UnitedHealth Group, WTF?

DCblogger's picture

UnitedHealth to Insure the Right to Insurance

For these economically uncertain times, the UnitedHealth Group has a first-of-its-kind product: the right to buy an individual health policy at some point in the future even if you become sick.

Yes, you read that right, they want to insure your future prospect to buy insurance. As Krugman said of the Busheviki, their solution to every problem is always to rationalize what they wanted to do anyway.

You may wonder how they came up with the idea, fortunately we have a secret tape of the meeting.

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gob's picture

Haw!

You beat me to it. This story has almost everything: greed (self-evident), gall ("pay me now for the right to buy my product later, at whatever price I set then"), fear-mongering ("pay me now or your health problems may ruin your life later"), and gambling ("hey, here's how we can make money betting on health care reform!"). I can just see the smirks on the faces of the guys who thought this up.

My favorite bit:

But if changes to the health insurance system do occur under the Obama administration, [health policy experts] say, UnitedHealth’s new product may become obsolete.

“As an individual, you’re betting against health reform,” said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of national health policy for the Pacific Business Group on Health, a California group of employers who provide health coverage for their workers.

Mr. Lee notes that there is serious talk in Washington of having private insurers agree to offer individual coverage to anyone, regardless of their health status. People who choose to pay for the UnitedHealth guarantee could find that the insurance industry will eventually be providing the same thing free.

“It’s an attempt to have a market solution to a market failure,” Mr. Lee said.

Mr. Collins [president of UnitedHealth’s individual insurance unit] says he is unconcerned about the possibility of health reform, given the uncertainties surrounding any government efforts. “Until something happens, this is a really good tool,” he said.

Love the video.

We will push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.

What an advertisement for Universal HealthCare!

NPR tonight had a segment on this, and one analyst said essentially that.

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