Griper Blade: We Waited Months For This?

Yesterday, there was a little bump on Wall Street. HealthNet shares increased by 3%, United Health Group Inc shares rose by 2.7%, Humana Inc. grew by 2.6%, Wellpoint stock rose 1.7%, and Aetna Inc. gained 1.6%. The Center for American Progress's Think Progress asked former insurance executive Wendell Potter, now an insurance industry critic, what might explain this; "[E]very time there is an article in a big newspaper questioning the success of progressives in getting a good bill passed, the stock will go up," Potter said. "The analysts/investors don't think any good reform is going to happen, or anything that would happen that would adversely affect the insurance companies." So what big story was out there to cheer insurance company investors?

Max Baucus's healthcare reform bill has finally been introduced. Wow, there's a ringing endorsement. Only Max Baucus and the insurance companies like this dog. "The Baucus framework is just an absolute joke," Potter told reporters after reviewing the bill. "It is an absolute gift to the industry. And if that is what we see in the legislation, (America’s Health Insurance Plans chief) Karen Ignagni will surely get a huge bonus." Pop the champagne corks!

"Potter said the proposal would not provide affordable coverage," Politico reports. "It gives the industry too much latitude to charge higher premiums based on age and geographic location, fails to mandate employer coverage, and pushes consumers into plans with limited benefits..." Not to mention a lack of a public option.

"I was stunned to see that the bill allows insurers to charge up to five times as much for some enrollees as for others, based on age," writes health analyst RJ Eskow. "...The Baucus bill allows insurers to use age as a proxy for costly medical conditions and make coverage prohibitively expensive for those who need it the most."

In other words, age would now be a pre-existing condition and you can expect to pay out the nose as you get older. This isn't what you'd call "reform," so much as it is just making things worse... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]