Fuck You Insurance Company I Work For!!!

Alright, here is a little gift from my work. We have a internal service and homepage here at Wellpoint, the insurance company I'm security for, and they have boring articles about how awesome they are every day. Come to think of it, it's like working for a slightly more advanced super capitalist Soviet Union. today however was special because they had on the top of the page a link to a transcript from an interview conducted on NPR, between Steve Innskeep and Dr. Sam Nussbaum. Inskeep hosts the Morning Edition news program on NPR, and is fun to listen to, Nussbaum is Chief Medical Officer for Wellpoint, which means he is a major PR guy for the company, because he is a doctor, and when people become doctors they have more credibility than say anyone who disagrees with them. This is the exact reason I became a doctor...of theology, so that in a pinch I could put Dr. in front of my name and win arguments. Anyway, I present here the transcript of the interview and my commentary on what Nussbaum has to say, and why i hate him. All in all since I copy pasted this from my companies website this might be a 'career' decision where I am fired and sued for distributing unfriendly things about the company via the internet. Mind you that we have a tendency to take peoples complaints and amp up security because anyone who disagrees with us is a bomb throwing anarchist, in the companies eyes. So perhaps, just perhaps I'll get lucky and this will be discovered by company lawyers and they'll make a big case of it, and I'll finally have more than four readers. I'll get so big in fact that I won't be able to afford web hosting and be forced to CLOSE DOWN.

So lets jump right into the interview shall we?

NPR MORNING EDITION TRANSCRIPT

STEVE INSKEEP, co-anchor: Next we’ll hear from a leading insurance company, one of many opposed to the so-called public option. That’s the plan for a government health insurance program to compete with private insurance. We sat down with Dr. Sam Nussbaum, chief medical officer of WellPoint. What’s wrong with the public plan?

(Let me begin by saying that the statement 'compete with private insurance' isn't exactly the way to describe what's being suggested, I would like to think that rather than having the goal of this be a competitive market, the goal is FUCKING HEALTH CARE, besides this Steve's a nice guy.)

Dr. SAM NUSSBAUM (Chief Medical Officer, WellPoint): Steve, we do not endorse a
government-run health plan. We absolutely want to see universal coverage for all Americans. We believe the private sector can provide innovative solutions to healthcare.

(In effect what insurance companies, like Wellpoint and others, want is for the government to create a plan or outline that requires we all have insurance, by law, kind of like car insurance. This is a preferred environment because it means that all Americans will be paying one of the companies something, otherwise they'll be committing some kind of 'health crime'. So, do you see an interesting angle on his argument, "Yes I want healthcare for everyone, wherein no one has a choice but to pay me". Insurance companies have been becoming progressively less and less competitive in the past years via major mergers. Now there are probably only three actual companies operating in the U.S.. For example Wellpoint is actually 'Wellpoint Anthem Blue Cross' those being three different companies in order of ownership. So under a system where everyone has to get a plan under one of the companies you can see a situation arise where the few remaining victors of the consumer insurance wars can artificially control the market for their services because when you have only two other competitors and everyone’s comin' out about equal there's a big enough pie for you all to FUCK.)

INSKEEP: Dr. Nussbaum influences the coverage received by WellPoint’s 35 million customers.
It’s the country’s largest health benefits firm. He argues that the private sector is more efficient
than the government.

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Let me give one specific example, Steve, that I think will be informative. When we look at advanced imaging, and this is MRI, CAT scans, PET scans, we know that as much as
30 percent of those procedures are not necessary and we’ve been able, over the last several
years, to have growth in imaging procedures of between zero and 5 percent. The government
under CMS has seen imaging grow 15 to 20 percent during the same time interval. That’s an
example--

(Yes let's look at your example you pig fucker, he says that around 30% of MRI, CT and PET scans have been determined to be unnecessary. Beyond just fudging number here you have in the same time frame he's describing insurance companies actually eliminating millions of customers who used their insurance too much. Likewise it's in the best interest of a private company to avoid using expensive procedures and to find reasoning, any will do, to not use it. Cases of course arise where Doctors will explain that a patient needs a life saving liver transplant only to have the company say that "No, we're sorry but that seems like a dodgy maneuver, we'd prefer they simply die so we don't have to pay." Now then when looking at this efficiency rating you'll note that also the 'government programs' are less efficient because they use it more, which is hard to explain away unless you consider that the government programs are dealing with a narrower slice of people, and ones that generally require scans more often than the 'healthier' private insurance users. Remember, if you are unlikely to fall ill you are the best candidate for a private insurance companies largesse. So the whole measurement system is cock-eyed because it depends on both entities having identical demographics, which they don't. COCK SUCKERS.)

INSKEEP: You’re talking about Medicare payments. The Medicare program.

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Yes, the Medicare program. We’re talking about the use of imaging services
and the cost of imaging services. So, I would argue that where the private sector has been far
more effective than government programs is in limiting clinical services to those that are best
meeting the needs of patients. Important as Medicare is for coverage for Americans, it has not
been effective in controlling costs, in integrating care, and bringing the advances in medical
treatment to all Americans.

(Advances in medical care? You are equating the advancement of medical care with the limiting of services to narrow group inside your company. Also, I ask that you pay attention to how he keeps referencing the high 'cost' the government program creates, or it's poor control of costs, because that will come up later.)

INSKEEP: There are people who would argue with you about the effectiveness of Medicare or
the efficiency of Medicare. I’ll take the point that you have a different perspective on that, but I
would just ask if you’re not undermining your own argument. If the government is lousy at
providing efficient healthcare, why is a public health plan a threat to you? You’ll just be more
efficient than they are and make money.

(Hmm, Innskeep, that's a good start, but I'd prefer you bait him then sink him, instead of just teasing him with a little "I know some stuff you don't think I know.")

Dr. NUSSBAUM: I believe we will be far more efficient than a government program. I think that
when you look today--

INSKEEP: Then why worry about it? Why not just let them establish it and you won’t lose any
customers to them?

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Here’s the issue, Steve, is that we’re talking about competition not on a level
playing field. The government can negotiate very different for healthcare costs. They can
basically set unit cost reimbursement. They, today, set unit cost reimbursement approximately 20 percent below that paid by the private sector.

(OH YOU DONE FUCKED UP, YOU DONE FUCKED UP! Remember the higher costs of running that government program earlier, how much money was being spent doing CT scans and x-rays on sick patients, it turns out the government pays a sum total less than what private companies have to pay, which forces the private companies to COMPETE against the government program. So in essence the reason the insurance companies prices are so high is because they want to make a profit, and thus want to cut the amount of use they have, which forces clinics and doctors to raise their prices to stay in business since insurance companies don't want to pay out in the first place. whereas under a government program a clinic or hospital is guaranteed to have a check and can't artificially raise prices without engendering the ire of a legislative body that can refuse to keep paying them. Mind you that the operating cost of a public system is roughly 3% of the operating cost of a private company, so the insurance companies are extremely bloated in how much they charge and make.)

INSKEEP: Let me just translate that. You’re saying that if a hospital provides a service, it’s
covered by insurance. Medicare, for example, would pay 20 percent less than WellPoint would
pay for a patient with the same service.

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Exactly. On average, the private sector subsidizes government programs by
approximately 20 percent.

INSKEEP: Oh, when you’re saying subsidizing, you’re arguing that that hospital makes up the
shortfall from Medicare by charging you a little bit more?

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Absolutely. It’s the hidden tax, the hidden cost shift.

( Some kind of hidden tax on a insurance company? Those guys hate spending money, why are we trying to take their precious dollars, because if we just stopped and got rid of all the cheaper government plans then the insurance companies would thank us and shower us with FREE health care, just like Goldman Sachs made a 3.1 billion dollar profit this quarter and as a thank you for the bailout they plan on giving us gold plated hoverboards that they'd been saving. I'm sorry but we don't exist in a thwarted Randian paradise where unfettered capitalism means that the capitalists will succeed in uniting and equally benefiting everyone, no in a system like that the executive and the board of directors buy twenty yachts while you are forced to live on mac and cheese for the rest of your bloated sack of shit life because you can't afford to climb the ladder with the rest of them, them being the people already born at the top. We can't all be rock stars or famous actors, the same can be said of executives or businessmen, we can't all be on wall street making billions, so telling me that our work ethic sucks and that if we'd all just work a little harder we'd all have private jets, or at the very least three houses. I'm sorry there's no more room in the tree house, the forst closed, now please go and die because we don't need you anymore, we already have your money. Insurance companies are always trying to paint themselves as a business one minute and a service the next, and that's what's fucking this up, they want sympathy, but don't want us to notice that they're just as bad as the bankers and commodities traders.)

INSKEEP: Given that lots of lawmakers are insisting on a public plan of some kind, but there’s
still some flexibility as to what kind of plan would be, is there any form of a public plan or a
government plan that you think WellPoint can accept, can live with?

Dr. NUSSBAUM: We’ve talked about the fact that a government plan is not necessary to
achieve the insurance market reform, the delivery system reform that is so necessary for
Americans. We do not believe there is any need for a government plan.

(Insurance market reform? You assholes have been saying that every damn time we want to have health care coverage for Americans, you say it so that we can pretend you are actually intent on fixing things, the only problem is that YOU ARE THE PROBLEM you fetid hippo shit! You don't want any competition because you're making shit tons of money, the sad reality is that it's hard to argue that as a capitalist society we need to protect you because every dollar you make is related to a human life. This isn't about taking money from bankers or Oil Tycoons, who deal in limited assets or other fungible bullshit, your trade is the health and safety of human beings, and when you cut a couple million peoples plans, or adjust their rates your deciding whether a disease or injury will kill them or not. Insurance companies have been switching up their system, raising deductibles, and putting the cost of procedures increasingly onto their own customers, there was a time where for every dollar you paid in insurance the company matched that dollar and ten cents, at this point insurance companies have shifted that, for every dollar you spend they pay 70 cents, and they would like that to get lower. Doesn't that seem kind of crooked, that maybe this company that's supposed to be providing you with a service is actually a way for you to provide them with a major financial windfall?)

INSKEEP: But I’m asking given the political realities of the situation, if somebody says to you,
‘OK, look, we know you don’t like it but tell us what you can live with,’ is there anything that you
can live with in this department?

Dr. NUSSBAUM: I think we have to look at the plans that exist today that are viewed as being
government plans. The federal employees health benefit program, that’s a plan that is managed,
that is run, that has all of the advantages of a private health insurance plan and we at WellPoint
are proud to provide benefits for 1.3 million federal employees under that program.

(Yeah, a lot like the military we decided it's pretty easy to sub contract out our insurance to Wellpoint, I don't see any conflict in interest with politicians and this arising.)

INSKEEP: It sounds like you’re basically saying, ‘Look, we just don’t want a government-run
health plan. We’re just not going to sign onto that.’

Dr. NUSSBAUM: That’s correct. However, I think the American people need to understand that
even the government health plan that has been most highly regarded, the government health plan that our senators and congressmen and president has access to is actually a plan run by the
private sector.

(Yes, because we don't have an actual government plan, because you wont let that exist. you know how these greedy pencil dicks keep saying "You don't want a bureaucrat coming between you and your doctor." Well guess what that’s what we have now. You see under a public system you go to whoever the fuck you want, you select your place of care, and go there, as it stands now you have to ask permission from your insurance company where you get to go, you have a CEO coming between you and your doctor of choice, that's the reality of the situation not the horseshit their trying to shovel off as facts. No seriously think about that, how is a bureaucrat coming between you and a doctor? Under a public system you go where you want for care and get the care you need, at no point do you have to ask permission to see someone or have an injury looked at, there is no "You can't se Dr. Johnson because he isn't covered under your plan." because there is no FUCKING PLANS, THEY ARE LITERALLY TRYING TO DESCRIBE THE PUBLIC OPTION IN THE SAME MANNER YOU WOULD DESCRIBE THEM!!!)

INSKEEP: Dr. Nussbaum, one other question, our correspondent Mara Liason had a report last
week that focused on the language politicians use, for example, when President Obama talks
about someone who is working with him, he’ll describe that person as a stakeholder, whereas if
they’re working against the White House’s agenda, they’re a special interest. I’m wondering if
right now you think you’re a stakeholder or a special interest.

Dr. NUSSBAUM: That’s a terrific question, Steve. I’d like to believe we are a stakeholder, that
we are collaborating strongly to produce and share our knowledge to produce health reform that
is sustainable, that produces high quality healthcare that makes the healthcare experience for all Americans as terrific as the clinical science and innovation that we have in America.

(You are contributing precisely twenty dicks in our collective American asshole)

INSKEEP: Sam Nussbaum is chief medical officer for WellPoint. Thanks very much for your
time.

Dr. NUSSBAUM: Thank you, Steve.

(FUCK OFF SAM YOU MOON EYED JACK RABBIT DIDDLER!)

If you're interested in how Insurance companies like to screw you in many other ways here's this awesome transcript from Billy Moyer, wherein a PR guy from CIGNA explains why insurance companies love you and hate the government, and by love 'you' I mean love your money.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/transcript2.html

Now I'm going to try and chill out and not have a huge aneurysm thinking about how in spite of the suprvillainesque evil insurance companies represent we aren't going to do anything about them because everyone is bought and sold for millions of dollar every day, except for FUCKING ME!