Remarks by Mary Clemons
at a Rally for Health Care Reform - February 17, 2010

Have you heard? Anthem Blue Cross says they are increasing premiums for individual health insurance coverage - in some cases as much as 39%. When Our Secretary of health and Human services, Kathleen Sebelius questioned the increase saying "It remains difficult to understand how a company that made $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009 alone, can justify massive increases that will leave consumers with nothing but bad options," Wellpoint responded that they had lost some of their healthiest customers, leaving them a pool of customers that utilizes more services.

How does Anthem treat those customers who pay premiums for insurance?

ASK MELANIE SHOUSE! She had an Anthem policy. When she had stage 4 breast cancer and had outlived the actuarial tables for her disease, Anthem denied claims for chemotherapy treatment her Siteman cancer doctors prescribed for her. Could that death panel Sarah Palin mentioned be the big insurance company? Can the death panel be Anthem Blue Cross? Melanie died January 30th. Why does Anthem want to increase premiums - I think they want more profit. Richard Kirsch of Health Care for America Now says the companies continue to purge their most costly customers. They reduce the percentage of the premiums actually spent on medical care and devote more to profits.

Don't you think the insurance company long-term strategy is to shift the care of older, sicker and lower-income customers to taxpayer-supported programs like Medicaid so they can charge high premiums and increase their profits? And what do they do with their profits? Their highest paid executives earn 10 million a year.

I am a glutton for punishment. I actually wrote my congressman Todd Akin asking him to support the health care reform bill. What a useless exercise that was! Yesterday I received a response from Rep. Akin. In it he asks, "Do you want to give up your private health insurance and put a federal bureaucrat in charge of your personal health care?" MY ANSWER IS, YES, YES, YES. My federal insurance, Medicare, is just fine, thank you. My question to Rep Akin is, do you want Anthem Blue Cross, Wellpoint, to be your insurer? Do you want to pay high premiums and be denied care? THE ANSWER IS NO, NO, NO! And insurance companies will be required to report the amount of premiums they collect that is spent on actual medical care and REFUND money to consumers if they spend less than 80-85 percent on medical care.

SO WHAT DO WE WANT? WE WANT HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW!