Defending The Ramparts (When The Ramparts Are Covered In Garbage)

Congress got around to actual work yesterday as the House Subcommittee on Oversight and investigations took aim at America's big healthcare company CEOs.

Executives of three of the nation's largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.

The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation's healthcare system.

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.

"No one can defend, and I certainly cannot defend, the practice of canceling coverage after the fact," said Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Tex.), a member of the committee. "There is no acceptable minimum to denying coverage after the fact."

The executives -- Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth's Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health and Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California -- were courteous and matter-of-fact in their testimony.

But they would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.

As much as I've said that the GOP cannot allow Obamacare to pass from a purely selfish political standpoint, and that they will do everything to stop it from passing, that "everything" still does not include comitting political suicide by siding with these lovely people who refuse to stop denying coverage after the fact.

Remember, the main reason we need a public option for health insurance is that privately owned health insurance companies are in the business of denying claims and making money off premiums and then not paying out coverage claims, not actually helping people. This is something that's so obvious that it's overlooked. Give Americans a public option that doesn't pull garbage like rescission and they will take it...and more importantly, private health care insurers will have to reform their business or lose customers to the public option. As K-Drum explains,

Even the Republicans on the committee couldn't defend the insurance company position. A few more hearings like this and getting a public option into healthcare reform is suddenly going to look like a real possibility. Nice going, guys.

After the last couple of weeks, this is exactly the thing Democrats needed to help move the debate forward: a stark reminder that private insurance and health care ultimately are at odds.

[UPDATE] Eric Boehlert at Media Matters is one of the guys that gets it.

We noted this morning that the right-wing's rather unhinged response to an ABC News special that hasn't even aired or been taped yet might be driven by the fact conservatives in the press don't want to see any kind of thoughtful debate on the issue of health care because, according to recent polls, it's such a big loser for the GOP.

That reading of the manufactured ABC News controversy is further supported by this:

Republicans are the least-trusted group in America on health care reform...even less than the insurance companies. They know that they will get zero credit on Obamacare should it pass...and the passage of it will basically cast them into the wilderness for a generation. They know this. They know they have to stop it. Eric Boehlert understands this. More voices supporting health care reform need to recognize this basic fact.

The GOP will resort to just about anything to stop health care reform from passing. Period.