Why does the President "vilify" the Health Insurance Industry?

Without a villian, it's hard to whip up the ****.

Next up on the "Villian" list…. landlords (how dare they make a profit at your expense!)

The profits of the 4 largest health insurance companies grew by something like a factor of 3 or 4 over the past few years. That's the first reason.

what like republicans did with many other countries health service?

No need to. They have admitted to their deeds to Congress. A whistle blower has exposed them too.
August 14, 2009
False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots
By JIM RUTENBERG and JACKIE CALMES
WASHINGTON — The stubborn yet false rumor that President Obama’s health care proposals would create government-sponsored “death panels” to decide which patients were worthy of living seemed to arise from nowhere in recent weeks.
Advanced even this week by Republican stalwarts including the party’s last vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, and Charles E. Grassley, the veteran Iowa senator, the nature of the assertion nonetheless seemed reminiscent of the modern-day viral Internet campaigns that dogged Mr. Obama last year, falsely calling him a Muslim and questioning his nationality.
But the rumor — which has come up at Congressional town-hall-style meetings this week in spite of an avalanche of reports laying out why it was false — was not born of anonymous e-mailers, partisan bloggers or stealthy cyberconspiracy theorists.
Rather, it has a far more mainstream provenance, openly emanating months ago from many of the same pundits and conservative media outlets that were central in defeating President Bill Clinton’s health care proposals 16 years ago, including the editorial board of The Washington Times, the American Spectator magazine and Betsy McCaughey, whose 1994 health care critique made her a star of the conservative movement (and ultimately, New York’s lieutenant governor)

Yes. To protect investor's profits at their paying clients expense.

"It’s True! Health Insurers Tell Congress They Cancel Policies of Sick Patients
Category: Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Published: July 6 2009
Rescinding health policies of 20,000 people in past five years saved health insurers $300 million.
For years, Americans have heard news stories about the sick patient whose health insurance policy was rescinded in the midst of a health crisis. Now comes public acknowledgement—at a Congressional hearing no less—that this business practice exists!
Executives from three of the nation’s largest health insurers admitted to this practice when testifying at a Congressional investigation recently. Observers believe the surprisingly candid acknowledgement about health insurance recessions pretty much guarantees insurers will be excluded from the health care reform debate. It may even ensure inclusion of a government health insurance plan in the final legislation which passes.

For profit Insurance has become a fraudulent enterprise, great for minor things only. What the for profit Health Care Industry is selling is a false sense of security to those who are healthy and paying them premiums then when the person is sick and needs bills covered the companies refuse to pay the bills. The person who is ill has to fight them in court to receive the service they had been paying for while they were well and now have need of it.

The Industry makes profits decisions at the cost of people's lives.
Canceling policies of good faith leaving the insured person without coverage to die answer is "we regret the necessity"

Denied a kidney transplant with the claim that it was "Experimental" then bowed to public pressure to allow the transplant just hours before the 17 year old girl died.
The family seeks murder charges for CIGNA

There was outrage over the death of Neda, an election protester in Iran.
Where is the outrage for Nataline Sarkisyan who died for the CIGNA Health Insurance profits?

My preference would be single payer system which is what is used in France with success or Universal Insurance which is used in Germany. Both of these countries appear to have already recovered from the recession.

However, a public option is a compromise of choice to avoid disrupting the already established for profit health care system. This would keep the for profit Insurers "in check" and lower costs for every one.
CIGNA Whistleblower
Yahoo!

Without that option there is a chance that the for profit Industry may make reforms only to jack up the costs higher then anyone except the very wealthy can afford.

Because Obama is becoming ever more desperate and morose as his poll numbers drop faster than a plane without an engine.

Also, he knows that the liberals need a villain to vilify in order to get themselves fired up.

Just ask some of the tens of thousands who were denied treatment for "Pre-existing conditions" or some other insurance company loophole in which they dodged the responsibility of payment even after the sick person paid years of premiums.

The list you cite from Money Magazine is very interesting. Medical products and equipment is 4th on the list with a 16.3% revenue return (profit). I say we found the real villain to the ridiculous costs of healthcare!

The insurance companies are fine if you like paying high rates when you are healthy, only to discover when you get sick that they won't cover costs.

Also, it is absolutely impossible to get reasonable coverage outside of work related coverage.

I was paying almost $500 a month for coverage that did not even cover office visits and had a $1000 deductible!

Medical crisis is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in this country (this includes people with insurance).

It's "wealth envy" that's creating this nonsense and a drive towards socialism. Anyone making a profit must be taking advantage of the disadvantaged and we certainly can't have that, can we?

How sad it is that todays progressives don't realize that capitalism and freedom is what created our country and it's taking big government to tear to it shreds.

Obama ran his entire campaign on "wealth envy" and pandering, and it worked.

you see Libby,

there are two ways for The President to get my vote next cycle…ill share with you one of them…

take the profit out of medical care.

sorry, ill pay higher taxes and everything but id rather see medicine rationed by the government due to personnel and time constraints than how its rationed now…by ability to pay.

Ever since i was old enough to understand "taxes" and what they are supposed to be for, ive wondered why medical care isnt part of it.

i know "many of our friends and neighbors work for insurance companies" but if its not "profits", someone is losing a bunch of money somewheres.

"insurance" should be for your car, your house, your legs you make a living off if your mary hart…it should have exactly ZERO to do with healthcare. its adding needless expense and making sure the poor stay sick.

as far as Obama "vilifying" the insurance industry…i aint seen it since he got his job and i know my senator (Blanche Lincoln) never met an insurance or pharmacutecal company she didnt like so i doubt anythings really gonna change…

…so Obama wont be getting my vote…again.

now playing: skeletons of society – slayer

Ah, I don't like when you do this, or when anyone does, Libby. You start with the assumption that he is in fact, vilifying them. I really don't think so. I think he addressed this pretty well in his speech when he said something along the lines of, "I don't want to put them out of business, just keep them honest." The point being, even if these guys aren't THE most profitable industry, they still take advantage of people (and 35th is pretty high out of 500 anyway), and he wants the people to get fair and affordable treatment.

I can't say one way or another on if the health insurance companies are "making record profits", but Obama's intention is not malevolent toward these companies, he just sees it as a problem when that's the only health insurance people can get, and when they can't afford it, they're fucked. So in essence, I don't think he's creating a "villain", nor are the health insurance guys "villains" to begin with. They're just a business that needs a little competition, and in the business that really does deal in life or death.

Anyway, he could be doing it better, but I think he'll get the job done and the country will be better for it. Now if only someone could knock some sense into him about Afganistan.

Obama's jealous that the private sector does better than government. The big irony here is that while Obama has done extremely well for himself in our very unique free-market economy, he has the “audacity” to demonize others who have done well for themselves, and to propose economic policies that, if implemented, would radically change our nation into something more akin to a Western European socialist state.

My husband was a pediatrician for 10 years and then started working for an insurance company. Before he started he asked what the expectation would be as far as denials go…and his boss told him that he would be expected to do the right thing medically for the patient because afterall, in the end, it will be much cheaper than if they were to get really sick because they were not treated properly and need extensive hospital stays. I can say from first hand experience that this is the philospohy in my huisband's company and he has NEVER gotten ANY bonuses for denying treatment EVER!. He works for the largest insurance company in the state. Please keep in mind that doctors are deciding what is and is not medically necessary and that the vast majority of the are not evil people

But the class warfare thing seems to be the most effective tool the dems have and they are using it on this issue too. I believe that Obama truly believes in nationalized healthcare and he believes it so strongly that he thinks the means justifies the ends….even if he has to lie to get it

Simple answer: When you want to sell something, one of the marketing techniques is to make the other side look bad.

My personal view: Health Insurance Profits are too high and there services are becoming too expensive for anyone to afford. Time for the government to step in. When health care becomes a too much of a business there's a lot of danger there. I feel like I shell out $250 a month to see a doctor for my illness because my insurance refuses to cover anything for it, and I'll be Damned if my doctor doesn't feel out the paper work I need or give me the script I want. I'm shelling out $250 that's a lot of money, on top of the insurance I pay a month at $220!