http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS202570+02-Sep-2009+PRN20090902 The use of the phrase " death panels " by either side is ridiculous to say the least. But the article makes a valid point about the decision making process/problems regardless of who decides what treatments are paid.
from the article "PacifiCare denied 40 percent of all California claims in the first six months of 2009. Cigna, which gained notoriety two years ago for denying a liver transplant to 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan of Northridge, Calif. and then reversing itself, tragically too late to save her life, was still rejecting one-third of all claims for the first half of 2009."
A lot of these idiots that are opposing Obamas plan will soon be affected by these scum bag insurance companies.I feel no pity for them when they or a love one falls victim to one of these health insurers
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One good reform would be to legislate something so that insurance companies can't deny claims... they have to either cancel you before you are ill or pay the claim.. as it is, they take your premiums, invest them, and then when you want to make a claim, THEN they root around and find a reason to deny... pure "heads they win tails you lose" at it's largest ever implementation... it could be made illegal to pay bonuses based on the number of claims denied too... A person can simply get Consumer Reports and find out which insurance companies are horrible and which [they are few] ones are great... So what are the chances the Democrats, who now control the entire government, can actually get some balls, some backbones... and stand up to the insurance companies? Not very good I'm pretty sure, not very good... LOL
a_person can do it right now, it's pretty well known even today which insurance companies are the biggest scumbags and which are relatively decent. The problem is that when a_person gets a job no one in the HR department gives a damn about a_person's preferences, the company will go with the lowest bidder, slickest insurance company rep, largest kickback etc, they could not care less about Consumer Reports and other ratings.