As you probably know, the Senate Finance Committee voted today on Max Baucus's health care plan. Since watching the live streaming of these proceedings usually results in me shouting at my computer, I chose to keep up via the liveblog on the New York Times site.
While reading through the happenings of the committee, I was distracted by an ad on the site. It is sponsored by UnitedHealth Group, and it assures readers that they are committed to "bipartisan efforts to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Americans..."
Pardon my skepticism, but I just didn't buy that one. So I clicked through to "Learn more." I didn't learn much, though. The page that I was directed to indicates that UnitedHealth Group has, "proposed market reforms that will guarantee quality, affordable and portable coverage for all Americans, regardless of gender, health status or pre-existing conditions." [1] Not surprisingly, it doesn't say much about what those market solutions are or how they will achieve these goals.
Health Care for America Now! has a few examples [2] of the results of UnitedHealth Group's "market solutions" over the years. Making patients with pre-existing conditions wait six months for coverage in Oregon [3], fixing prices in California [4], refusing to pay for anesthesia for children's dental work in Nebraska, forcing state regulators to intervene [5] ...these are the market solutions that are going to ensure all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care?
Something tells me that UnitedHealth Group's proposed market solutions are going to maintain the status quo of health insurance company profits. And as for the "bipartisan" claim of that advertisement...considering that UnitedHelath Group's subsidiary Ingenix is the sole owner and funder of the Lewin Group -- which produces polling and research for the GOP to fight health care reform [6] -- I think we know which side of the political divide they are serving.
These are the people spending $1.4 million a day to protect insurance company profits and prevent all Americans from accessing quality, affordable health care. I can only hope my click on their ad put a dent, however tiny, in their PR spin budget.
[1] http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/main/generalcontent.aspx?id=997ff2df-71cc-4d13-a8df-87f55588f03d
[2] Health Insurance Company Abuses http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/-/documents%20for%20download/HCAN%20-%20Health%20Insurance%20Company%20Abuses.pdf
[3] www.oregon.gov/DCBS/docs/news_releases/2008/nr_ins_12_30_08.pdf
[4] www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rescind18-2009may18,1,5863726.story
[5] www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/05/14/business/doc4464f469a7ab0472395745.txt
[6] http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2009/10/05/six-arrested-hcan-protest-unitedhealth-group
