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When is the US Congress and Senate going to outlaw these despicable abuses of patient and taxpayers’ money? When are we going to see genuine action from the Legislative Branch. I wonder people do not trust the Government or mistakenly think that an authoritarian regime will expose the corrupt politicians and punish them appropriately. None of that is going to happen. Privatized and allegedly competitive capitalism has been and continues to be a complete and utter failure. How long are people going to continue denying the truth about these greedy insurance giants??? When are we going to practice what we pontificate so loudly?

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People with "Obamacare" are merely "plumbing parts" for the greed of these corporate raiders. Money flows through the pipes, from the "well" of the federal government (via monthly premiums/subsidies) to Health Insurance Companies, and the bulk of that flow never reaches or touches the consumer/patient. The patient gets just a small amount of that "water," when-and-where the plumbers have thus-far not fixed those little "leaks" in their own favor, via manipulations like the ones described in this article. People are dying from this "dehydration."

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MLR creates a perverse incentivize in favor of higher premiums and for paying more claims/approving more services regardless of their effectiveness (to avoid MLR rebating). The higher the premiums, the higher the 20% of the premium that the insurer gets to keep.

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It's too bad consumers are focused on transgender surgery and war in Ukraine.

The truth is that Americans are gaslighted. The only things that matter are the length of our life and our health. Our government has succumbed to the Industrial Complex and coordinates their activities. How many UHC execs worked at CMS

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That trick of buying providers mostly just means outrageous overcharges for medical services get channeled in a different direction, more towards insurers and less towards private equity...

Having seen an out-of-network physician-owned hospital submit an initial bill for $93,000 to our insurer, covering <1 hour in the operating room and 2 nights in the hospital - one of which was BEFORE the surgery, because they were not organized - for an emergency appendectomy, I can sympathize somewhat with the insurance company.

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People, the politicians created this mess. Then they blame insurers for finding ways around MLR. The ACA is a mess and will continue to create distortions in health insurance and health care. It would have been easier if the Dems passed a simple bill that provided for two items; guarantee issue medical insurance and premium subsidies. But NO, they insisted on passing a behemoth of a bill that was largely a shell and then the Obama administration tasked HHS with filling in the blanks. The result has been major increases in the cost of health care and health insurance.

Please don't chime in with "the majority now favor the ACA". What's not to like when something is free or very low cost. Steak would become very popular if it was free!

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