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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Health insurance barker cries, "Fishing expedition," over congressional requests for documents. -- This is not pursuing "fish."


It is a shark hunt, folks. These are not small fry. Our reps are not looking for food fish preyed on by sharks. They seek truth about sharks, themselves. Strib online carried this Aug. 19 AP text:

WASHINGTON - A spokesman for the health insurance industry accused Democrats of mounting a "fishing expedition" on Wednesday, as individual insurers decided whether to honor a request for financial records sought in a House committee's investigation.

Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for the American Health Insurancance Plans, said Democrats on the panel hoped to "silence the health insurance industry and distract attention away from the fact that the American people are rejecting a government-run plan" as part of President Barack Obama's planned overhaul.

Zirkelbach said it would be up to individual companies to decide whether to turn the records over.

Dozens of insurers received the request, part of an investigation into executive compensation and other business practices inside the industry.

A spokesman for Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said Tuesday night that 52 letters had been sent to health insurers with $2 billion or more in annual premiums. He said letters were not dispatched to other industry groups, some of which have been airing television advertising in support of Obama's call for legislation.

The request to insurance companies included records relating to compensation of highly paid employees, documents relating to companies' premium income and claims payments, and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside company facilities in the past 2 1/2 years.

The requests were made in letters signed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who guided a portion of health care legislation through the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month as chairman, and Stupak, who heads a subcommittee on the panel.

[...] Among the documents requested were records relating to compensation paid to any company executive earning more than $500,000 in any year from 2003 to 2008.

Waxman and Stupak also sought documents relating to premiums paid by policy holders, claims payments, sales expenses, administrative expenses and profits, broken down by categories such as employer-provided coverage; individual coverage, Medicare and Medicaid.


[emphasis added] Two billion or more annual income is a lot. Figure it this way - wouldn't you be happy if you had it? Wouldn't you feel you were doing well pulling in that kind of loot? Would you be at all unhappy getting "more than $500,000 in any year?" Would you almost feel guilty, folks and small businesses paying for life-and-death situations, and you taking half-a-mil off the top? These are not at all unreasonable threshold amounts for basing inquiry. Small fry can get through that large a net mesh. Half-a-mil is substantially more than the President's salary. Around four times the salary of the requesting Congressional reps. No question -- It's a lot.

It is interesting how the reporting is biased by having the false hand-waving up front, the facts of the inquiry following.

Aside from investigating sharks, it's reporting and headlining bias that's fishy.