Fight back against health insurance lies

Posted by Robert Greenwald at 2:00 PM on August 6, 2009.

What does UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley have to lose if Congress passes real healthcare reform this year?

Well, for starters, Hemsley’s nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in unexercised stock options might lose a few pennies on the dollar if insurance providers like UnitedHealth Group are forced to actually pay for the treatment that patients need.

What does Isabella, a four year-old girl in Winsconsin who is physically incapable of eating and has had to be tube fed her entire life, have to gain from healthcare reform?  The treatment she needs to live a normal life.

The chance for Isabella to become a normal, healthy child depends on Congress passing healthcare reform this year.  But Stephen Hemsley opposes reform, and after making the equivalent of $4,096,815 each and every week of this year, it doesn’t take an expert to figure out why.

Welcome to the American health insurance industry.  Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for themselves and their families, insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group are sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo.

Why?  Because maintaining the status quo means continuing to allow huge insurance corporations like UnitedHealth Group to treat the physical livelihoods of average Americans as commodities to exploit for shareholder profits and outsized executive compensation packages.  It means continuing to let working class people suffer and die so that wealthy insurance executives can live in $7.8 million mansions like Hemsley’s Minnesota home.

Help Brave New Films expose the truth about what the status quo means for insurance executives, and what it means for the rest of us.  And if you or a loved one has been victimized by the unscrupulous practices of CIGNA, Aetna, WellPoint, Humana or Coventry, tell us your story.

With your help, we’ll make sure that in the future, our premium dollars pay for treatment for patients like Isabella, and not to line the pockets of billionaires like Hemsley.

Join the campaign at http://sickforprofit.com

Tagged as: universal healthcare, health insurance, brave new films, robert greenwald, cigna, wellpoint, sick for profit, unitedhealth, stephen hemsley, aetna, humana

Robert Greenwald is a producer, director and political activist. His new media company, Brave New Films, is currently focused on making short videos like the FOX Attacks (FoxAttacks.com) and The REAL McCain (TheRealMcCain.com), which educate and empower viewers to take action and have been seen by millions.