Snark said:
I didnt quote the huffington post

simply linked to the actual mailer from humana posted there.

which I can tell you didnt bother to read.


I did read Humana's flyer. So you mean to say this quote is your own thought? Where is the lie Humana is perpetuating? By blowing off the rest of my post, you again prove yourself unteachable.

I didnt quote the huffington post

simply linked to the actual mailer from humana posted there.

which I can tell you didnt bother to read.

the rest of your post speaks for itself.

A couple of nice quotes concerning rules:
Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist, poet and philosopher

And:
Young men know the rules, but old men know the exceptions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American author and poet

I think the bigger stink is not that Humana is (maybe) being choked by a rule, but that the rule is not similarly choking similar missives from AARP.

One can only assume that Humana's message is quashed because it conflicts with the committee's. AARP's message meshes and so is allowed.

If rules are rules, then rules are rules.

Republicans said Humana's claim was accurate in the first place. But as proof its behavior was above board, they held up a Clinton-era letter from the Department of Health and Human Services offering guidance on mailers sent by insurers to customers.

The 1997 letter, written by Center for Health Plans and Providers Director Bruce Fried to a law firm, addressed the question of whether HMOs could tell members about proposed legislation and urge them to express their opinions. The letter concluded that restrictions could violate free speech laws.

"While it may be difficult for a reviewer to ascertain whether or not the information about legislation, for example contained in a member's newsletter issued by an HMO, is accurate and without a slant or unrevealed self-interest, we believe that prohibiting such information would violate basic freedom of speech and other constitutional rights of the Medicare beneficiary as a citizen," the letter reads.

The letter noted that information about members' and HMOs' rights and responsibilities should not be "misrepresented," but the general requirement for such mailers would be an attached disclaimer saying the information has not been reviewed for "accuracy or misrepresentation."

Humana attached a nearly identical disclaimer in its mailer.

Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the letter is proof that CMS was in conflict with its own policy.

"This actually reverses a Clinton administration policy that said, actually, seniors have a right to know how their benefits may be affected," Camp told FOX News.

You're perfectly ok breaking the rules, just so long as it's your side doing the breaking?

even if you take the false info portion out of this equation (which is obvious to anyone of any party)

they agreed to rules that said they couldnt communicate on these things if they wanted to take taxpayer money.

which makes sense - if I run medicare, the last thing I want is private insurance companies communicating with medicare recipients on policy I'm making or a part of - that's my job and it should come from the source. not from companies with a for profit interest in my members (sound familiar joyce?)

this is about playing by the rules - bottom line.

snark quoted from Huffpo: "Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) investigated these marketing communications to seniors and told Humana to stop telling lies or they will lose funding."

Who decides they are lies, well paid Democrats? Sounds like Humana is providing a service telling everyone about the lie being put forth by the government.

You mean they don't control the government? Have you been paying attention??? I think not!

Humana takes huge sums of tax dollars through medicare advantage and is now using tax payer money to fund messages to seniors that are false.

As a company that takes medicare, they are bound by the rules of that relationship which include "Medicare providers are only allowed to communicate with plan members about the benefits they have now, not about possible changes to benefits. They are also not allowed to use plan-related communications to lobby for policies or legislation"


Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) investigated these marketing communications to seniors and told Humana to stop telling lies or they will lose funding.

So Humana reached in their back pocket and pulled out a few well paid for republicans to piss and moan about "free" speech.

Let's be clear - this isnt about "free" speech. This is about a for profit insurance company using tax payer money to spread false information against the rules of the system they currently willingly participate in and make lots of money.

The only stones here are in having the gall to elicit our consitutional protections as a means to protect a corporation from being held to the very standards they agreed to so they could take tax payer money and turn a profit.

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/humanamailer.pdf

Whatever happened to the First Ammendment to the Constitution???????????

The GOP doesn't need to threaten to block nominations. Rather, they need to address this for what it is - a direct infringement on free speech. Then, they must follow up on it. Of course, this is a spineless party so who knows what they will do.