I listen to the disconnected one line bickering between candidates about health insurance and I realize that one of the problems we have is who is keeping the statistics about health insurance. Go to your state and look up the INSURANCE COMPLAINT RATIO. This little number is supposed to represent the number of complaints per a specific code or dollar amount of premium insurance. I know you're going to find it hard to believe but dozens of insurers don't even have 1 complaint registered in the latest report available (for 2006).
Wrapped in the gobbledygook of numbers, bogged down in the corruption of a self-perpetuating bureaucracy is the explanation...only those instances resolved against an insurer by the governmental branch of a particular state insurance department are counted. Further examination of all the conveniently clicky buttons reveals that my insurer is not even considered in my state, let alone the subcontracted insurance companies for things like mental health. These companies are listed under OTHER states.
Reform begins with AUDIT. The waste involved in insurance departments that list tens of dozens of companies that apparently didn't even have ONE legitimate complaint for a calendar year is absurd.
Task a day insurance: Go to your state website or http://www.naic.org/index.htm and look up your insurer. Print out forms for any state you believe might listen to your complaints about your insurer and keep them readily available for copying and mailing. Track down your own insurer.
