Tag Archives: Humana

Sick and Tired of Industry Greed, Activists Across US Target For-Profit Health Insurers

“I’m tired of insurance companies putting profit over people,” said one activist at a Chicago rally.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 10-12-2023 by Common Dreams

*Care Over Cost rally in Baltimore. Photo: Progressive Harford County/X*

Pushing back against insurers’ annual denial of nearly a quarter-billion healthcare claims or pre-authorization requests, activists rallied in more than a dozen U.S. cities on Wednesday to demand “an end to private health insurance industry greed so people can get the care they need when they need it.”

The Care Over Cost Campaign—a national grassroots initiative launched by the advocacy group People’s Action—held rallies in cities including Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Detroit Michigan; Portland, Maine; and Hartford, Connecticut, known as the “insurance capital of the world.” The campaign called on the industry lobby group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) to “direct its members to put people over profit.”

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Medicare Advantage Overbills Taxpayers by $140 Billion a Year—Enough to Wipe Out Medicare Premiums

“Medicare Advantage is just another example of the endless greed of the insurance industry poisoning American healthcare,” says a new report from Physicians for a National Health Program.

By Jake Johnson. Published 10-4-2023 by Common Dreams

A report published Wednesday estimates that privately run, government-funded Medicare Advantage plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, a sum that could be used to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare’s prescription drug program.

Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an advocacy group that supports transitioning to a single-payer health insurance system, found that Medicare Advantage (MA) overbills the federal government by at least $88 billion per year, based on 2022 spending.

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Once Secret Prices Expose ‘Irrational and Cruel’ Nature of US Healthcare System

While the pricing data is unlikely to lower costs, said one critic, it may help “produce the political will for real reform.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-23-2021

Photo: pxfuel

With hospitals across the U.S. refusing to comply with a new federal rule requiring them to disclose the prices they negotiate with health insurers, a sampling of previously secret data published late Sunday reveals how much basic medical procedures cost at dozens of major hospitals in a project that critics of the for-profit healthcare system said reveals the severity of its dysfunction.

The database of hospital rates compiled by the New York Times and researchers at University of Maryland-Baltimore details how patients are charged drastically different prices for the same medical care depending on what insurance company they use—with some procedures costing less if a patient has no insurance at all. Continue reading →

Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Humana