House Dems Seek Info From Health Insurers (major fishing expedition)

[JohnBrowdie]

this is chilling.  the dems in charge of congress are "investigating" health care companies that oppose their legislative agenda?  I assume that the idea is to find something in the disclosure documents to demonize the health insurance industry with, thereby making their case that the insurers are "villians" (to use nancy pelosi's term).   the only way to make the public option appear sane is to make the insurance companies appear to be criminal.  either that, or this is an attempt at out-and-out intimidation.  "drop your opposition to health care reform, or we will investigate you out of existence".

I expect talk radio to explode over this tomorrow.

House Dems Seek Info From Health Insurers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats on a House committee are seeking detailed financial records from dozens of large insurance companies, officials disclosed Tuesday, part of an investigation into ''executive compensation and other business practices'' in an industry opposed to President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul health care.

The request included records relating to compensation of highly paid employees, documents relating to companies' premium income and claims payments, and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside company facilities in the past 2 1/2 years.

The requests were made in letters signed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who guided a portion of health care legislation through the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month as chairman, and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who heads the Energy and Commerce investigations and oversight subcommittee.

They wrote that the committee was ''examining executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.'' The Associated Press obtained a copy.
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Nick Choate, a spokesman for Stupak, said 52 letters were sent late Monday to the nation's largest health insurers, those with $2 billion or more in annual premiums. He said letters were not sent to other industry groups, some of which have been airing television advertising in support of Obama's call for legislation.

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[Wretched Excess]

not any more chilling, really, than the white house asking people to report their neighbors for opposing obamacare.

not that is isn't chilling.  it's just that chilling is pretty standard in the warm and fuzzy perfection of the obama universe.

[JohnBrowdie]

update on the congressional shakedown story.  I am surprised that this isn't causing more of a sensation.

while I am not accusing waxman of being drunk with power, I would observe that if he was drunk with power, it would look a lot like this.  crap like this is going to cost the dems in the medium to long run.

Henry Waxman's insurance probe began in July
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman raised eyebrows this week when he launched a financial probe into the nation’s largest insurance companies, which are at the center of the health reform battle.

Now POLITICO has learned that Waxman’s recent investigation began almost a month earlier than previously thought — with letters to the insurance industry’s powerful trade group and its consultant regarding grassroots tactics.

A committee spokeswoman defended the probes — saying lawmakers need to know that private insurance money is being spent effectively as part of the effort to control costs. But the trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is crying foul, saying Waxman is merely trying to bring it in line behind his version of the health reform bill.

“Congressional oversight is not a tool that should be used to chill dissent,” said AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach. “These investigations are nothing more than politically motivated, taxpayer-financed fishing expeditions designed to intimidate and silence health plans.”

The letters are just the latest volley in a low-level battle Waxman is waging with health industry titans.

First, the powerful chairman made it clear he is not bound by an $80 billion deal among the White House, Senate Finance Committee and the pharmaceutical industry when he included provisions in the House bill the industry opposes. And now he is turning up the heat on the insurance industry – whose opposition helped scuttle President Bill Clinton’s health reform efforts in the 1990s.

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[DarkHalo]

Well I kept hearing how the dems would over reach even before the mid terms in '06 when it was looking like they would make some gains. But the dem controlled House and senate got so little accomplished from '06 to '08 that even their rabid left wing was calling them the 'do nothing Congress' and Senate.

Now with them also controlling the White House they have embarked on an orgy of spending that would make the most stereotypical drunken sailor blush. It was obvious to me all along why Obama was pushing so hard to get everything done at once because he knew people would eventually catch on. Now that they have caught on Obama and company are doing their best to demonize them as deluded puppets of industry.

There is hope however. The dems latest tactic of moving their town hall meetings to union offices and having them controlled by union thugs is really signalling defeat and acknowledging their inability to 'correctly frame the debate' any longer. And all you have to do is watch that lunatic Barney Frank to see how they treat their constituents the second they have the temerity to openly question them.

I am hopeful that the push to steal our health industry has run into the proverbial ditch. Regardless though I am positive that the next couple of years are going to be absolutely fascinating to us political observers.

[JohnBrowdie]

and now the dems are talking about cramming a universally unpopular health care bill through the senate via reconciliation, so they will only need 51 votes to get it passed.

that is just a flat abuse of power.  for all of the bedwetting that they did about the bush administration dumping on the constitution, they certainly seem to be prepared to go to any length necessary to frustrate the will of the people.

 

[JohnBrowdie]

this does sort of make you wonder what the dems goal here is.  maybe they don't really give a damn about health care.  maybe their actual motivation is the good old fashioned socialistic impulse to destroy accumulated capital, i.e, the insurance companies.

[JohnBrowdie]

dennis kookspinach is looking at their "business model"?  I fell over laughing when I read that, until I remembered that the little hyper-extremist could probably do some real damage.

but then again, with a whack job like him involved, it can't help but further destroy the public's perception of health care "reform".

Democrats delve into insurers' business
With Sen. Ted Kennedy’s death last week, most players in the health care debate appeared to call a temporary truce. But one leading House Democrat fired off terse letters to at least five insurance company executives, demanding to know more about their business practices.

The letters from Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Domestic Policy Subcommittee, are the latest in a string of inquiries into the insurance industry’s financial, lobbying and business practices.

Democrats, who control both the House and the Senate, have exerted leverage through their committee chairmen to launch an aggressive intelligence-gathering operation.

Critics charge that the Democrats are misusing their legislative powers to bully and embarrass the insurance industry during the red-hot debate over health care reform. But Democrats have defended the inquiries as an important step in crafting legislation to overhaul the industry.

Kucinich’s Aug. 26 letter to the chief executives of Aetna, WellPoint, Cigna, UnitedHealth and Humana asks them to testify before his committee on Sept. 17 to explain how they determine coverage and how much they spend doing it. He appears to be interested in how much insurers spend to deny people coverage.

“We’re looking at their business model,” Kucinich said in an interview. “There seems to be a misunderstanding of the nature of the insurance companies. They have an investment model, and their job is to get a return for their shareholders; it is not to provide health care. There’s misperception that somehow their job is to provide health care.”

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[Mike220]

I wonder what would happen if one of these companies told told Congress to FOAD. 

[JohnBrowdie]

I wonder what would happen if one of these companies told told Congress to FOAD. 

good question, really . . . under normal circumstances, telling congress to FOAD be suicidal, but then you would also expect congress to NOT NORMALLY be acting like the junta for some banana republic.

telling congress to get bent on strong principle, though, would be interesting to watch.


and what business is it of the central government WHAT ANYONE'S business model is?  if they are breaking the law, then prosecute.  if they aren't, then keep your grubby paws to yourself.