The group hold 150 past and/or present positions with major financial or investment institutions, and combined affiliations represent 2006 revenue of over $2,500,000,000,000.
According to the study health insurance costs are rising 2-to-3 times faster than inflation. Medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy.
Researchers in the study say Americans pay much more per capita and get less healthcare than the rest of the industrialized world. However approximately 16 percent of Americans are uninsured and 18,000 die prematurely each year because of this. Many more die because their insurers delay, diminish, or deny payment for promised benefits.
Peter Phillips, Professor of Sociology, Sonoma State University and Director of Project Censored says that lack of media coverage has led to a nation uninformed about the sheer number and scope of the insurance industry's impact on our lives namely how our national health policies are controlled by the insurance industry.
Insurance companies are in business to make increase profits at all costs despite the very nature of te business; human health. Following numerous reviews by analysts and documentaries most agree they do so by systematically delaying, diminishing, and denying payment for promised services, and according to proponents calling for change engage in blaming individuals for their own misfortune.
Spending for administrative costs associated with health insurance exceeds 30 percent of health care costs in the U.S. and they spend millions on campaign donations, lobbying and media saturation to convince us that we need them, despite overwhelming evidence that we would all be better off without them.
