Viewing entries tagged with 'FC'
Fact Check: Another Media Outlet Sets the Record Straight on Health Plan Profits
Posted by The Campaign on November 12, 2009 at 11:56 AM
ABC News reports on the attempt of some to vilify health plans by focusing on health plan profits, but as this article points out profits are neither as high as some claim nor are they the main driver of health care costs. Key excerpts are below: 
“…the companies' profits still represent a miniscule percentage of the $2.5 trillion Americans spend every year on health care.”“‘Insurance company profits in the large picture have very little to do with the overall rising cost of health care,’ said health care expert Henry Aaron, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.”
Fact Check: The Boston Globe -- Jeff Jacoby: Attacks on Health Plans' Profits Misguided and Misleading
Posted by The Campaign on November 02, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby writes that attacks on health plans' profits are misguided and misleading. Here are some key excerpts:
“For the most recent quarter of 2009, health-insurance plans earned profits of only 3.3 percent, ranking them 86th on the expanded Yahoo! Finance list of US industries. Makers of software applications, by contrast, are pulling in profits of nearly 22 percent.”“For all the impassioned talk about obscene profits and bodies piling up, reports AP’s Calvin Woodward, “health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent’’ of revenue, a return “that’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries.’’”“On the Fortune 500 list of top industries, health insurance companies ranked 35th in profitability in 2008; their overall profit margin was a mere 2.2 percent. They lagged far behind such industries as pharmaceuticals, which showed a profit margin of 19.3 percent, railroads (12.6 percent), and mining (11.5 percent).”“Among health insurers, the best performer last year was HealthSpring, which showed a profit of 5.4 percent. “That’s a less profitable margin,’’ AP noted, “than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach, and Molson and Coors beers.’’”
“…the notion that health insurers “make more money than any other business in America today’’ is preposterous.”
“But the way to increase competition is not by adding a government-run health plan to the 1,300 private firms already providing health insurance. We do have a highly competitive national market for auto and life insurance, after all, and with no public option.”
For the full article, click here.
Fact Check: CBO's Analysis of McCarran-Ferguson Repeal Shows No Effect
Posted by The Campaign on October 30, 2009 at 11:15 AM
"The analysis also takes into account the provisions of section 262 of Division A regarding the application of federal antitrust laws to health insurers. CBO estimates that implementing those provisions would have no significant effects on either the federal budget or the premiums that private insurers charged for health insurance. For an analysis of a similar proposal, see CBO’s cost estimate for H.R. 3596, the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 (October 23, 2009)."
For the full analysis, click here.
On The Hill: Summary of Today's Senate Finance Committee Amendments Considered Thus Far
Posted by The Campaign on October 01, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Below please find a summary of the amendments considered during today's Senate Finance Committee markup to this point:
· Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) offered an amendment that would have required health insurance plans to demonstrate to the HHS Secretary that they spend 85% of premium dollars on medical care. After a lengthy debate on this issue, Rockefeller withdrew the amendment without requesting a roll call vote.
· By a vote of 14 to 9, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that would have eliminated the industry tax on health insurance plans.
· By a vote of 12 to 11, the committee approved an amendment by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) that would provide for the creation of a government-sponsored “basic health plan” to provide coverage to individuals below 200% of the federal poverty level.
· By voice vote, the committee approved an amendment by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) that would exclude HIPAA-excepted benefits from the proposed tax on high-cost health plans. Other components of this amendment address tax credits for small businesses with seasonal employees and reimbursement for federally qualified health centers.
· Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) offered an amendment that would change the affordability threshold – from 10% to 8% (premiums as a percentage of income) – for determining whether persons are exempt from the individual coverage requirement. This amendment was set aside after a lengthy period of debate.
· By voice vote, the committee adopted an amendment by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that would modify the bill’s “maintenance of effort” requirement for state Medicaid programs, applying it only to enrollees with income levels up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level beginning in 2011. The committee debated this amendment last night, and approved it today with modifications.
· By a vote of 12 to 11, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) that would have provided that no tax, fee or penalty proposed by the pending bill would be applied to families earning less than $250,000 annually.
· By a vote of 12 to 11, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) that would have exempted middle-income families from the penalty that would apply for noncompliance with the proposed individual coverage requirement.
· By a vote of 9 to 7, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that called for an expedited judicial review to examine the constitutionality of the transition relief the bill would provide for 17 states in connection with the high-cost health plan tax.
· By a vote of 14 to 9, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) that would sunset on December 31, 2019 tax increases in the pending bill that increase the out-of-pocket health care costs of Americans or cause employers to invade the privacy of their workers.
· By a vote of 14 to 9, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) that would have provided an exemption for seniors, persons with disabilities, persons with chronic debilitating conditions, and persons with terminal illness from the proposed 10% threshold for determining the tax deductibility of itemized medical expenses.
· By a vote of 13 to 10, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) that would have required the Treasury Secretary, prior to implementation of health reform, to certify that reform would not impose additional costs on small businesses (those with fewer than 500 employees).
· By a vote of 12 to 11, the committee defeated an amendment by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) that would have used the medical CPI, instead of the general CPI, for indexing the premium thresholds for the proposed high-cost health plan tax.
ON THE HILL: Summary of Amendments Considered in Senate Finance Committee Markup
Posted by The Campaign on September 30, 2009 at 8:14 PM
Below please find a summary of the amendments considered during today's Senate Finance Committee markup:
ON THE HILL: Roll Call Reports SFC Markup To Continue Next Week
Posted by The Campaign on September 24, 2009 at 3:53 PM
From Roll Call:
"The Senate Finance Committee's health care markup now appears likely to spill over into next week, due in large part to the sheer number of amendments filed against Chairman Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) bill."
For more on this story, click here. (Subscription required.)
ON THE HILL: New Documents Related to the Senate Finance Committee Markup
Posted by The Campaign on September 22, 2009 at 11:28 AM
New CBO analysis of financial assistance for individuals in the exchange.
New Chairman's mark updated with changes to proposal.
New revenue table reflecting changes in the mark.
ICYMI: Kaiser Health News/NPR -- For Some Families, 'Cadillac' Health Insurance Is Priceless
Posted by The Campaign on September 22, 2009 at 8:11 AM
Kaiser Health News and NPR look at the impact the new health care AMT could have on two different families.
For Some Families, 'Cadillac' Health Insurance Is Priceless
Much of the health care debate revolves around people without insurance or whose insurance is inadequate. But there's another group of people whose insurance is too generous, some say.
Click here to read the full story
AHIP PERSPECTIVE: AHIP's Letter to the Senate Finance Committee
Posted by The Campaign on September 22, 2009 at 6:43 AM
AHIP sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee outlining its thoughts on the Senate Finance Committee reform proposal.
Click here for the full letter.
ON THE HILL: Senate Finance Committee Mark Up Begins Today at 9:00 AM
Posted by The Campaign on September 22, 2009 at 5:32 AM
Open Executive Session to Consider an Original Bill
Providing for Health Care Reform
September 22, 2009, at 9:00 a.m., in 216 Hart Senate Office Building
