(Disclosure: I work for It’s OUR Healthcare.)

The state legislature is down to its final days of the session and Blue Cross alerted their list of insurance agent supporters that current reforms on the table are “unhealthy.” (And the status quo isn’t?)

The fact of the matter is that Blue Cross, and like-minded groups, are adamantly opposed to real healthcare reform in California: creating astroturf front groups (with a laundry list of insurance agent supporters) and running print and radio advertisements stressing “responsible” reform as part of a scare-tactic campaign.

But what’s really irresponsible is standing in the way of meaningful healthcare reform.

Below is a video parody of the Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, specifically, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

With that, I give you Blue Cross’ “Always Look on the Bright Side of Death.”

(Dude must have been hot in that suit. – promoted by Julia Rosen)

In Los Angeles yesterday, Blue Cross was brought before the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) following 4,100 calls and complaints in the last three years. The Sick of Blue Cross petition drive turned in more than 1,600 in only one week’s time.

The hearing gave Californians a great opportunity to hold the state’s largest for-profit health insurer accountable for dangerous business practices such as only covering the healthy and denying coverage to the sick. Blue Cross is also notorious for raising rates however and whenever it chooses.

Find out more and see pictures of Mr. Sick of Blue Cross below the fold…

For years, Blue Cross has treated California like an ATM machine and recently shipped $950 million in profits to its corporate parent, WellPoint, based in Indiana.

But yesterday’s hearing is just the beginning – and there’s still much more work to do to get Blue Cross to clean up its act because these practices are simply unacceptable.

Health advocates gathered outside with signs and placards saying “I’m sick of Blue Cross” and repeating chants of “Hey Blue Cross you can’t hide — we can see your greedy side.” (Check out video courtesy of NBC-TV San Diego.)

Once inside, past and present Blue Cross policyholders told their stories of premiums going up and benefits going down, rejected claims and denied coverage — all this conducted by a health provider that claims it supports “access to all Californians.“

Now our work shifts from the Los Angeles hearing room to the Capitol in Sacramento, where the Assembly and Senate must keep their promise to enact meaningful healthcare reform when they return later this month.

Blue Cross is leading the opposition to healthcare reform in California – and we’re going to need your continued help to fight back and pass real reform this year. Earlier this year, Blue Cross committed $2 million for a campaign to stop healthcare reform in California under the auspices of “responsible” reform. This campaign to stifle change already includes print and radio ads criticizing reform efforts, using fear-mongering tactics to make Californians afraid of change in the healthcare system.

Sick of Blue Cross is a project of the It’s OUR Healthcare! coalition

(Cool new site, even though the graphics make my eyes freak out. – promoted by juls)

For far too long, Blue Cross of California’s standard operating procedures of policy cancellation and denial of coverage have gone on unchecked and unregulated. With healthcare reform a top priority in Sacramento, Blue Cross dropped $2 million on an astroturf “coalition of one” to stifle necessary reform this year.

Today, It’s OUR Healthcare, a coalition of consumer advocates, seniors, health advocates, communities of faith, and labor comprising more than 10 million, says no more and is asking Californians everywhere to stand up and fight back.

We are launching an aggressive online, public information campaign to uncover the real Blue Cross at www.SickOfBlueCross.com.

From our press release this morning:

It’s OUR Healthcare! has been advocating for a number of reforms that would fundamentally change the way Blue Cross and the healthcare industry do business in California:

* Banning the practice of denying coverage for “pre-existing conditions,” including minor conditions such as yeast infections, ear infections and seasonal hay fever.

* Requiring that a fair percentage of every premium dollar be spent on healthcare. There’s no minimum now, and a proposed requirement that at least 85% of every dollar charged be spent on healthcare, would be a radical shift (and increase) for Blue Cross.

* Requiring approval and justification for rate hikes. Because uncontrolled increases in the cost of health insurance have hit businesses and families hard in California.

Blue Cross sent nearly $1 billion in profits back to their corporate headquarters in Indiana last May. Their “coalition of one” — Blue Cross — are using scare tactics with their radio and print ads.

Blue Cross is putting money into stopping reform this year, because real reforms are on the table. It’s OUR Healthcare! and legislative leaders are taking a hard look at how our healthcare needs to be fixed, and those changes will force Blue Cross to make serious changes to its business model, which relies on:

* Spending hundreds of millions of dollars that Californians pay for health insurance each year on high salaries, slick marketing and “dividends” to out-of-state corporate headquarters

* Cherry-picking: denying coverage for pre-existing conditions  and instead seeking to insure only the healthy

* Selling insurance designed to provide limited benefits, coupled with high deductibles and co-pays

* Raising rates however and whenever it chooses

Their slogan says, “Get the power of Blue working for you.” The fact is that it ain’t working and they want to keep it that way.

Don’t let them. Stand up.