Insurers mount attack against health reform
Photo 
In this Oct. 1, 2009 file photo, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. gestures on Capitol Hill in Washington.
WASHINGTON — After working for months behind the scenes to help shape health care reform, the insurance industry is now sharply attacking the emerging plan with a report that maintains Senate legislation would increase the cost of a typical policy by hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars a year.
A spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., whose 10-year, $829 billion overhaul plan faces a final Finance Committee vote Tuesday, was quick to react Sunday, questioning the credibility of the industry's late-in-coming cost estimate.
"It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple," said the spokesman, Scott Mulhauser.
The health insurance industry has been working until recently to help draft legislation, while publicly endorsing President Barack Obama's goal of affordable coverage for all Americans. The alliance has grown strained as legislation advances toward votes in Congress.
Late Sunday, the industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans sent its member companies a new accounting firm study that projects the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions in the bill would be in effect.
Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis concluded in the study commissioned by the insurance group.
"Several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause health care costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system," Karen Ignagni, the top industry lobbyist in Washington, wrote in a memo to insurance company CEOs.
The study projected that in 2019, family premiums could be $4,000 higher and individual premiums could be $1,500 higher.
Baucus spokesman Mulhauser said the study is "seriously flawed" because it doesn't take into account provisions in the legislation that would lower the cost of coverage, such as tax credits to help people buy private insurance, protections for current policies and administrative savings from a revamped marketplace.
White House health care spokeswoman Linda Douglass concurred. "This is an insurance industry analysis that is designed to reach a conclusion which benefits the industry, and does not represent what the bill does," she said.
The Baucus plan faces a final committee vote on Tuesday. It got a boost last week when the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cover 94 percent of eligible Americans while reducing the federal deficit.
But the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis attempted to get at a different issue — costs for privately insured individuals.
It concluded that a combination of factors in the bill — and decisions by lawmakers as they amended it — would raise costs.
The chief reason, said the report, is a decision by lawmakers to weaken proposed penalties for failing to get health insurance. The bill would require insurers to take all applicants, doing away with denials for pre-existing health problems. In return, all Americans would be required to carry coverage, either through an employer or a government program, or by buying it themselves.
But the CBO estimated that even with new federal subsidies, some 17 million Americans would still be unable to afford health insurance. Faced with that affordability problem, senators opted to ease the fines for going without coverage from the levels Baucus originally proposed. The industry says that will only let people postpone getting coverage until they get sick.
Other factors leading to higher costs include a new tax on high-cost health insurance plans, cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors, and a series of new taxes on insurers and other health care industries, the report said.
"Health reform could have a significant impact on the cost of private health insurance coverage," it concluded.
Insurers played a major role in defeating then-President Bill Clinton's health care plan in the 1990s. Sunday, the industry stopped short of signaling all-out opposition. "We will continue to work with policymakers in support of workable bipartisan reform," Ignagni said in her memo.
Oct 13, 2009 at 3:22 a.m.
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RAF:
Yep; just shows one of the fundamental flaws of a fiat based currency, that has no real backing behind it. Back when we had gold backing of the currency, you could actually convert any paper currency to its actual gold value that was backing it. Back in the early 1900's if you had a fairly common $20 gold piece you could go buy yourself a real nice designer suit. Today that same "$20" gold piece would still buy you that designer suit. Not for the $20 that it's "valued" at in dollars, but for the worth of the gold backing behind it. That $20 (one ounce) gold piece would worth about $1,000 in today's currency if you converted it over from gold. Just showing you how our currency has inflated out of control over the years with no real backing behind it other then the "faith" of the US governmnet (having any "faith" in this governmnet has become a joke, of recent).
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Many speculators out there are now are making the claim that an ounce of gold will be worth $2-3-4 thousand an ounce in the near future; as the dollar becomes more and more worthless, as more $$$$'s are printed or created from thin air. Hence why you are seeing all these cash for gold ads, and many gold investment companies coming out all over the place.
Oct 13, 2009 at 1:43 a.m.
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"you can't create money out of thin air"
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No they don't make money with air, they use some plant pulp and colored dye and Walla...more green mooolla.
The use the "air" to back the dollar as a currency. Just don't ask to see behind the curtain of Oz...errr I mean fed bank.
Oct 13, 2009 at 12:58 a.m.
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No governmnet program is EVER, and I repeat EVER BROKE!!! Not when it is the governmnet who has full control over the money supply, and can create money! Medicare, Medicade, SS, are all "unfunded liabilities", but hardly "broke". Like everything else, the governmnet will just create, or borrow $$$$, to bail them out when they are short of the funds. Now you may say "you can't create money out of thin air"; which is essentially true. Why do you think the US dollar is crashing?
Oct 12, 2009 at 10:07 p.m.
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Intrigued....That info is all over the place. Here is a link to one article.
http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/...
I understand that the system will be burdened with an increase in users, but one would think that a massive surplus would have been built up to absorb this impact. Obama claimed that over $500 BILLION of Medicare funding was thrown away through waste and fraud. Should we consider that government efficiency at work? There was no way that this would have happened in a private company. There is absolutely no accountability in these government run "businesses" because there has always been a never ending supply of taxpayer dollars to fund these messes. Taking into consideration their track record, I cannot believe that people are naive enough to trust the government with an additional trillion taxpayer dollars to implement this reform......
Oct 12, 2009 at 8:53 p.m.
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916WI Please cite your source for your information on Medicare as financial fiasco. The Trustees Report Summary http://ssaonline.us/OACT/TRSUM/index.htm... from the Social Security Administration does not indicate any such thing. It DOES state that the system is headed for financial difficulty, however, that will be due to increased #'s of users and ever rising costs. Private insurers will face the SAME thing. If we look to the past decade, private health insurance has raised costs precipitously. I am incapable of understanding how anyone who wouldn't want to trust a government official (which can certainly be argued) would believe anything out of the mouth of a lobbyist for any industry. The health care industry does NOT have your best interests in mind. I don't care WHAT you think about health care reform, you must believe this one thing.
Oct 12, 2009 at 8:09 p.m.
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NVgrf......You are COMPLETELY wrong. An estimated 1/3 of medicare payments are fraudulent. The Medicare system will spend more that it takes in this year and will run through any surpluses within the decade. It is a mess. Are you seriously trying to defend a government that is totally inept at running a "business" and has shown that time and time again that they are accountable to no one? You give me a break!!!:)
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:57 p.m.
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We need to rehaul congress! Get the oldies out and put new (for the citizens) ones in!
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:24 p.m.
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916WI....Your first statement is enough. Medicare is a well run and efficient system RUN BY THE GOVERNMENT. And NOT BROKE! Although you may not be old enough to appreciate that. Many of my friends are. And are more than happy to have it. Are you seriously trying to defend the money hungry insurance companies?? Give me a break!
Oct 12, 2009 at 6:22 p.m.
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Does anyone think that these insurance giants and the US governmnet are not tied at the hip? You don't seriously think all these insurances companies were bailed out to save the average Joe citizen, do you? To many of you people pit the insurance companies as evil, and the governmnet as good. When the reality is they work together. If you don't believe that, all you need to do is a little research into who is on some of these boards, and where all the funding is coming and going. It's not like United Health Care (the largest insurance provider, capitalization wise)is represented by Tom Dashels lobbying group...Dashel just happened to be hand picked, and in line to be Sec of health and human services before he was found out about for cheating on his taxes.
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This heath care will be a Haloburton all over again, just on a larger scale. Just one massive payoff by the governmnet to their huge supporters. This country is really just becoming one giant pyramid scheme. Where all the $$$ just funnels it's way to the top. The top being the governmnet and the corporate giants who are in bed with them.
Oct 12, 2009 at 6:08 p.m.
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If you want to read it just look up Americas Healthy Future Act.
Oct 12, 2009 at 5:49 p.m.
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Always read before you sign on the dotted line.
What you don't know will bite you in the rear portion of your body.
Truthfully, I really don't believe anyone knows the full of costs that will rise from the health bill. Everything right now is assumption.
But hey, if need be, we'll just take it from the money tree in the back yard to pay for it.
Oct 12, 2009 at 10:40 a.m.
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Foot,
I agree. This is all for show. Congress doesn't really care what the people think nor want. In the end, they take their cut, run to the bank with special privledges, and jet around to their endless meetings and dinners. I am completely tired of what our government does. We , the people, need to take our country back. Although I may disagree with you or others on specific actions or solutions, I would bet that if we sat around a table, we could find a solution we could both live with, and most wouldbe better off. The expectation to solve every problem, and save money is an unrealistic position, it can be a goal and you strive for that, but in reality, you need to understand what is feasible.
Oct 12, 2009 at 10:40 a.m.
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Trust the insurance companies, they are looking out for you!
Oct 12, 2009 at 10:20 a.m.
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spicymarge: I am without health coverage also. I go without because there is no way I could afford the care. I am not sure how you cover the cost. Personally, I trust the government more than I trust health insurance companies.
Oct 12, 2009 at 9:25 a.m.
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I have been uninsured most of my life because of a pre-existing condition. Have I gone without healthcare? No. Do I pay more when I do go? Yes. Do I want the government to 'fix' this for me. Absolutely NOT.
Oct 12, 2009 at 8:48 a.m.
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Give me a break. Am I supposed to believe that health insurance companies are concerned that they are going to have to charge more for insurance?
Oct 12, 2009 at 8:31 a.m.
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NVgrf......Are you serious? Please give me one example of a government run "business" that is efficient, let alone profitable? Medicare -broke.....Amtrak -broke....USPS-broke--the list goes on and on. The only reason that these "businesses" don't fold is that they have an endless supply of taxpayer dollars being "thrown away" keeping them afloat......
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:58 a.m.
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RAF, the health industry already knows the outcome because they wrote what is now and will write whatever becomes.
News coverage of the health care reform "debate" is little more than theater. This publicized "debate" is like a magician's assistant, who distracts our attention from reality. Whatever passes Congress will increase costs. Republicans will say "I told you so" and Democrats will blame Republicans for "blocking the public option". This will allow both groups to beam in the eyes of their respective cadre of lemmings. Meanwhile, the health industrial complex will be ROTFL all the way to the bank.
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:57 a.m.
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The insurance companies certainly don't want to have to compete with the government. They won't be able to keep sticking it to people. Real competition is the last thing they want.
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:36 a.m.
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FOHL, I agree most wouldn't read it anyway. Yet the article here states the mean insurance companies are attacking a plan...yet no one can read it, including the CBO who had to TRY to score it for committee members that will vote it up or down.
Oct 12, 2009 at 6:58 a.m.
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Legislators don't need to read the bill, RAF. Their former lobbyist/current aide/future lobbyist performs that service and then advises them accordingly. (Just who do you think actually WRITES the bills?) This 5-minute piece demonstrates how the system works for Sen Baucus: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/100920... Of course, with six health industry lobbyists for every member of Congress, I'm sure the process works pretty much the same for most of the other 537 members, too.
Rest assured that any bill coming out of Congress will increase the total cost of health care. The reason it costs so much now is all that "gumment fixin'" they've been doing over the years.
Oct 12, 2009 at 5:57 a.m.
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How does person or organization “attack” legislation in the words of the CBO director not put in legislative language?
Do a search for the term “vapor bill” in google; as yet this paper (on line) has not posted a story on why this bill is considered “vapor” by members of the house and senate.
You won’t have to worry about members not reading this one before they vote on it…they couldn’t if they wanted to.
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