissa Dahl, Jeff Rossen and Robert Powell, TODAY, MSNBC, January 13, 2009 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28635329/)
“UPDATE 2-UnitedHealth settles payment suits for $350 million,” Reuters, January 15, 2009 (www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSN1531133620090115)
“New York Investigates Medical Rate Setting,” Reed Abelson, The New York Times, February 13, 2008 (www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/business/13cnd-health.html?_r=2&oref=slogin)
"Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders," Los Angeles Times, Lisa Girion, November 9, 2007 (www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure9nov09,0,4409342.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel)
“AMERIGROUP Executive Speaks Before Congress on ‘Medicaid’s Critical Role for Americans with Disabilities,’” AMERIGROUP Press Release, January 16, 2008 (www.amerigroupcorp.com/news/Documents/MCCORMICKtestimonyRelease011608-2forwire.pdf)
“Amerigroup Must Pay at Least $144M After Jury Found HMO Systematically Avoided Enrolling Pregnant Women,” Health Care Marketplace, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, November 01, 2006 (www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=40792)
