Chattanooga Consumer Columnist Nails Nursing Home on Negligence

In her Saturday column, Ellen Phillips discusses some of the problems with the nursing home industry in Tennessee. In addition to our state's low rankings, she points out how the big nursing home lobbyists keep trying to further weaken protections for some of Tennessee's most vulnerable citizens.

We commend Ms. Phillips for her excellent work and urge all of our supporters to post comments on the Times Free Press website telling her how much we appreciate her work.

Don't let insurance companies dictate reform!

The industry knows the same thing we do, and they don't like it: the only way to make reform work for patients and payers is to allow the option of a public insurance plan. Obama has committed to that in the past, but insurance companies are trying to talk him out of his pledge with these promises to cut some unspecified costs, some years in the future. We need to have OUR say about that.

While we couldn't get into that room with the health industry lobbyists, we DO have access to the most widely-read public forum: the local newspaper.

Use this tool from our friend's at TrueMajority.org to write a letter to your local paper that reminds Congress and the President that health care reform needs to work for us, and demand a public option.

Public Health Insurance Option At Risk Right Now

There are now a few key dynamics jeopardizing the inclusion of a public health insurance plan in the Senate Finance Committee’s final bill. First, is that many of the champions of progressive health care reform are being pressured to work for a bipartisan, and less effective reform package. The pressure on the hill to push a plan with bipartisan support is gaining traction. And there is a real danger that passing a bill that everyone in the U.S. Senate can support could take precedence over enacting a law that everyone in America needs.

The second dynamic is a proposal that would establish a “trigger” for the creation of a public health insurance plan (a public health insurance plan would only be established if an arbitrary measure of market concentration were hit in a state). This would reduce the public health insurance option from a national plan with the capacity to make big improvements in how we deliver care to a series of fledgling state plans, developed in isolation and only when a state’s insurance market is in desperate shape.

Unfortunately, the “trigger” proposal is smart politics, and could provide an artificial “third-way,” allowing members to vote for a public option that will either never be created, or be created only under adverse conditions (on a state-by-state basis) that would increase the likelihood of its failure.

We simply cannot allow a public option with a trigger to make it out of committee. We need to talk with our state Senators (and ask Senators to talk to other Senators) and make it clear that a reform bill with a public option that’s held back by a trigger is not a reform bill it all. It’s simply a way to capitulate to the politics of the day and squander the historical opportunity to make a lasting difference.

The heart of the HCAN strategy is unity between the President, Congress and the progressive base. If the Senate Finance Committee were to pass the trigger it would fracture that unity, forcing us to focus resources on a fight in the Senate, raising people’s doubts about reform and diverting us from reform’s enemies.

Report Released

Here is the full text of the Press Release

For Immediate Release Contact:May 20, 2009
Rico X (615) 438-3185
Tom Peters (615) 719-7218

Health Insurance Company Mergers Cause

Higher Premiums for Tennesseans

Health Care for America Now Report Shows Tennessee Health Insurance Companies Use Near-Monopolies to Set Prices

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee coalition of the Health Care for America Now campaign, released a new report today showing that consolidation in the private health insurance industry is creating skyrocketing premiums for both patients and employers. In Tennessee, the state and most metropolitan areas are considered “highly concentrated” under U.S. Department of Justice guidelines. This kind of consolidation means that an insurer can, without fear of consequences, raise premiums and/or reduce the variety of plans or quality of services offered to customers.

Health insurance premiums for Tennessee working families have increased 62 percent from 2000 to 2007. At the same time, the median earnings of Tennessee workers increased 12 percent $22,863 to $25,639. That means health insurance premiums for Tennessee working families have risen 5.1 times faster than wages.

“When just a couple of companies hold a near-monopoly, they not only set the prices, but they also make the rules and call the shots,” said Tom Peters of Tennessee Citizen Action. “Private health insurance companies have proven year after year they’ll do whatever they want when left to their own devices. It’s time for real comprehensive reform that includes regulation and the choice of a public health insurance plan so we are no longer at the mercy of the private health insurers in Tennessee.”

The American Medical Association reports that the health insurance marketplace is dangerously concentrated with 94 percent of local markets in the United States currently considered highly concentrated. And contrary to what the health insurance industry claims, these mergers have undermined market efficiency. Premiums nationwide have gone up an average of more than 87 percent over the past six years.

“There is no real choice or competition in the private health insurance market, and only giving everyone the option of a public health insurance plan will guarantee we get quality, affordable health care we all can count on this year,” said Tony Garr from Tennessee Health Care Campaign. “A public health insurance option will force private health insurance companies to control cost, guarantee quality, stop hiding what they will and won’t cover, and put people’s health before corporate profit.”

Some facts about the insurance industry in Tennessee:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN, Tennessee’s biggest health insurer, controls 45% percent of the state’s market. Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Health Group together hold 61% percent of the market. When a firm has more than a 42 percent share of a single market, the U.S. Justice Department considers that market to be “highly concentrated.”

• Nine out of Ten local markets have higher concentration levels that the state. For instance, in Johnson City the top two insurers (BlueCross BlueShield and Cariten Health Care) together control 70 percent of the market.

• For family health coverage in Tennessee during that time, the average annual combined premium for employers and workers rose from $6,550 to $10,606.

• For family health coverage in Tennessee, the average employer’s portion of annual premiums rose 58 percent, while the average worker’s share grew by 73 percent.

Health Care for America Now - the nation's largest health care campaign - is made up of more than 1000 organizations representing more than 30 million people nationwide. President Obama and more than 190 Members of Congress support HCAN’s principles for health care reform. All across the country, HCAN supporters are organized and mobilized to stress the urgent need for health care reform in 2009 -- reform that finally puts our health care needs before insurance company profits.

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New Report Focuses on BlueCross BS(Blue Shield)

Tomarrow, the Health Care for America Now! campaign will be releasing a report pointing out some of the major problems posed by the lack of competition in the health insurance industry.

Here are some of the problems which the report focuses on:

• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the dominant health insurer, holds 45 percent of the market. Together with United Health Group Inc., the state’s second largest health insurer, they control 61 percent of the market.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee recorded profit of $149 million in 2004. United Health reported a 721 percent increase in profit from its Tennessee operations from 2004 to 2007. During that time net earnings in the state climbed from $5.6 million to $46 million,while membership grew 28 percent.

• Health insurance premiums for working families have skyrocketed, increasing62 percent from 2000 to 2007.


You can get a copy of the report by clicking on the Tennessee link on from this link

City Paper Highlights Predatory Lender

Yesterday, the lead in the Nashville City Paper was a story talking about local predatory lender Advance Financial. The paper spent several pages discussing how Advance Financial has become a one stop shop to prey on Tennesseans in need of financial assistance. In addition to their 250%+ APR title loans, you can see their fees for payday advances here. The company boasts about the jobs they've created locally but neglect to mention the thousands and thousands who have been trapped in a cycle of debt due to the usurious fees charged by Advance Financial.

We encourage our supporters to find out more through the Coalition for Responsible Lending in Tennessee by contacting Carol McCullough at cmccullough@tnrc.net.

We also urge you to comment on the City Paper article by clicking on the link above and scrolling to the bottom.

Victories on the Federal Level

Last week was a historic week all around but especially for our work on passing the FY10 Budget. Now that Congress has passed one of the most progressive budgets in our nation’s history the more challenging work begins with taking those broad priorities in the budget and drafting and passing legislation on health care reform, appropriations, tax equity, clean energy, and education.

Health care reform now becomes the center of attention of the 111th Congress as they plan to advance legislation this summer. The same day that Congress passed the FY10 budget conference report, Senator Brown issued a letter with 15 other Senators calling for the inclusion of a public health insurance plan option in health care reform. A number of the Senators who are supporters of the HCAN principles signed on to the letter, and a number of the Senate HCAN supporters did not. We have learned that the letter is still open for Senators to sign and most of you should have received instructions from HCAN on how to proceed with thanking those Senators who signed on and educating those Senators who did not about the letter; and encouraging their signature

We urge everyone to call their Congressmen and Senators and tell them to support the HCAN principles on health care reform.