Can't figure out what to get that special someone for the holidays? Well, if he or she is one of the 47 million Americans without health insurance, a company called Highmark has the perfect idea: a health care Visa gift card. The website proudly calls it "The Easiest Way to Say 'I Care.'"
Really.
This is just (pardon the expression) sick on so many levels. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without some form of national health coverage, and it shows; millions have to go to the emergency room for even basic health care, and far too many others are forced into bankruptcy by soaring medical costs. It is truly obscene that some marketing vulture seized on this national disgrace as the opportunity to make a buck.
Remember that LifeAlert commercial from the early 1990s, the one that preyed on our emotions by showing a old lady wailing, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" while sprawled helplessly on the floor? That one was hawking an emergency communicator, but this gift card is even more insidious.
You see, while you can put up to $5000 on the card, you don't actually get $5000 worth of health coverage. No, you first pay $5 to get the card itself and then pay $1.50 a month after nine months. Doesn't matter if you use the card or not, it still costs. It is entirely possible that you try to use the card when you really need to, only to find out that it's worthless.
By what is truly an incredible coincidence, Highmark is a health-insurance company which runs Blue Cross/Blue Shield programs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Last year, they were sued by the AARP for denying senior citizens health coverage by withholding needed information and settled out of court.
And now they have come up with another way of making money. It's a win-win for the company - take customers' premiums, deny them the care they paid for, and then make money off them again by selling them these gift cards.
After all, why bother going to the trouble of actually making things better for everyone, against the wishes of the well-heeled insurance lobby, when you can just foist off a gift card and declare the job done?
Really.
This is just (pardon the expression) sick on so many levels. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without some form of national health coverage, and it shows; millions have to go to the emergency room for even basic health care, and far too many others are forced into bankruptcy by soaring medical costs. It is truly obscene that some marketing vulture seized on this national disgrace as the opportunity to make a buck.
Remember that LifeAlert commercial from the early 1990s, the one that preyed on our emotions by showing a old lady wailing, "I've fallen and I can't get up!" while sprawled helplessly on the floor? That one was hawking an emergency communicator, but this gift card is even more insidious.
You see, while you can put up to $5000 on the card, you don't actually get $5000 worth of health coverage. No, you first pay $5 to get the card itself and then pay $1.50 a month after nine months. Doesn't matter if you use the card or not, it still costs. It is entirely possible that you try to use the card when you really need to, only to find out that it's worthless.
By what is truly an incredible coincidence, Highmark is a health-insurance company which runs Blue Cross/Blue Shield programs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Last year, they were sued by the AARP for denying senior citizens health coverage by withholding needed information and settled out of court.
And now they have come up with another way of making money. It's a win-win for the company - take customers' premiums, deny them the care they paid for, and then make money off them again by selling them these gift cards.
After all, why bother going to the trouble of actually making things better for everyone, against the wishes of the well-heeled insurance lobby, when you can just foist off a gift card and declare the job done?
1 comment:
As a courtesy, I thought you might want to know that I linked to your post in my diary at Daily Kos today.
Have Yourself a VISA Highmark Christmas (parody, poll, info & invite)
http://tinyurl.com/26uboc
Thank you, Mark.
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