Viewing entries tagged with 'AHIP'
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Karen Ignagni on MSNBC "We'll have a cost explosion."
Posted by The Campaign on March 17, 2010 at 8:48 AM
AHIP's Karen Ignagni appeared on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown this morning. In the appearance, she outlined the strong concerns with the current bill and the lack of cost containment in the bill. At one point she stated "We'll have a cost explosion."
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Karen Ignagni on Fox Business News
Posted by The Campaign on March 16, 2010 at 4:54 PM
AHIP's Karen Ignagni appeared on Fox Business News to discuss the health care reform debate and rising health care costs.
Watch the video below:
ICYMI: AHIP Letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius
Posted by The Campaign on March 16, 2010 at 11:31 AM
AHIP sent a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius yesterday to respond to her request for specific cost savings recommendations that could be included in the current legislation. Below are a few highlights from the letter:
Increased Transparency
To address your request for greater transparency, we immediately began working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to develop a template our members can use across the country to provide information on the factors that are driving premium increases.
As you request transparency from our members, we urge you also to consider pursuing transparency for hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical and device companies, and other suppliers.
First Do No Harm
We are particularly concerned that there are inadequate incentives in the legislation to bring everyone into the system, that new age-rating requirements would drive up costs for younger families, and that the proposed premium tax on health insurers would further drive up costs for consumers in the individual and small group markets.
Limiting the amount by which premiums can vary by age can have particularly significant effects for young adults, as moving from a 5:1 to 3:1 rating band...raises rates for adults under age 30 by approximately another 30 to 50 percent beyond that projected for the population as a whole.
Enacting insurance reforms and coverage expansions without meaningful cost control will bring more people into an unsustainable, unaffordable system.
The Senate legislation would establish a new commission to review Medicare and private sector health care spending. That is a start, but it will not provide the comprehensive oversight needed because it would exempt Medicare payments for hospitals, physicians, and other key services from review during the first five years.
Payment Reform
Within a comprehensive framework for cost containment, we recommend broadening and expediting certain provisions of the Senate bill that focus on realigning incentives and promoting innovation. The following are several specific examples:
- To reduce preventable hospital readmissions, we recommend strengthening the Senate bill's proposal to require modest Medicare payment reductions for hospitals with unnecessary risk-adjusted readmissions for three conditions. Increasing the amount of the payment reduction and applying it to a broader range of conditions will create stronger financial incentives for improvements in patient care, thereby reducing unnecessary admissions that are contributing to higher costs while also improving patient safety and quality.
- To reduce hospital-acquired infections, we recommend building upon the Senate's proposal to reduce Medicare payments by one percent for the worst performing hospitals on medical conditions identified by the Secretary. The Senate proposal would be more effective if it established a stronger financial incentive and applied to all "never events" identified by the National Quality Forum.
- To accelerate the adoption of payment reform and quality improvement, incentives under the Value-Based Purchasing program should be accelerated forward to begin in 2011 with final recommendations by 2015. By building on existing collaborations to tie hospital performance on quality measures to common high-cost conditions (AMI, Heart Failure, Pneumonia, etc.), we can more rapidly move away from traditional fee-for-service structures.
- To advance new payment reform models on a system-wide basis, we recommend that the Senate proposal for a CMS Innovation Center be expanded beyond Medicare and Medicaid. Focusing solely on public programs will not improve the overall health care system.
- To improve the value of comparative effectiveness research and the proposed Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, we recommend that such research focus on both the clinical and cost effectiveness of treatments.
Provide Malpractice Protections for Doctors
To reduce the burden of defensive medicine, a fresh approach to medical liability reform should be adopted that combines a safe harbor for following evidence-based medicine and a system to ensure that harmed individuals are compensated adequately. As an alternative to the existing litigation system, we recommend an approach that offers protections for providers who follow established best practices and implement safe, accountable care models based on the latest scientific evidence.
ICYMI: AHIP's New Ad on Costs
Posted by The Campaign on March 16, 2010 at 6:05 AM
Building on AHIP's national television advertising campaign on health care costs, the below open letter to the American people has begun running in national newspapers. For a printable version of the letter, click here.
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Karen Ignagni on CBS' Face the Nation
Posted by The Campaign on March 15, 2010 at 11:21 AM
AHIP's Karen Ignagni appeared on CBS' Face the Nation this weekend. Karen set the record straight on what is driving premiums higher (underlying costs), health plan profits (other industries profit margins are much higher), and the need for the current legislation to do more to control costs (can't pay for $1 trillion legislation by only focusing on 4% of all health care spending.)
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Karen Ignagni on Fox Business News Discussing Rising Health Care Costs
Posted by The Campaign on March 11, 2010 at 7:08 AM
AHIP's Karen Ignagni was on Fox Business News last night discussing rising health care costs and AHIP's new ad campaign on health care costs.
Watch the full video below:
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Mike Tuffin on PBS' Newshour
Posted by The Campaign on March 11, 2010 at 6:18 AM
MUST SEE TV: AHIP Hits the Nightly News To Discuss Costs and Set the Record Straight on Health Plan Profits
Posted by The Campaign on March 09, 2010 at 4:57 PM
CBS and ABC both reported on today's developments in the health care reform debate. Watch the full clips below which include important setting the record straight segments on health plan profits as well as good discussion on what is driving premium increases.
AHIP's Karen Ignagni on CBS Evening News:
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach on ABC Evening News:
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Mike Tuffin on CNBC Discussing Rising Medical Costs
Posted by The Campaign on March 04, 2010 at 11:29 AM
AHIP's Mike Tuffin appeared on CNBC this afternoon along side NAIC's Sandy Praeger to discuss what is driving premium increases as well as putting in perspective health plan profits.
Watch the full clip below:
ICYMI: AHIP's Letter to Secretary Sebelius
Posted by The Campaign on March 04, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Yesterday, AHIP's President and CEO Karen Ignagni sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius outlining concerns about rising medical costs, the impact this has on premiums and things that can be done to slow the growth rate.
Here are some key excerpts from the letter:
"But for months health plans have been raising concerns about far more needing to be done in health care reform legislation to bring costs under control, because we were seeing disturbing increases in unit costs in the marketplace. We also have raised strong concerns about what happens when costs increase and younger and healthier people leave the pool. These concerns no longer are conjectural; they are being borne out in the data."
"With respect to why premiums are increasing, we believe the data clearly show that premiums are increasing primarily because of soaring medical costs and a slowdown in the economy."
"...the Department’s recently released analysis of 2009 health expenditures found that rising costs for hospitals, physicians and prescription drugs have led to the largest growth in health care spending as a share of GDP since the government started keeping track of these data 50 years ago. [1] Just last week Health Affairs[2] published an analysis that showed that hospitals and physicians have enhanced their significant bargaining clout in a way that works against consumers."
"The data also put in perspective health plans’ profits and administrative costs. Indeed, the Department’s analysis showed that in 2009 the portion of premiums that went toward health plans’ administrative costs and profits declined for a second year in a row. [1] Fortune Magazine’s 2009 analysis of industry profits showed that health plans’ profit margin was 2.2 percent, ranking it far below other health care industries.[2] Yahoo! Finance’s latest analysis of quarterly financial data shows the average profit margin in the health insurance industry is 3.4 percent, compared to 11 percent for the entire health care sector.[3] "
"We have long advocated that a public-private process be established to develop a road map to take 1.5 percentage points off the future rate of growth in total health care costs.... Such an effort would help reduce the deficit, improve the stability of Medicare, and control the future cost of coverage for those under age 65, including small businesses and individuals."
"Recognizing the important dual responsibility of state insurance commissioners in protecting consumers and ensuring the financial stability of insurers in the marketplace, we are also committed to working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to help develop a uniformity of process and more transparency for consumer."
Click here for the full letter.
[1] Christopher J. Truffer, Sean Keehan, Sheila Smith, Jonathan Cylus, Andrea Sisko, John A. Poisal, Joseph Lizonitz, and M. Kent Clemens, Health Spending Projections Through 2019: The Recession’s Impact Continues, Health Affairs Web Exclusive, February 4, 2010.
[2] Berenson, R., Ginsburg, P., and Kemper, N., “Unchecked Provider Clout In California Foreshadows Challenges To Health Reform”, Health Affairs 29 (April 2010): 1-7.
[1] Truffer, February 4, 2010.
[2] Fortune 500, “Top Industries: Most profitable”, Fortune, May 4, 2009.
[3] Yahoo!Finance, Yahoo.com, http://biz.yahoo.com/p/5qpmd.html
