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Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the 85,000-member California NursesAssociation/National Nurses Organizing Committee, blasted the proposalreleased today by AHIP, the lobbying arm of the insurance industry, which shesaid amounts to a "massive public bailout of one of the wealthiest privateindustries in America. Rather than subsidizing these industries through lawsmandating Americans purchase their products, we would be better off eitherletting them fail, or simply taking them over, as we have been forced to dowith other obsolete sectors."
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DeMoro noted the precarious position of these insurance corporations.CIGNA's stock has fallen by 78 percent, from a 52-week high, while Humanastock has fallen 68 percent, Aetna's has fallen 67 percent, and UnitedHealth'shas fallen 66 percent. AHIP's plan would require all Americans to haveinsurance, with increased enforcement at all levels of government to force thecurrently uninsured to purchase private insurance products. Further, thefederal government, not the private insurers, would assume the cost ofproviding care to the sickest patients, and provide public subsidies forprivate insurance premiums for low-income individuals and families and manysmall businesses.
"In sum, it fully privatizes profit while socializing the healthcare risk.The public systems could be bankrupted by their responsibilities to care forthe sickest while guaranteeing huge new profit streams for an industry whoseeight largest corporations made $16 billion in profits last year alone,"DeMoro said.
Further, the plan "is a dismal failure in its inability to effectivelyreduce costs which are pricing tens of millions of Americans out of access tocare and pushing families into bankruptcy due to unpayable medical bills,"DeMoro noted.
"The primary cause of skyrocketing costs is the insurance industry itself,a point notably missing from their proposal," DeMoro said. "AHIP proposes toreduce future costs by 30 percent through a dubious program of shifting morerisk to individuals, providers and government rather than place any limits oninsurance industry price gouging, profiteering, or lavish executive paypackages."
"How ironic for AHIP to call for a 30 percent cut, the same percentage ofevery healthcare dollar that is sliced off the top for insurance profits andadministration, much of the latter devoted to denying care claims for insuredpatients. There's a much faster, more effective, less bureaucratic way toachieve that 30 percent cut -- expand and improve Medicare to cover allAmericans and eliminate the insurance industry bureaucracy and control overour health."
CNA/NNOC is the largest and fastest growing organization of RNs in theU.S. with 80,000 members in all 50 states.
SOURCE California Nurses Association
