Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
RECENT POSTS
- 8,763 DISABLED VETS DIED BEFORE THEIR CASES WERE REVIEWED
- HOLY PATRICK LEAHY, BATMAN!
- "WE ALWAYS WON" and "WE TOOK NO PRISONERS"
- 'There Lying on the Ground, Was My Son's Body, Burnt and Smoldering'
- She Was Terminated
- "PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME!!"
- Her Name's Not Oprah Winfrey, It's Ashley Speyer
- It's Hot Outside, But Inside They're Talking About Cold Winter Nights with No Heat
- When You Fill Up on Vegetable Oil, Don't Forget to Pay Those Taxes
- HE SURE IS UNPOPULAR, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO WAR and SPYING, HE GETS WHAT HE WANTS
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« 'I Am Not Sure Even a Lab Rat Had Ever Received Such a High Dose of Heparin...' | Main | The Nursing Home Lost Oscar »
'That's Almost $600 Million in Profits'
May 15, 2008 9:59 AM
The defense base act requires CONTRACTORS operating in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN to purchase WORKER'S COMPENSATION INSURANCE for their employees.
"Under the DOD approach, private contractors negotiate with private insurers, BUT BILL THE TAXPAYER THE COSTS. This arrangement has been exceptionally lucrative for the private insurers and contractors. OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS, the FOUR LARGEST PRIVATE INSURERS HAVE MADE UNDERWRITING PROFITS OF NEARLY 40%. That's ALMOST $600 MILLION IN PROFITS."
"...KBR paid an insurance company, AIG, $284 MILLION FOR WORKER'S COMPENSATION COVERAGE. Since KBR's CONTRACT is a COST-PLUS CONTRACT, this $284 MILLION premium PLUS A MARK-UP FOR KBR of up to $8 MILLION gets BILLED TO THE TAXPAYER, bringing the TOTAL COST to the TAXPAYER to $292 MILLION."
"out of that amount, JUST $73 MILLION ACTUALLY GOES TO INJURED CONTRACTORS, and AIG and KBR POCKET over $100 MILLION AS PROFIT."
the above comes from the opening statement of Rep. Henry Waxman prepared for today's hearing on a subject he says "MAY SEEM OBSCURE: INSURANCE PAYMENTS UNDER THE DEFENSE BASE ACT of 1941. BUT THE COST TO THE TAXPAYER ARE HIGH."
IT'S YOUR MONEY!
May 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/433071/29115760
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference 'That's Almost $600 Million in Profits':
The goverment sets up the system and then complains how the system works. Maybe if we choose people out of the private sector and term limited them we would some common sense. We should also make the US Generally Accepted Accounting Princapals. I would even like to see them live under the same rules and regulations that they make everybody else live under.
Posted by: Jeff | May 15, 2008 10:38:21 AM
Agreed. The law requiring contractors to procure workers' comp insurance was passed by Congress. It seems like the companies are doing exactly what they're REQUIRED to do.
Posted by: MKW | May 15, 2008 10:45:32 AM
DEFENSE BASE ACT of 1941.....If this law was passed by congress 67 years ago (as it's name inplies), maybe it should be changed. Seems to me that the world is a little different today than then.
Posted by: JR | May 15, 2008 11:35:10 AM
The DBA also relieves the contract company of any liability for any reason. There is no incentive to provide as safe a working situation as possible.
As stated in todays hearing the DBA was set up for people in "normal working conditions outside of the US".
The DBA under the "oversight" of the DoL has enabled this war and the people it was intended to help are being broken while the contract companies, insurance companies, and some others reap the wealth.
There is much more corruption than was brought up today.
Posted by: Marcie Hascall Clark | May 15, 2008 8:41:25 PM
Post a comment
