SOME REASONS TO SUPPORT SINGLE PAYER

Daily Kos - Six of California's biggest insurance companies have rejected more than one in five claims the past seven years -- according to data the insurance giants, Blue Cross, PacifiCare, Kaiser Permanente, Health Net, Cigna, and Aetna report to the state Department of Managed Care. California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced that he has launched an "independent inquiry" on this issue. Brown said: "These high denial rates suggest a system that is dysfunctional, and the public is entitled to know whether wrongful business practices are involved." Researchers from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, the six insurers rejected 45.7 million claims -- 22 percent of all claims.

Penn Live - Don and Delores Maus discovered that the company Don worked for, Turbine Airfoil Designs, stopped paying for employees' health coverage but didn't tell them. They are among several employees facing a lot of medical bills incurred during that time. . . . TAD stopped paying toward its Capital Blue Cross group plan in October. . . In March, Capital sent TAD employees letters saying their coverage had been canceled retroactively to Oct. 9. Now some TAD employees face five months' worth of medical bills. Some have bills totaling $10,000 or more. State agencies are investigating.