Just goes to show they're not just evil; they're stupid.

Invest that $30 million right, and they could have put off health care reform for another century.

Greedy shit-heads.

They just dont give a god damn. corporations just say all the shit they want and make you feel like they're the Jesus Company. Can you say "advertising" "PR" etc.?

You get a contract with 'em, sign on the dotted line, and it's, "May I introduce you to Satan..."

Steve, get ready for Republicans to start talking again about fiscal responsibility and how the newest CBO score means nothing because it doesn't do enough to reduce the deficit. Get ready because fiscal conservatism has returned to the GOP and the media has no memory.

If I didn't know better, I would think WellPoint is in business to make as much profit as they possibly can.

What was the other 89% of the charity money spent on? Inquiring minds want to know.

This doesn't have to be an either/or situation.

Indeed.

Greed has unintended consequences. When healthcare reform stalled, the insurance companies assumed they had one the day. Not only did they go back to screwing the American people, they upped the ante.
Anthem (BCBS) raising rates by 39% was the oxygen that fueled the resurgence of reform.

Insurance companies are so blinded with greed that they fail to see that they are the ones that have shot themselves, and the Republicans, in the backside.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Not to slam everyone in the insurance business..but has anyone here spent any time with insurance sales-people, or with CEOs of same (who often came up through the ranks in sales)?

I have. A little time. Here and there. And, based on my admittedly limited experience, these people seemed to be the most un-reflective people in existence. As bad as most bad politicians, or worse.

Money and winning (making the sale, making the profit), are really all that count with them. The client/customer is merely an inconvenience at best, and a big pain-in-the-ass at worst.

A big part of the problem here is that the people runnning these insurance companies are fairly wretched pieces-of-work.

A little fact of life about the US health insurance industry: b/c it's profit-based, everything else is secondary to profit. Including the actual provision of health insurance.

This means that, if an insurance company were to determine that it could make more money by literally killing every single one off its customers, it would have a fiduciary *obligation* to do so. Healthy people be damned, we're talking money here.

-Z

Exactly, Zorro.

Healthcare should not be in thrall of the profit motive. As long as it is, people have been (and will continue) to die purely due to the pursuit of profit.

Some things just should not be based on profit. Imagine if the police or firefighters were private. "Sorry, can't come help you with that gunman attacking the mall--our records indicate that you are behind in your monthly payments." "Sorry, your house it just gonna have to burn. February's payment is past due."

inkadu.........my thoughts exactly. Wjere did the rest go? Maybe into some "charitable foundations" of key members of congress?? Just a thought.

@terraformer: It's worth noting that, at one point, fire departments *were* private, for-profit enterprises, and only responded to fires at customers' houses. This was eventually seen as being ineffective, and was replaced w/the public fire departments we see today.

The object lesson? That your neighbor's house burning to the ground put your house at risk. The same principle applies to health care.

-Z

Some things just should not be based on profit. Imagine if the police or firefighters were private. "Sorry, can't come help you with that gunman attacking the mall--our records indicate that you are behind in your monthly payments." "Sorry, your house it just gonna have to burn. February's payment is past due."

a question here. those police and firefighters who come to your aid do so because it is their job; they get a pretty decent pay check for their efforts, a "profit" if you will. many will go above and beyond the call of duty if necessary. my wife is a health professional. at the end of the day she wants to be well paid for the services that she renders but she cares deeply for her patients and will do all within her power to ensure their well being even after her shift is over. even after she's left the hospital. there are many other health care professionals who are the same. there is no conflict here between the desire to make money and the desire to help people. so what happens at the corporate level? obviously corporations need to make a profit in order to exist. but there are companies out there organized around the principle of providing excellent products and customer service as a way of standing out in the marketplace. these companies do make money so the concepts of excellence and profits aren't mutually exclusive. so why are their so many scumbag companies out there, especially in the insurance industry?

"...so why are their(sic) so many scumbag companies out there, especially in the insurance industry?" mudwall jackson @ 3:56 PM.
Money. Love of.
Most non-insurance scumbag companies die out as their customer base decreases since their sole reason for being is to make obscene amounts of money as quickly as possible with "Customer Relations" merely being two words strung together.
Today's health insurance industry can be classified as nouveau riche in commercial standards (see dotcoms in the '90s for a like comparison). Limited in number, they're acting not unlike the nouveau riche robber baron monopolists of the 18th century with their +30% premium increases simply being the 21st century equivalent to Commodore Vanberbilt's "The public be damned!"
That might explain their, ah anxiety, over HCI reform. Which also includes an anti-trust provision, by the way. The reform, not the bill.