BNA: Insurance Association Launches Campaign to Increase Support for Reform Proposals

Reproduced with Permission from BNA's Health Care Daily Report: America's Health Insurance Plans, a lobby group for the insurance industry, kicked off its Campaign to gain grassroots support for and get feedback on the association's proposals for health care reform July 22 in a discussion with uninsured individuals in Columbus, Ohio.

The "Campaign for an American Solution" stop was the first in a number of roundtable discussions with citizens across America about the association's plans for universal coverage and more affordable, higher quality care, which focus on the private sector and the government both playing a role.

"People are looking for a blend of the best of the public and private sector strategies," AHIP Chief Executive Officer Karen Ignani said in a teleconference with reporters about the campaign. "The issue of healthcare is front and center for regular people and they are going to be expecting the next president not only to prioritize it but to get the job done."

Protest

Health Care for America Now, a coalition of unions including the AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union, and other organizations like MoveOn.org, protested the event in Ohio.

"Americans know that the last people we can trust to fix the health care mess are insurance companies," Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now, said in a statement.

AHIP's proposal is to guarantee coverage by creating state-sponsored Guarantee Access Plans to cover the highest-risk individuals, those with expected claims that are two times the statewide average or more, and having health insurance companies guarantee coverage to all other applicants, according to the Campaign's Web site.

The plan would also limit rescissions, the retroactive cancellation of a holder's health insurance plan because of mistakes or misrepresentations on their application, and would create a third-party review process to resolve disputes about pre-existing condition exclusions and rescissions.

Strategies to repair the safety net, development of refundable tax credits for working families, and plans to address cost and quality issues will also be discussed during the campaign's meetings with consumers, Ignagni said.

Reproduced with permission from BNA's Health Care Daily Report, Vol. 13, No. 141 (July 23, 2008).
Copyright 2008 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.
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