Insurers propose universal, centralized healthcare
Several consumer groups criticize the early bid by America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group that fought an overhaul in the 1990s, to take an active role in Obama's effort to revamp the system.
By Noam N. Levey
December 4, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- Sharpening the emerging debate over how to reshape the country's healthcare system, the major group representing insurers unveiled a proposal Wednesday for covering all Americans in a more centralized insurance market.
The plan offered by America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group representing companies that together insure more than 200 million people, comes a decade and half after the industry helped kill the last major healthcare reform campaign -- pushed early in the Clinton administration.
And Wednesday's proposal for a form of universal insurance coverage reflects the intensifying interest among groups like insurers, businesses and healthcare providers in having an active role in shaping the reform effort.
Democratic lawmakers and President-elect Barack Obama have said that upgrading the country's healthcare system will be a priority next year.
"The nation is on the eve of a national discussion about healthcare. This comes around once every generation," said Karen Ignagni, president of AHIP. "We are coming to the table with a specific set of proposals. We believe reform needs to be comprehensive, and it needs to happen now."
On Capitol Hill, aides to Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who have said they plan to push sweeping healthcare legislation next year, also said the AHIP plan would help advance the effort.
But swift criticism of the proposal from several consumer groups Wednesday also highlighted how contentious the debate over systemic changes to the healthcare system could become.
AHIP would require all Americans to get coverage, a new mandate that Obama rejected during the presidential campaign.
In exchange for such a mandate, insurers would agree to longtime demands from consumer advocates that they no longer reject people with preexisting medical conditions.
The group is urging Congress to set up an advisory organization to identify ways to cut the increase in healthcare costs by 30% over the next five years.
It also backs expansions of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which Democrats plan to tackle soon after the new Congress convenes in January.
Potentially most controversial, however, is the insurance industry's call for a new "portable health plan" that would not be subject to the minimum coverage standards set by individual states.
Many states require insurers to cover myriad services such as cancer screenings and obstetric care. Some also guarantee patients the right to an independent medical review if an insurer denies coverage.
But the standards can vary widely from state to state, a longtime complaint of insurers and some businesses that have to deal with 50 different sets of regulations.
AHIP's Ignagni said Wednesday that the new portable coverage, which the group calls an "essential benefits plan," would make it easier for small businesses and workers to keep their insurance.
"We want to create more-flexible products for small business but that also provide the . . . safety net for workers," she said.
That approach is encouraging, said Amanda Austin, who manages legislative affairs in Washington for the National Federation of Independent Business, an influential group that represents about 300,000 small businesses nationwide.
"There needs to be a discussion about the broad variance of mandates across state lines," Austin said. Like the insurers, NFIB played a key role in defeating Clinton's healthcare plan in the early 1990s.
Many consumer groups, however, see moves to change the state-based system of insurance regulation as a way to weaken the health coverage that residents of states like California now are guaranteed.
The groups also fear that a mandate requiring Americans to get insurance could force people to buy unaffordable coverage unless state or federal authorities can regulate how much insurers charge. AHIP's proposal does not address regulation of premiums.
Several consumer groups sharply attacked the insurance group's plan on Wednesday.
"The health insurance industry's vision of healthcare reform lets them keep charging whatever they want and increase their profits while sticking families and taxpayers with high costs," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now.
Levey is a writer in our Washington bureau.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... ?track=rss
Insurers propose universal, centralized healthcare
Health, bio-technology
Moderator: Super Moderators
Insurers propose universal, centralized healthcare
Post by Panache » 12-04-2008 03:55 PM
The most valuable thing anyone daring to lead is to cultivate and convey to others is a moral conscience. Only such persons deserve to lead others, in any capacity.
Jump to
- ON THE AIR ~ AM/FM/XM RADIO
- ↳ Art Bell's Midnight in the Desert
- ↳ Art Bell Classic Shows & Somewhere in Time Chat
- ↳ Art Bell Archive
- ↳ Art Bell Archive 12-2001 to 5-2002
- ↳ Fantastic Forum 'Original Radio Room'
- ↳ Art Bell/The New Frontier
- ↳ Dreamland ~ Whitley Strieber
- ↳ George Noory/C2C AM Topics/Radio topics
- ↳ Ian Punnett/Saturday Host
- ↳ George Knapp/C2C Sunday Host
- ↳ John B. Wells Caravan To Midnight
- ↳ Ham Radio/DXing
- Ship's Galley
- ↳ FFPirates on Twitter
- ↳ Announcements/ FYI
- ↳ Rapa - from the Ship's Archives
- ↳ Ship's Galley ~ Fantastic Forum Community
- ↳ The Crow's Nest
- ↳ First Time Posters Thread
- ↳ Laugh a bit with Ole 68
- ↳ Garden & Galley
- The Starboard Tack
- ↳ UFO
- ↳ Quantum Physics/Edge Science
- ↳ Paranormal
- ↳ Ancient Archaeology
- ↳ John Lear Archive
- ↳ Conspiracies/Black Ops
- USA
- ↳ Economy
- ↳ Media Watch
- ↳ Energy Policy
- ↳ American Survival
- The Blue Planet...
- ↳ Awakening of global consciousness
- ↳ The Natural World
- ↳ News from a parallel universe
- ↳ Environment in Crisis
- ↳ All Creatures Great and Small
- NEWS BREAK
- ↳ Alt News Blog
- ↳ National
- ↳ Global
- ↳ Weird Nooz
- SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
- ↳ FF IT Tech
- ↳ Earth/ Weather/ Climate
- ↳ Health
- ↳ Astronomy/ NASA/Physics
- ↳ Technology
- ↳ Chemtrails
- ↳ The 10th Planet
- FANTASTIC PUB
- ↳ The Brig
- ↳ Politics and Government 2014 - Present
- ↳ Food
- ↳ The Murky Bilge
- ↳ Music
- ↳ Religion/Metaphysics
- ↳ Philosophy
- ↳ Books, Documentaries, Movies, TV Shows
- ↳ USS TEXAS - BB35 Archive
- ↳ Poetry Forum
- ↳ Pirates and Skeptics -P&G, etc
- ↳ Photography
- SETI @ home
- ↳ FANTASTIC FORUM ~ SETi Team
- ↳ Team Art Bell
- Archive
- ↳ Third Party Candidates - 2004
- ↳ USA Archive
- ↳ Various
- ↳ Who Needs eBay?
- ↳ Iraq
- ↳ Politics and Government 2010-2013
- ↳ MAD'S Mali Journal
- ↳ Wild Card Thread
- ↳ Bush/Cheney '04 Campaign
- ↳ William Henry ~ Stargates in the Age of Tara
- ↳ Hemp Industry
- ↳ We the People
- ↳ Politics and Government 2004-2009
- ↳ Lost Harbour & Dry Dock
- ↳ Fantastic Forum Productions
- ↳ Star Trek Forum
- ↳ USS TEXAS ~ BB 35 Restoration/Preservation Project
- ↳ Politics and Government Pre-2007
- ↳ Fantastic Forum - Editor's Cut