Dennis Kucinich tells it like it is on healthcare reform...

FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU HAVE READ on so-called healthcare reform, says Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). The purported uproar over private versus public health insurance options is really a ruse to cover up a proposal for taxpayer-funded subsidies that will be paid to the billion- dollar private insurance industry.

Under new “compromise” language inserted into the 1,000-page health care bill, titled the “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3200), Americans will be forced to choose which for profit
health insurance company they want to take. If you can’t afford any of the private health insurance plans, the government will pick one for you and then front you the money. But the catch is: you will still be obligated to pay all of the premiums, the co-pays and the high deductibles.

“The hotly debated H.R. 3200, the so called ‘healthcare reform’ bill, is nothing less than corporate welfare in the guise of social welfare and reform,” said Kucinich.

The public option will be gone, he said, leaving only government aid to private insurance companies. Worse still, the federal government will force taxpayers to pay for it all without pressing for cost controls and no guarantees of coverage from any of the participating private insurers.

“If the matter were not so serious, it would be farcical,” he said. “The executive branch pretends that the proposed healthcare reforms are something they are not. The legislation is being attacked for something it is not. Congressional leadership and the White House defend the legislation, pretending it actually is the very proposal that is being attacked. But it is not.”

Dennis Announces Health Insurance Oversight Witnesses

Rep. Kucinich is Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee.

Health Insurance Oversight Hearing Witness List | Press Release

Washington D.C. (September 15, 2009) – Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today announced the witness list for the upcoming two-part hearing entitled, “Between You and Your Doctor: the Bureaucracy of Private Health Insurance,” that will be held on September 16 and 17, 2009. The hearing will examine how the bureaucracy of private health insurance companies affects the medical care of patients.

On Wednesday, September 16 at 10:00 a.m. in Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154, the Subcommittee will hear testimony from:

Panel One

Mr. Mark Gendernalik
Father of Sidney Gendernalik, Los Angeles, California

Ms. Erinn Ackley
Daughter of William Ackley, Red Lodge, Montana

Dr. Mel Stern
Pediatrician, Highland, Maryland

Dr. Linda Peeno
Former review physician for Humana, Louisville, Kentucky

Mr. Wendell Potter
Former head of corporate communications for CIGNA, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Panel Two

Ms. Karen Pollitz
Project Director, Health Policy Institute

Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Mr. Michael Cannon
Director, Health Policy Studies

Cato Institute, Washington, DC

The second part of the hearing on Thursday, September 17 at 2:00 p.m. in the same location will hear testimony from:

Panel One

Mr. Richard A. Collins,
Senior Vice President of Underwriting, Pricing, and

Healthcare Economics

United Healthcare Group

CEO, Golden Rule Insurance Company

President, UnitedHealthOne

Mr. Brian A. Sassi,
President and CEO, Consumer Business

Wellpoint, Inc.

Ms. Patricia Farrell,
Senior Vice President of National Accounts

Aetna Global Benefits and Medicaid

Aetna, Inc.

Mr. James H. Bloem,
Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Humana, Inc.

Mr. Thomas Richards,
Senior Vice President of Product

CIGNA Healthcare

Ms. Colleen Reitan,
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Health Care Service Corporation

DK Interviewed about Obama's Healthcare Speech

Dennis Proposes a Civil Right Petition: Healthcare

Dennis has launch a new petition on his website. Visit this link to download/sign the petition for Health Care as a Civil Right.