Sebelius To Insurers: It's Over, You Lost, Stop Looking For Loopholes

[Tx4obama]

Excerpt:

Kathleen Sebelius warned the insurance industry Monday not to look for loopholes in health care legislation and informed it that she will be writing regulations to ensure that the industry covers children with preexisting conditions, which some insurers insist is not a requirement of the law.

"The American people debated and discussed health insurance reform for more than a year. Congress and the President have acted. Now is not the time to search for non-existent loopholes that preserve a broken system," writes Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary. The letter was sent to top insurance lobbyist Karen Ignagni on Monday and provided to HuffPost by a third party.

The rest of article and link to letter here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/sebelius-to-insurers-its_n_517683.html

[CTyankee]

1. Good. We now need clarifying legislation to put some spine in this.

Yeah, I know, we all wanted Single Payer or at least Public Option, but here we are. The LEAST our Dems can do is say, in hard, cold legislative language with penalties, to the insurance companies that this is just the way it's gonna be and you better be in compliance, period.

[Tx4obama]

3. The last paragraph of the full article mentions public option. n/t

[annabanana]

2. "will be". . not "ARE"?

I hope that this resistance was anticipated, and that they will be very quick off the mark on these regulations.

We need them, like yesterday!

[depakid]

4. What authority does she have to counter an act of congress?

Answer: very little, and what she does have will be tied up in court for years.

[Tx4obama]

5. The wording in the bill gives her TONS of authority & enables her to write the regulations. n/t

[laughingliberal]

10. I hate to tell you but the insurance companies are exactly right about the wording of the bill

and they should be. After all, they wrote it. They are not allowed to exclude preexisting conditions for children they insure. Nothing in this bill addresses guaranteed issue for anyone before 2014. The bill will have to be amended.

[ProSense]

15. Lobbying for insurance companies now? n/t

[CTyankee]

13. It seems to me that Obama should have known the insurance people would

have pulled this and had something up his sleeve. He just had to, he isn't that stupid. He must have known he would have to use his muscle to bring the insurance companies into compliance.

I mean, if he doesn't this guy is twisting in the wind, along with a whole lot of House and Senate people up for re-election...he's gotta act NOW.

[ProSense]

14. Damn, the insurance companies lost.

Isn't it sad?

[inna]

6. "It's over, they lost"?? In what kind of alternative reality??

[flyarm]

7. maybe Sebelius needs to go on National TV and make her statements instead of passing through third

parties what she is supposedly writing the the insurance boys/women ( like the woman who wrote most of the bill..the former V.P. Of Wellpoint) who wrote this law..ya think?????????

perhaps someone needs to make it clear the the American people wtf is in this bill..ya think?????????

And perhaps that would hve been a dandy thing to do before this bill was singed into law?????????

Oh and You might look up in the bill.........Title V of the Bill expands the Ready Reserve Corps, originally formed by Clinton, and under the direction of the Surgeon General. The commissioned officers are appointed by the President, and the manning limits were removed. While the stated purpose was medical requirements AND national emergency, the actual use is open-ended because anything can be defined as such.
May I suggest you look it up???????

http://hearthebill.net/HR3590_Sub.pdf


silly me..since my hubby served in the national Guard during the Vietnam war..I thought we alreayd had the Reserves and a National Guard..so now we need another Ready Reserve???

WTF for??????????

and this needed to be in this Bill why?

But they couldn't keep the loopholes out to protect children with pre-existing conditions????????


Just more of the DLC cluster F..Not a Corporate whore or Military Industrial Complex of whores they don't love!

[amborin]

17. +10000

[Hippo_Tron]

20. National TV doesn't exactly cover every announcement made by the HHS Secretary

She could go on the Sunday shows and do it, however.

[Greyhound]

8. I'm sure he's going to get right on that now that she's spelled it out for him.

:rofl:
:kick: & R

[laughingliberal]

9. Nice statement. But, with all due respect, they don't have to look too far for the loopholes

The loopholes are right there for all to see. This isn't even really a loophole. There is no provision for guaranteed issue for anyone in the individual market until 2014. Parents who manage to get coverage at work will find their children's preexisting conditions will now be covered when once they were excluded. But nothing in the bill forces the insurance companies to write policies for families or their children in the individual market. I'm not sure there was ever any intent beyond this. It's going to require an amendment to the bill to change it. We'll see if Congress steps up to do it. And, I'll be interested to see how they do it. Will they make the law guaranteed issue for families who have a child with a preexisting condition or will it be guaranteed issue of a policy for the child only?

[flyarm]

11. and how much will it cost??..more than most of those folks can afford I am sure!!

I would bet you could take that to the bank..or not..and even if they can afford it..they will probably have a worthless piece of insurance paper to wallpaper their walls with.

[laughingliberal]

12. True. Even if we have a legislator who will offer an amendment

there's no subsidies to help with the premiums before 2014 so IF they amend the bill in some way to get guaranteed issue for families of children with preexisting conditions they are still looking at cracking the full nut for the premium until 2014.

[flyarm]

16. this is so pathetic, and it damn sure is not laughable..it really is a disgrace..

but i had no doubt that it would be ..we were sold out before Obama was elected and there after...and only fools hang onto foolish hope.

What a damn disgrace..for a nation as wealthy as ours to be sold out so horrifically by the whores we call leaders!

I am voting all their asses out in Nov and in 2012..I have spent too much of my lifetime fighting for what is right..and this bill is not right..it is a disgrace!


and i have nothing but pity for our children and our children's children.

They can be sold such a bill of goods and they suck it up like sponges...or they are sold such cheap propaganda and they are naive enough to swallow whole!

sad ..so sad..i sure wish someone would lead..and not these shadow government types!


I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

[lpbk2713]

18. All that money they spent on crashing Town Hall Meetings shot to hell ... LOL

I love it.


:rofl:

[Tx4obama]

19. UPDATE: Insurance Industry Agrees Not To Fight Child Coverage Fix

Read more here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4325430

[Cleobulus]

21. Don't say its over until the courts have settled it...

I'm sure that the Insurance companies are going to go over the HCR and any amending bills with teams of lawyers and a fine toothed comb. They can do no less for their shareholders.

[area51]

22. Boy, I'll bet the insurance companies are scared ...

Not.

[Vinnie From Indy]

23. America has gone mad!

The truth of this HCR bill is crystal clear to anyone paying attention. The fact is that it was and is a scam from the start. I, and others, have repeatedly pointed out that the provisions of this bill that the insurance companies do not like will NEVER be fairly or fully implemented. It was designed that way from the start.

The ONLY thing the health insurance industry would ever fear is REAL competition from a public option. Without a PO the rest of the bill is manna from heaven for these vampires.