CO-OPs could be one of the sleepers in the health care reform law that truly transforms how care is financed and delivered in this country. And they could even hasten the day when the big investor-owned corporations cede the marketplace to nonprofits and move on to other ways of earning a profit.
Health insurance rates are like a runaway train and there's no police force or firefighting squad with the power to stop them. Thirty-five states require health insurance companies to get permission before raising rates, but not California.
If the White House caves in to insurance industry demands, millions of low-wage earners will be forced to buy junk coverage on January 1, 2014. If you don't want to be forced to buy junk, send the White House a message. Now.
Most of us breathe a sigh of relief when we reach Medicare age because we think we will have coverage until we die. And we will. But we may not get all the options we want.
The insurance industry made it abundantly clear this week that it is in the driver's seat--in both Washington and state capitals -- of one of the most important vehicles created by Congress to reform the U.S. health care system.
The health insurance industry's long-term strategy is to move all Americans into high-deductible plans, and they're well on their way to achieving that goal. Once there, you can bet the rates will be hiked up.
If you thought that insurers just threw a dart at a board to deny a claim, you would be wrong. According to a recent report, fighting back when you have a health insurance claim denied is well worth your time.
As the head of communications for two of the country's largest health insurers for almost 20 years, I recognize an orchestrated spin campaign when I see one. And boy oh boy did I see an award-winning one this week in San Francisco.
The next time you hear a politician say that reducing regulations and allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines would go a long way toward controlling health care costs, think of the real, much higher cost of such a solution.
This is the story of a health insurer -- a company that is often described as the big, bad wolf of the industry -- coming through for a patient who went through the motions required of him.
Progressives cannot afford to walk away from the suffering of the middle class to prove a point or make a case. Yet that's the type of talk I am hearing more and more from progressives as the midterm approaches.
By Darius Tahir and Clayton Christensen
On opposite ends of the country, differing results in battles with health insurers lead us to the same conclu...
At a time of great hardship for many Americans, it is unconscionable that a few mega-corporations can simply misplace a few decimal points and quickly rack up millions of dollars in unjust profits.
How dare Anthem Blue Cross and its parent company increase their executives' compensation on the backs of people who will soon be unable to afford health insurance.
The health insurance industry adds huge administrative costs to our system, not to mention the profits they siphon off. WellPoint is a parasitic middleman that adds no value and increases the cost of health care.
The SEC has proposed a new regulation that would allow shareholders to directly nominate corporate board members called "Proxy Access." If this goes into effect this fall as expected, I intend to run for the WellPoint board.
Make no mistake about it, Californians stand to gain a lot -- maybe more than many other part of the U.S. -- by passage of the health care reform measure.
Even by the standards of people who believe that it's okay to do just about anything to make money, WellPoint consistently goes too far. Their turbo-charged greed is out of control, and their lack of any moral compass is shocking.
WellPoint's Angela Braly is reminding me more and more of Sarah Palin these days -- another "scrappy" woman who just isn't discouraged by relentless bad press, at least at the hands of "the liberal media."
It seems that WellPoint CEO Angela Braly hasn't been happy with BP grabbing all the headlines lately as the most reckless, buck-passing, greedy corporation. So she unwisely decided to pick a fight with the president.