Hundreds of people rallied in Washington, DC to present Karen Ignagni, CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, the main insurance industry lobbyist group, with an award for "Best Protector of Profits at the Expense of Our Health."
She was too scared to come out and accept the award. Watch the video:
We're joining our friends at Health Care for America Now to ask Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, to make Karen Ignagni his Worst Person in the World. Sign the petition by filling out the form on the right.
Petition Text:
Keith Olbermann, you unfailingly shine a light on evil doers in this world with your "Worst Person in the World" award on your show "Countdown" on MSNBC. You unflinchingly call out those who lie, cheat or steal, those who put their personal gain over the common good. Your award brings more truth and justice to politics by calling out those who do wrong.
With that in mind, we have a perfect nominee for you! Karen Ignagni is CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the largest health insurance industry lobbyist group and a main opponent of health care reform. She is guilty in the highest degree of putting big business interests before the people's good.
Here's some reasons why Karen Ignagni deserves your "Worst Person in the World" award:
* Ignagni has been lying to the American people for months. She's been traveling around the country saying the health insurance industry is working for real reform in good faith. However, AHIP has already come out against the heart of Obama's health care plan, the public health insurance option. [1]
* AHIP has a history of bargaining in bad faith. AHIP's predecessor organization ran the "Harry and Louise" ads that killed Bill Clinton's health care reform efforts. They have spent $7 million on lobbying for their business interests in 2006, and will spend many times more than that this year. [2]
* While someone goes bankrupt in this country every 30 seconds due to medical costs, Ignagni has presided over a huge increase in insurance industry profits and has been rewarded for her protection of those profits with $1.4 million in compensation this year alone. [3]
* Ignagni used to work for the AFL-CIO, the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Finance Committee, and the Department of Health and Human Services. She is intimately familiar with the failings of our private-only health care system, and yet she has chosen personal profit over public good. She should know better. [4]
Keith, please bestow on Karen Ignagni the great honor of being your "Worst Person in the World." She is deeply deserving.
2. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=America%27s_Health_Insurance_Plans
3. http://www.insurancecompanyrules.org/blog/entry/why_ahip_is_fighting_real_reform/
4. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Bios/I/Ignagni-Karen.aspx
