Your Health Insurance Industry Spent $38 Million NOT on Health Care, but on LOBBYING Congress; and, Pre-existing Conditions Covered Only for Minors?

by L.A.S.

There is no recession in the lobbying industry. In fact, you might be cheered to note that the major insurers increased their lobbying budgets by anywhere from 7 to 80 percent. Yes, I said 80 percent. Little-big Humana upped its investment (ahem) in our Congress by 80 precent, to hit a mere $3.2 million dollars that might have paid for a life-saving surgery or two.

The increase looks large because their budget is tiny compared to America's Health Insurance Plans(AHIP), which spent a total of $8.9 million on lobbyists.

And what would YOU have done with that money? Probably spend it on worthless stuff like groceries and gas and rent -- nothing that helps the real economy grow.

But that is water under the bridge now and money gone down the tubes. It is spent, and we have to buckle down and make our voices heard above the din.

One of the things that has been quietly dropped in this season of healthcare reform is the notion of covering everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions. Now we find that only minors will be guaranteed that right. Yes, slipped in between the cracks of the newest version of reform poroposals is one that says children 19 and under will be guaranteed coverage without regard to any pre-existing conditions. According to another story on Alternet:

“The challenge for Democrats: a ban on denying coverage for those with pre-existing conditions went hand-in-hand with a requirement that all Americans carry insurance. Insurance companies conceded that they would accept all patients, regardless of health history, but only if everyone was required to have insurance, which would spread the cost of insuring the sick across a wider pool. Without an insurance mandate, a pre-existing ban would mean that premiums would almost certainly rise.”

Whoa. Wasn't that going to be UNIVERSAL, in those heady days when we thought that a major reform bill might get pushed through?
Insurers wanted that provision to be linked to mandatory purchase of insurance by everyone; that was the only way that risk could be spread out among the whole population.

Details of any reforms for this year (if any) are sketchy at best. But if this is the best that can be done for America, then I wonder if it is worth all the paper it will be printed on.

See whole stories at the AlterNet website at --
http://www.alternet.org/story/145389/are_democrats_dropping_the_ban_on_preexisting_conditions http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/01/25/health-insurers-spent-38-million-lobbying-congress-in-2009/