Ex-Blue Cross spokesman says health insurance ‘worst product in American history’

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story

Ex-Blue Cross spokesman says health insurance ‘worst product in American history’

By Raw Story
Friday, November 6th, 2009 -- 9:06 am
.....................

Andy Cobb, who once tried to sell Floridians on a Blue Cross health insurance plan, says he's fed up with the industry.

"I was a spokesman for BlueCross and Blueshield of Florida," Cobb says. "Call me a spokesjerk. People who make money for buying things you don't need. And we're telling you lies."

"They, by which I mean I, make money by standing in the way of reform," Cobb says in the ad, which appears as a spoof of something like a freecreditreport.com ad. "It's time for change."

"That's why I'm calling on leaders from the spokesjerk industry," Cobb continues. "The freecreditreport.com guy. The Shamwow dude. And Senator Bill Nelson, recipient of big money from insurance companies -- to lead us. To walk away from their cash cows and tell American people the truth.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/2009/11/exblue-cross-spokesman-heal... /

[Cal Carpenter]

1. You may want to change your thread titel

eta: that was quick!

[AngryAmish]

2. I like your original headline

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. I believe I had Blue Cross, Blue Shield in the nineties.

That's when HMOs had the right to commit malpractice without fear of legal reprisal. I've since upgraded to their PPO, and it's just become so expensive. The deductible is astronomical.

[Capn Sunshine]

7. In the 90's I catered many lunch meetings for HMOs Blue Cross and Blue Shield

all were dedicated to gatekeeping, that is to say, preventing the patient from actually using the insurance. The most popular tactic was delay. They said over half just give up tryng to see a doctor if you make the delay long enough.

[juno jones]

8. I always love being able to overhear the

the elite while they're being hosted by pharma salespeople, having catered lunch or just blabbing away after-hours while one cleans up around the owner and his guests at the restaurant.

They talk as if we didn't exist sometimes...

[supernova]

4. To be fair, Shamwow guy

doesn't pretend not to be a jerk.

He's inherited the mantle of a long line of showmen and sheisters.

[Blue_Tires]

5. worse than the Edsel? or Disco??

j/k...of course it is...

[lobodons]

6. What exactly do the Insurance Companies bring to the Health Care table?

Do the Insurance Industries bring down Infant Mortality rates? Death rates? What do they do to contribute to American's overall health care?

[Cleita]

10. Nothing, absolutely nothing. They are nothing more than middle men parasites

who actually gum up the works. I think it should be against the law for insurance companies to offer coverage for basic health care.

[truedelphi]

11. They are also scum sucking

Blowhards who would have no problem running over granma (Their own granma!) if it got them an extra billion or two.

[eridani]

13. And we may get forced to give a lot more of our money to them

Vote that shit down and pull out the good parts for reuse, sez I.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. "No Shit Sherlock"

Until I had to give it UP, I was paying $650 a MONTH for "HIPAA" ("Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act") coverage from Blue Cross.

The HIPAA law stated that insurance companies could no loner deny coverage for "pre-existing conditions."

The Blue Cross HIPAA plans were IDENTICAL to the non-HIPAA plans, with one little exception.

They cost TWICE AS MUCH.

And the maximum benefits for non-HIPAA plans was $2 million. HIPAA plans? $650K.

So fuck Blue Cross like Jeff Stryker on biker crank.

[Vidar]

12. K&R

[TexasObserver]

14. Recommend