Aetna CEO: I’m Focusing On Getting Something Done That’s Good For Us…I Mean, ‘The American People’
Aetna CEO: I’m Focusing On Getting Something Done That’s Good For Us…I Mean, ‘The American People’
Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a pro-reform health care advocacy group, started a new advertising campaign on Tuesday that calls for a public option. “The commercial, entitled ‘How to Get Rich,’ says the insurance industry is motivated by greed.” It references Ronald Williams, chief executive of Aetna, who received a compensation package of $24 million in 2008. Watch the ad:
Appearing at a Morgan Stanley healthcare conference yesterday, Williams said, “I continue to believe that there is not the support, particularly in the Senate, for a government plan.” He told the audience that a public option could affect the health insurance companies’ profits over time. “[E]mployers might very well choose to take advantage of the government rates and that long-term it’s not good for the healthcare system.” By which, Williams means it’s not good for Aetna.
Earlier this week, Williams was interviewed on Fox Business, where he urged President Obama to focus on the “80 percent” of things they can agree on. In an ironically revealing moment, Williams stumbles when he tries to explain his priorities for health reform. “Our focus is really on trying to get something done that’s good for the — American people,” he said, hesitating and pausing with his mouth hanging open before mustering out the last two words. Watch it:
Last month, Williams pledged to pursue profits rather than add or keep enrollment. “We have a clear bias toward profitability over growth,” he told investment analysts.
Full disclosure: HCAN is currently running paid ads on ThinkProgress.
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Yeah Right! Since when do these SOBs actually care about PEOPLE? Yeah, and I have a bridge for sale too! Good Damn, no-good profiteers on human misery. Get bent!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:05 amBlah, blah, blah, blah, blah…
We need the Public Option.
If the Dems fail to deliver, we need to kick out the Dems and most definitely the repiggies.
The health insurance cabal won’t stop until we are all broke and homeless.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:06 amPaging Dr. Freud. Dr. Freud, your slip is showing.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:06 amShaking my head what are they going to do went every one can not afford insurance,, what will happen to there profits then?
if theres 47 million now here in a 2 year period it will be 75 million maybe. that will put a hole in there profits.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:12 amHow these people can get up and look in the mirror every morning without wretching amazes me. EVERYDAY people with life-threatening diseases are being cast out in the street so these SOBs can have millions. These people profit on misery and illness. THEY determine who dies. THEY decide who is worthy of treatment. How anyone can defend these poeple is beyond me. I am wondering how we, as Americans, became so obsessed with money we have forgotten our fellow citizens? What happened to Christian Charity? I’m not even religious and I’m disgusted.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:14 amOne of the points that is being ignored is the fact that when abuses become too much, Congress is forced to act. For example, the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act was enacted because of the failure of the auto makers to honor their warranties. Despite heavy lobbying, Congress stepped in because they could no longer wait for the industry to correct the longstanding abuses. The law was far reaching reforms and could have been prevented if the auto makers had truly reformed. If health care reform fails and we continue on the same trajectory, the crisis will continue to grow and force Congress, including Republicans, to enact the reforms at a later date. But, when this happens it will entail far more restrictions on insurance companies than are being proposed today.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:14 am“Aetna CEO: I’m Focusing On Getting Something Done That’s Good For Us…I Mean, ‘The WEALTHIEST American People’”
There! Fixed it for you Mr. (20,000,000 dollar a year by denying insurance coverage for people for pre-exixting conditions and artifically inflating insurance premiums and healthcare costs so you can buy a mansion, a lear jet and a Porche) CEO greed monger.
I hope you die in Hell.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am* Where the “American people” are represented by the Haves and the Haves-more.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:18 amMr Williams is a greedy man who lives in luxury while Aetna’s “death panels” decides who lives or dies. Have they no shame?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:22 amDisgusting pigs! If the insurance industry really had good intentions and were serious about reform, they would have done it long ago. They’ve had 16 years after the last attempt by former Pres. Clinton – yet things have gotten worse! Williams: YOU LIE!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:22 amLast week Maria B on MSNBC (I forget how to spell her name) had the balls to say that the uninsured have to take better care of themselves. (???) What the Fu*k does that mean? That if your uninsured it’s your fault if you have a bad accident? Or if you get hurt on the job, tough sh*t? Or you suffer some tragety, lets say from a hurricane, your out of luck? Take better care of themselves? Easy for you to say rich bit*h.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:25 amI guess Williams will be getting a bonus for forcing the words, “the American people” out of his mouth.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:26 amlark@9, No, they don’t. They will deny care to sick children and the helpless. An Insurance Industry for profit is not only wrong, it is immoral. But that’s ‘Capitalism’! The backbone of society. Or so we are told.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:29 amPD, I fear you are correct.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:32 amI’ve also gotten a kick out of the “salads and exercise option” meme, but I haven’t found anyone to explain to me how well that works against car wrecks, falls, shootings, stabbings, burns, cuts, sports injuries, or any of those other things that put people in a hospital or Doctor’s office that have nothing whatsoever to do with “healthy lifestyles”.
I’m sure they’re working on that, though.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:37 amThey aren’t in the business for health, they’re in business for profit. You’d really have to be the scum of the scum to defend the corps that don’t give a fck about their clientele, either that or really fcking stupid.
Who would be so morally deprived to do that? Not the compassionate conservative christian nation, ha!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:37 amPilotshark said: “Shaking my head what are they going to do went every one can not afford insurance,, what will happen to there profits then?”
The plan submitted by Baucus has the answer to that question. FINE people for not carrying health insurance!! So if you refuse to submit to financial rape by an insurance company, you get fined by the federal government!!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:37 amlark@14, A lot of evil has been done in the name of ‘Capitalism’. It’s the Repugs battle cry. ‘Charity’? That’s for wimps! ‘Volunteerism’ or ‘Community Organizer’? Are you a Communist! Why do the right thing for the sake of being selfless, when you can profit off it!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:38 amSoul of stinking tar
September 16th, 2009 at 11:39 amMeat-puppet of shareholders
Distended sphincter
I see the trolls are at it again with all the thumbs down. Its so like conservatives to hide in the shadows an say NO to everything. Hey guys, we know who you are. If you had any balls at all you write a comment instead of hiding behind mommys skirt. Cowards all.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:42 amtom@15, How they can say this sh*t with a straight face is unreal. “Just take care of yourself and you will be fine!” (???) That’s why I think Americans have no trust in MSM anymore. When you have rich, overpaid (photogenic) morons reading telepromters telling you the news you have to ask yourself, “These people don’t have a clue do they?”
September 16th, 2009 at 11:44 amHealthcare Insurance Providers = Mass murderers for mega-profit.
Shorter Aetna CEO: “We just want to kill off the poor”.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:44 amINSURANCE COMPANIES = DEATH PANELS
September 16th, 2009 at 11:45 amAetna was the 3rd insurance company to deny me coverage…I’m sure he has a warm feeling for Baucus!
Baucus will surely get a little extra “something” for all his hard work in avoiding the puplic option.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:47 am20 – funny, isn’t it.
better yet, there’s never more than one or two. it’ll be hell’s coldest day indeed when they can muster more than that.
so few, so lonely, so angry. i can imagine circumstances under which i’d be moved to pity, but these aren’t those circumstances.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:47 amtheir little vote-downs disappear as quickly as their posts
funny how they think they are relevant
September 16th, 2009 at 11:50 amIt’s too bad the trolls don’t have more friends — they might have some impact around here.
Kinda sorta…
September 16th, 2009 at 11:50 amtexas@24, Baucus has no shame. All that pandering to the Repugs, all for naught. His Bill is a gift to the Industry. Well, he was bought and paid for wasn’t he? 3 million in the couple of years is nothing to sneeze at. To bad he had to sell his soul.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:51 amThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Corporations are people. Colbert agrees with me and even made the case. People want to do good things for other people. Corporations are the man-made people who want to do very good things for people. They are special in their intentions and should be taken at their word. When you hear a CEO speak, he’s speaking from the heart. (I’m sorry if yours stopped. Pay your $5000 deductible and maybe it won’t happen again. Yeesh.)
September 16th, 2009 at 11:52 amlol, well, now it’s obvious it’s backedup who is our cowardly vote down bandit
poor little backedup, always wrong, always ignorant, always a coward
September 16th, 2009 at 11:55 ambackup says:
September 16th, 2009 at 11:51 am
I was waiting for that one. Must you always be such a simpleton, b-cup?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:56 amFlagged for spamming with off topic drivil.
CEO says it all captain mantastic. Do you want to get yourself banned because you are really pushing this topic on the wrong thread again and it’s starting to piss me off.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:57 amP.D. says:
Last week Maria B on MSNBC (I forget how to spell her name) had the balls to say that the uninsured have to take better care of themselves. (???) What the Fu*k does that mean? That if your uninsured it’s your fault if you have a bad accident? Or if you get hurt on the job, tough sh*t? Or you suffer some tragety, lets say from a hurricane, your out of luck? Take better care of themselves? Easy for you to say rich bit*h.
She hasn’t been hit on by any republican men in months. Don’t mind her. She told me she was “representative” of investors. I told her to get her plastic fingernail off my f ucking TD Ameritrade account.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:57 amTommy. I haven’t voted down anybody on this thread, but somebody has voted me down.
Is that person a coward in your eyes?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:57 am“Research by New York University and UCLA researchers appearing in Nature Neuroscience shows that liberal or conservative leanings may come down to cognition rather than conviction.”
In the experiment college students across the political spectrum were instructed to tap an M whenever it appeared on a computer monitor and to ignore a W that appeared about 20 percent of the time while an electroencephalograph recorded brain activity.Data showed that students who identified themselves as liberal scored higher for accuracy and were almost five times as likely to show activity in brain circuits associated with conflict, suggesting a strong capacity for dealing with change and novelty. Meanwhile, conservative students were better at blocking out distracting new information which may lead them to favor structure and tradition
Interesting data. Shows why liberals want to move ahead with new ideas to better life and conservatives want the status quo. A bright new world versus the dark ages.
September 16th, 2009 at 11:59 amPD – The bar’s a lot lower, since now all they have to do is summon a fig leaf that righties can use to hide their latent, impotent bigotry.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:00 pmI’ve yet to find anyone that could explain to me why I should give a flying flip about the insurance companies. Would it be so horrible if they only took him 2 million a year in bonuses instead of 23 million? I mean cry me a freaking river.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pmCEO Ron Williams is a black man. Do progressives oppose him because he is black?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:51 am Vote Up | Vote Down | (-1) | Report Abuse
It is not racist, you are right.
The level of spending in this administration is something never embarked upon. Trillions in new obligations were created by my fiscally-reponsible god-like president in Bush, the national debt was doubled & corporations were drenched in treasury paper. Whoa – where did all these old white people come from? 2001-2009 must have been hibernating season for my lily white base.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
The nation’s health should not be in the hands of corporations. How can you trust a company to care for your health, when their existence depends on them making a profit. They are only accountable to share holders, not public health interests. If the Repubes. are ok with the our government running our wars and invading countries why can’t the gov’t care for the health of its citizens.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:04 pmtom@37, When you have MSNBC bringing on Pat Buchanan as a polical analyst, you know MSM has hit rock bottom. Even CNN with Lou Dobbs (Who embarassed them with his ‘Birther’ segments) You have to think what else can these folks say or do BEFORE they can get fired? Faux News will always be joke. But NBC and CNN? I can’t even watch Morning Joe anymore because it is cringe worthy. Mika acting like a strict school Marm and Joe being a pompous tool. I don’t even like getting up in the morning.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:06 pm@39, Yeah, They seem to be suffering a severe case of ‘Short Term Memory Loss’.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:09 pmBush expanded government 35%. We stayed home with our joker-face signs because he daddy-figured us into believing it was the right expansion of government. Government expansion on the domestic social policy front is wrong. We don’t need an expansion of government that invests in the people. The people can go fend for themselves – thin out if you can’t survive the fat cats.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:11 pmOne problem cappy, Ron is a crook and a liar.
The teabaggers have no case except racism…..see?
September 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm“MSM” is what we get when “corporate interests” not only own, but manage all the news organizations.
What used to be viewed as a public service is now seen as a “revenue stream”.
MBA-think is what will kill the Republic, if it hasn’t already.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:16 pmP.D.
Four questions I would someone to ask Baucus during his press conference.
1. Have you received “encouragement or guidance from insurance representatives during the negotiation process?
2. Do you expect to be rewarded by the insurance industry for your effort to destroy the public option?
3. Can you realistically expect to receive ANY democratic support in your next election?
4. How does it feel to be a traitor to the American people and your party?
I would love to hear these questions but I know I won’t!
September 16th, 2009 at 12:18 pmTommy. First, I find it ridiculous that people here complain about being voted down. And if it’s cowardly to vote someone down, what are you saying about these voters to my post back around # 40:
September 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pm Vote Up | Vote Down | (-6) | Report Abuse
Tommy, I’m not your vote down bandit. Pick a post for me and I’ll try to prove to you that I still have the vote for it. Because, I haven’t voted on any of these posts.
Apology would be appropriate, but I’m not holding my breath.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:21 pmbackup says:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100010108/jimy-carter-barack-obamas-critics-are-racist/
CEO Ron Williams is a black man. Do progressives oppose him because he is black?
September 16th, 2009 at 11:51 am
___________
Yes. We only want black Presidents, not CEOs. This is the only logical conclusion one can draw.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:21 pmInsisting that Obama is a citizen of Kenya – not racist, or isolationist in the least. More than any president before, over sixty percent of a party believes that their president is not a citizen. This shows unity in our cause. You see, when the libs took issue with Bush’s “election” you had a bitterly divided supreme court (one justice predicted the election ruling would damage America’s confidence in the supreme court and another, now resigned, thought about resigning at the time) to back them up, as well as confirmed voting irregularities. But they didn’t question Bush’s citizenship. Damn their proper restraint.
With Obami, no court, no official within State or FBI took issue with Obami’s citizenship, and here we are, using this black man as our whipping boy, painting the WH lawn into a field of watermelons and affixing his face on mock food stamps.
And when the loons who graciously make up my party go around waving signs, “Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy”, you know, like everything else in a government program, they badly want to strike the “Care” part.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pmFred. We disagree, but you’re right about me being off topic.
I’ll move on.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pmbackup says:
Progressives opposing Ron Williams merely because he is black is as ridiculous as the idea that most who oppose President Obama today are doing it because they are racist.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
___________
The 9/12ers and teabaggers who oppose President Obama do not oppose his policies, they oppose his socialism, his nazism, his totalitarian rule, his Muslim faith, and his Kenyan citizenship. In other words, they oppose the fictional President Obama caricature that the corporatists and nativists have painted of the man.
If they really, genuinely had concerns with expanding government, deficit spending, and unelected czars, they would’ve voiced their protest when Bush and Clinton and HW Bush and Reagan did the exact same things. The fact that they for the most part didn’t demonstrates that race may be an underlying motivating factor.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:28 pmIn other words, they oppose the fictional President Obama caricature that the corporatists and nativists have painted of the man.
Exactly.
Bears repeating, toasterhead.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pmbackup says:
Progressives opposing Ron Williams merely because he is black is as ridiculous as the idea that most who oppose President Obama today are doing it because they are racist.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, backup. I don’t give a flying f uck what ethnicity Williams is, he’s a scummy insurance company CEO who makes his staggeringly high paycheck by denying medical care to sick people.
Don’t you link to some idiot and then claim he speaks for me.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pmtoasterhead. I agree with you these people should have spoken up during the Bush spending spree. I don’t think people have been incited by racism. They have been incited by partisanship, a significant acceleration of spending (stating with Bush’s bailout and continuing into the foreseeable future), and increasing government involvement in the private sector. They would be incited regardless of whether Obama was white or black.
I agree with you, except for the role of racism.
But, Fred is right. It’s the topic for another thread.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:38 pmI’m sorry, backup, but today, you’re being a complete simpleton with your silly statements comparing apples to the Space Shuttle.
You don’t get it. We make our decisions based upon what people do and say – not the color of their skins. We defend those we believe are good, and oppose those we believe are bad – BASED UPON THEIR DEEDS.
George W. Bush has already done EVERYTHING the wingnuts are screeching about President Obama doing. Furthermore, Obama hasn’t done half the things the wingnuts are screeching about – unlike Bush.
OK – here’s the payoff, backup:
1. Bush has done what Obama is being accused of.
2. Obama has not done what the wingnuts are accusing him of doing.
3. George Bush is white and Republican, but he is not being blamed for what he did.
4. Obama is black and Democrat, but he is being blamed for what he has NOT done.
Now, ask yourself why.
And finally, backup, *I’m* voting you down… for being a simpleton.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:39 pmFunny, but Michael Steele and Ron Williams remind me of a sketch that the Wayans Bros. used to do on “In Living Color” called “The Brothers Brothers”.
I always thought the sketch was funny in a bizarre kind of way.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:40 pmNO ahole, it’s not a topic at all for intelligent people. You are delusional.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:41 pmI thank Rep. Virginia Foxx for injecting race into her floor speech, by the way. She scoured for a black man who disagreed with Obama and FOUND it. If a bunch of old white folks can’t get through to the president with their falsehoods, have a minority read from the script. That would make everything true. Hey, whatever means justify the end.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:43 pmIzzat the ad that CNN refused to run?
September 16th, 2009 at 12:56 pmEarlier this week, Williams was interviewed on Fox Business,…
Where he was seen by all of, what, twenty-seven thousand people?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:59 pmBackup, do you really think that race has nothing to do with the Teabagging going out there? While yes, not all of them are racist, but have you taken a look at the signs lately?
Now, I can understand the point about trying to de-legitimize a Democratic president, they tried to do that to Clinton with his 1992 victory, blaming it on Ross Perot. But the whole deal about the birth certificate and the cries about being a secret Muslim terrorist out to destroy the country. Take into consideration the fact that corporate America is stirring up this racial resentment over those who refuse to consider a black man their president. How can you say that race is not involved one bit when you look at the signs suggesting he’s in cahoots with the terrorists?
There’s a reason why corporate America loves deluded simpleminded sheep like these. They get to sit back and watch their pawns dirty their hands.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:13 pmThere is no false equivalence here. We oppose Ron Williams because he’s a testament to the immoral nature of an industry that puts profit over the lives of people. Are you suggesting that we wouldn’t have this post up if he were white?
September 16th, 2009 at 2:15 pmwow, poor little backedup got his panties in a knot when I called him out for his cowardice
poor little guy
September 16th, 2009 at 2:32 pmTommy. I’m just trying to enlighten you. You characterized me as cowardly because you thought I was voting people down.
I haven’t voted at all on this thread.
Conversely, others here have voted down all my posts; one out completely.
I’m not complaining, but, if you think down voters are cowardly, I’m just saying you need to redirect your criticism against whom it applies:
I actually appreciate you bringing it up.
Thanks.
September 16th, 2009 at 2:49 pmUCSBKitty. The post would absolutely be there if Ron Williams was white.
The point I’m making is that progressives are telling us the protests wouldn’t be occurring if Obama was white.
That’s ignoring the history of partisan disagreement in this country. Progressives oppose Williams, not because he’s black. They oppose Williams because they disagree with what he stands for.
Similarly, opponents of Obama don’t oppose him because he’s black. They oppose him for what he stands for.
If Williams were white, Progressives would still oppose him. If Obama where white, Conservatives would still oppose him.
It’s not about race.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:37 pmWell, backup if I may try to understand your point, you are trying to suggest that we shouldn’t broadbrush EVERY teabagger out there as being racist. I actually agree, but the fringe is what gets the most attention and surely there are some who are racially-motivated. In trying to pass this off as partisan bickering, we run the risk of ignoring the subtle racism that pervades this country. With all due respect, the whole controversy about the birther movement might not have happened with John McCain. The fact is throughout our history, the elites have encouraged racism as a wedge to divide those who might have a common interest politically and economically from Herrenvolk Democracy in the Antebellum South to Tom Watson in Jim Crow Georgia to today, where subtle code words are injected into the political debate such as “welfare queen” or “states’ rights.”
September 16th, 2009 at 5:16 pmI don’t blame the teabaggers as much as I do the corporate astroturf groups who exploit the anxiety that many people might have of a black man in the White House.
Maybe the protests would occur if Obama was white or if Joe Biden had gotten to the White House, but I doubt some of the racially-charged signs would be present or the monkey dolls and the racially-charged merchandise. This is more of the astroturf groups being politically opportunistic in exploiting some of the fringe’s racism. There are legitimate protesters out there who are worried, yes I’ll grant you that, but you cannot ignore the fringe who are out there gaining the most attention out of all of them.
The fringe is the problem, and until the conservative movement deals with the racist, wingnut fringe, through our culture of guilt by association, they will continue to suffer a caricature that might not be based on reality. There is a reason why liberals are considered terrorist lovers by the other side and that conservatives are considered racist by our side.
September 16th, 2009 at 5:24 pmThank you for your sharing.!
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 amThere is a real problem with the individual insurance market estetik cerrahi.
September 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 am