By NYCeve (Eve Gittelson)

Despite being in the national spotlight as healthcare reform makes its cumbersome trek through committees of Congress, insurers continue their wantonly deceptive and consumer unfriendly business practices. It boggles the mind, but insurance executives appear oblivious to the reality that it is the most despised industry in the country.

It’s inconceivable that health reform could involve mandating that recession battered Americans be required to pay private insurers for dubious coverage, with no public option, and little or no guarantee that these denial machines will be responsible corporate citizens.

These fears are justified. Under the proposal circulating in the Max Baucus controlled Senate Finance Committee, crucial rule-making authority could reside in the hands of The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a private association of state insurance commissioners that consumer advocates fear is too closely tied to the industry.

“The NAIC is clearly an organization that is dominated by the insurance industry,” said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a former state insurance commissioner.

“I think the NAIC has an important role to play. They have a lot of knowledge, but I would be concerned about giving them authority to set the r ules.”

The group’s 56 members are public officials — the elected or appointed chief insurance regulators of the states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories — responsible for enforcing laws that vary widely in rigor depending on jurisdiction.

But the association itself is a private organization not subject to open meetings and public records law, noted J. Robert Hunter, insurance director of the Consumer Federation of America and a former Texas insurance commissioner.

“They have no transparency,” he said.

At every bend in the road, and by any means necessary, insurers refuse to live up to even the most minimal standards of corporate decency.

Here’s just the latest example of egregious abuse. This time courtesy of Anthem Blue Cross of California.

According to a Times analysis published Feb. 18, Anthem sold thousands of policies that were intended to be safety nets for the sick, jobless and uninsurable at premiums that exceeded state-issued rates.

At the time, Anthem said it had erred and pledged to make amends. And Anthem did mail out refund checks.

But Greenberg, an investment lawyer, said the $12 check he got fell far short of what he believed he was owed.

It all began in February when Greenberg’s wife, Paulette, a paralegal, noticed the Times story. She said, " ‘Hey, this is applicable to us,’ " Greenberg said. " ‘Get on it.’ So I did."

Greenberg began by filing a public records request to obtain the rate caps for the safety-net coverage that are calculated each year by the state Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board. Then he compared those rates with the premiums Anthem had been charging him and concluded he had overpaid by $5,750.24 over several years.

Greenberg complained to Anthem as well as the state Department of Managed Health Care. But that didn’t seem to go anywhere, he said.

So, he went to Small Claims Court. At a brief hearing Thursday, Greenberg showed Judge Rex Minter the law, the state-issued rate sheets and his calculations. Minter awarded him everything he said he was owed, plus $1,475.73 in interest and $85 in court costs.

And the human tragedies inflicted on middle class Americans because all they can afford is bare bones junk insurance, continues to blight our national landscape.

Meet Jim and Martha Martin.

All they can afford is Swiss-cheese insurance, and they are part of the army of dangerously underinsured Americans. And despite being “insured”, people like Jim and Martha are one illness or injury away from financial ruin.

As hard as they both work to make their modest income — about $45,000 a year — the medical bills pile up. Jim and Martha struggle all the time to figure out how to keep up.

Between medical bills and premiums, a whopping 45 percent of their income goes to healthcare!

But Martha doesn’t have much choice. More medical bills are coming. She needs to have a hysterectomy next month, and she says her insurance will pay only $1,000 of the hospital bill.

For the Martins, 2009 is starting to look a lot like 2008. Last year they paid $6,210 in health insurance premiums for themselves and daughter Sara, plus another $13,955 in uncovered hospital bills after Rebekah’s surgery.

It added up to almost 45 percent of their total income of $44,815.

“Forty-five percent! That’s just crazy! I don’t pay that much in taxes,” Martin exclaims. “So you know, I just think there should be a health insurance plan out there that everyone can sign up for.”

She’d be happy to pay the premiums, she says, if only she could get decent coverage.

So you truly don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you read that Kent Conrad plans to vote against the Rockefeller and Schumer public option amendment currently being debated in the Senate Finance Committee.

Salvation from the damnation of the U.S. healthcare system for millions and millions of Americans runs right through the public option. Period.