AHIP Statement on Status of Health Care Reform
Washington, DC - Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP), gave the following remarks at a media
teleconference this morning:
"At this point in the summer of 2009, the country should be in the midst
of a transformative national conversation about health care reform.
Instead, a campaign has been launched to demonize health plans and the
men and women who work hard every day in their communities to provide
health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans.
"For a country that is trying to accomplish what it has failed to do for
a century - pass health care reform - the same old Washington politics
of 'find an enemy and go to war' is a major step backward, not a step
forward. Indeed, this is the playbook of consultants, not consensus.
"Attacking our community will not help get anyone covered, nor will it
help our country bend the cost curve and make care more affordable for
working families and small businesses. These are the issues that should
be the focus of a national conversation this summer. That is what the
country expected. Not politics as usual, but an effort to forge the
consensus that will be necessary to get reform passed.
"For our part, we will set the record straight about our community's
contribution to the reform effort. It was with the hope of helping to
create a more constructive climate that health plans began three years
ago to develop a set of reform proposals linked by common themes - to
build on the strengths of the current system, provide all Americans with
health security, ensure that no one falls through the cracks, and put
the entire health care system on a financially sustainable path.
"In recent days, policymakers have embraced health insurance reform -
the concept we proposed in 2008. Health plans were the first of the
stakeholders to come to the table with a comprehensive proposal to
reform our own sector. Our proposal brings everyone into the system,
guarantees coverage for all Americans, does away with pre-existing
condition limitations, and ends rating based on health status and
gender.
"We also pledged to earn a seat at the table and our members have been
good faith participants in every significant reform effort involving
stakeholders from across the spectrum.
"That did not mean that we would sit at any table in silence when
confronted with proposals we knew to be flawed. For months, we have
explained why we believe a government-run plan would dismantle
employer-based coverage, bankrupt local hospitals, and break the promise
that if you like your present coverage, you can keep it.
"A government-run plan would inevitably rely on its price-setting
ability to offer artificially low premiums - effectively subsidized by
the private sector through cost shifting. This would force employers to
drop their coverage, creating a death spiral for private insurance and
financial catastrophe for many hospitals and doctors.
"Physicians, hospitals, employers, and concerned citizens have joined us
in voicing these concerns. As the American people have learned the
facts, support for a government-run plan has plummeted. In response,
there has been an all-out effort to make support of a government-run
program the litmus test for reform.
"If the intent is to place the nation on a path to a single-payer
system, as some have recently acknowledged, then that question should be
debated candidly and openly.
"We believe that is not the path that the American people support.
Instead, they want policymakers to recognize that neither the government
nor the private sector can fix health care alone and that the stakes are
too high to revert to the usual Washington poll-driven playbook that has
been a barrier to progress and could create another missed opportunity
to achieve health care reform.
"The country is at a critical juncture. August will be the month when
the country decides whether it supports reform and what shape it should
take. It is crucial that the American people understand the broad
consensus that exists on the essential building blocks for bipartisan
reform.
"With that in mind, there are five facts we believe all Americans should
know:
* Health plans have proposed comprehensive health care reform to
cover all Americans, make care more affordable, and improve quality.
* Health plans proposed health insurance reform last year.
* Health plans have proposed far-reaching initiatives to bend the
health cost curve and make care more affordable for individuals,
families, and employers.
* Health plans are advocating and advertising in support of
bipartisan reform.
* Out of every dollar the nation spends on health care, one penny
goes to health plan profits.
"Our community includes thousands of dedicated, conscientious Americans
who are working hard across the country to try and improve health care.
They are ordinary Americans from all walks of life who are raising their
families and contributing to their communities. They do not deserve to
be demonized or vilified as part of a campaign to distract attention
away from the sinking support for a government-run program."
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America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More
Than 200 Million Americans
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