PatsFanInVa

Ex-executive accuses insurance giant of 'purging' customers - CNN.com

Sure sounds like some kinda magic trick, that idea that "all we have to do is trim health care costs down to what health care really costs..."

...Until you get an idea of the enormous profits insurance companies and health-care behemoths make, and how they make them.

Read the story, ejamicate yourselves...

godef

Scary story. And this is the way banks and wall street work, all for their own self interest. Whatever happened to regulation?

"Ejamicate"? You continue to impress me with your vocabulary. I couldn't find it on dictionary.com, so I Googled it and got only 188 hits. When's the last timethat ever happened?

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Patsfanin Philly

That's cause it's spelled ejumacate.....
First rule of insurance companies, they don't get rich by paying claims, but by not paying claims....
If they randomly or without cause reject 10 claims, maybe half of those people will fight it and they'll eventually pay..The other half will pay out of pocket saving the ins. co. money...
Forgive my cynicism but as someone who has to deal with their 'games' on a daily basis, you get jaundiced quickly. I've learned that one thing and one thing only causes them to sit up and take notice. Use the words 'bad faith' and threaten to write the state insurance commissioner (who grants permission for them to write policies in the state) and see how fast they respond. It's a good trump card to keep in reserve.

PatsFanInVa

Good info Philly...

Just like we do have to be as vigilant as possible to catch public sector (read, gubmit) waste, fraud, and abuse, it's incumbent on us all to keep abreast of the private sector equivalent.

One big difference is nobody claims that "greed is good" in gubmit, so you'd expect (after a few decades of anti-gubmit gubmit) that there's less low-hanging fruit... but low-hanging fruit is low-hanging fruit. One look at municipal and state pensions will tell you that. Short-term thinking, to say the least, and a big fat bill they can't pay.

I don't want to go all partisan here. Just pointing out that as the model shifts from gubmit as booster of private sector to gubmit as regulator of private sector, the first question is "Uh, but won't that screw up market models that somehow benefit all of us?"

The answer appears to be, be very very careful when tinkering... but those models were never set up with our well-being in mind.

That's as partisan as I'll get... Philly, it's good to get an insight from you and not be in a war in the process. Whatever we believe about pure or mixed models, at the very least we can agree that frankly, everybody is out to get us, defining "us" as the consumer... if it's worth a buck to them.


PFnV

DarrylS

One of my biggest concerns/worries is my life insurance policy, we took out enough so my wife could do ok in the event of my demise.. but somehow have a hard time believing they are just gonna pay it off. I call them once a year to see if everything is ok, kinda like pinching myself...

Maybe I am just too much of a skeptic to believe everything will just be ok and they will pay the claim. Not sure if trying is enough..

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PatsFanInVa

Tell her the Phillyfan trick at least...

Wish I knew more about life policies.

Patsfanin Philly

That's why the gov't bailed out AIG. If they failed it would have taken out the backing for many life insurance policies. The companies made their money by investing in real estate and derivatives/hedge funds, both of which have taken hits lately. It wouldn't shock me if premiums start going up rapidly to offset the losses and ensure financial backing to cover the potential payouts.....

State