Viewing entries tagged with 'AHIP'
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
MUST WATCH TV: Health Plans Talk About What is Driving Premiums Higher -- Underlying Costs
Posted by The Campaign on February 23, 2010 at 9:53 AM
Yesterday, AHIP's Karen Ignagni released this statement outlining the real reasons why premiums are going higher -- underlying medical costs; setting the record straight on profits; and talking about ways in which health care reform could truly contain costs.
AHIP also did several interviews on news shows outlining the same arguments as to why premiums are increasing and setting the record straight on various attacks on the health plan industry. Watch the segments below:
AHIP's Karen Ignagni on the Nightly Business Report:
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach on BBC America:
AHIP's Mike Tuffin on CNBC:
ICYMI: AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach on CNN Discussing the Senate's Vote
Posted by The Campaign on December 21, 2009 at 11:38 AM
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach appeared on CNN early this morning to discuss the Senate's vote and AHIP's view on health care reform.
CNN:
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach on Fox News Special Report:
AHIP PERSPECTIVE: AHIP STATEMENT ON SENATE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION
Posted by The Campaign on December 19, 2009 at 6:05 PM
AHIP STATEMENT ON SENATE HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION Washington, DC – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following statement today on the Senate health care reform legislation: “The debate before us today is not whether insurance market reforms are needed. In fact, health plans proposed and support a complete overhaul of insurance market rules and new consumer protections to ensure all Americans have guaranteed access to affordable, portable coverage. The critical policy questions are whether the current legislation can bend the cost curve and result in a sustainable system. While the bill makes important improvements in access and takes steps towards cost-containment, it lacks accountability to ensure that costs are brought under control. Moreover, this bill includes provisions that will increase costs for families and small businesses and disrupt the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely today.” Barriers to affordability: · A new $70 billion premium tax that will increase the cost of health care coverage for millions of Americans and fall primarily on small businesses and those who purchase coverage in the individual market. · More cost shifting to patients with private coverage as providers are forced to make up for hundreds of billions in reduced Medicare payments. · New market and rating rules that will increase premiums for individuals and small businesses with coverage today. Disruptions for current policyholders: · New regulatory requirements and benefit mandates that go into effect beginning next year – before access provisions go into effect – that will cause major disruption for millions who have already enrolled in their plan for next year. · A new federal plan that would preclude many high-quality plans from participating and increase complexity in the exchanges. · Arbitrary caps on administrative costs that will undermine essential health care services, such as disease management and care coordination programs, investments in health information technology, programs to root out fraud and abuse in the health care system, and new administrative simplification requirements. · Major cuts in Medicare Advantage benefits beginning next year that will ultimately result in millions of seniors losing their current coverage. “These issues need to be resolved if the country is to make health care coverage more affordable and put the system on a sustainable path. Health plans will continue to work to solve the problems that have been identified.” ###
MUST SEE TV: Video of AHIP's Karen Ignagni Delivering Speech at the Detroit Economic Club
Posted by The Campaign on December 08, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Last week, AHIP's Karen Ignagni delivered a speech at the Detroit Economic Club entitled "Health Care Reform: The Debate America Needs". In this speech she laid out the need to address increasing health care costs as a part of reform and how the current reform proposals fall short of doing this.
Click here for excerpts and full text of the speech.
Click here for the video of the speech from CSPAN's video library.
AHIP’s Perspective: The Debate America Needs
Posted by The Campaign on December 03, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Today, AHIP’s President and CEO Karen Ignagni delivered a speech to the Detroit Economic Club on the need for health care reform to tackle the issue of rising health care costs.
Excerpts from her speech are below.
The full speech as prepared for delivery is available by clicking here.
Key Excerpts:
The measure of whether we succeed now – to accomplish what hasn’t been accomplished in a century of false starts - is not simply whether a bill gets passed but whether it genuinely provides health security.
********
If we don’t do what needs to be done to address costs and instead settle for passing inadequate legislation – simply to attach a ‘health care reform’ label to something – we will have made promises that will be impossible to keep. Deficits will increase, Medicare will remain financially unstable, government subsidies will be inadequate to protect families, and employers will find it much more difficult to continue to provide coverage.
*********
To expand access without constraining costs is not sustainable and the American people understand this. In fact, as polls show, millions of Americans worry that the pending legislation doesn’t do enough to bring costs under control.
*********
Unfortunately, the cost-containment discussion has been largely sidetracked. The bills currently before Congress do not include a comprehensive, system-wide plan to bend the cost curve.
*********
Indeed, as far as cost containment is concerned, it’s as though the house is on fire and the strategy is to rush to the scene with an eight-ounce glass of water.
*********
The good news is that there is still time to get it right. The barrier – and it is tall and wide – is the perception that the politics of Washington inevitably make it impossible to take on health care costs in a comprehensive fashion.
*********
Today, I’d like to offer five solutions that can promote health security for all Americans and help set the nation on a sound economic course:
1. Set a National Goal and Measure Progress.
2. Build on the Pilots and Incentives in the Senate Legislation with a Comprehensive Plan to Introduce Health Care Delivery Reforms Across the System.
3. Reform the Legal System to Protect Patients and Allow Doctors and Hospitals to Deliver “Best Practice” Medicine.
4. Empower Patients and Their Doctors to Make the Most Informed Health Care Decisions.
5. Avoiding “Reforms” that Increase Costs.
**********
We believe these issues can and must be addressed. The key is for the nation to make a commitment to reducing the growth rate of health care costs.
**********
As everyone here knows, we’ve paid a high price for avoiding tough decisions in other areas of our economy. And the devastating housing and financial crises should serve as stark lessons. If reform fails to address the unsustainable cost drivers in health care, we may be laying the groundwork for the nation’s next crisis – one that will impact every American.
**********
We can avoid that outcome. We can still change direction.
Sustainable health care reform is still within reach. The nation can provide affordable health care coverage to all Americans. To get there, all of us with a stake in the health care system need to heed the call to a higher national purpose that trumps political expediency.
AHIP Perspective: AHIP Statement on CBO Report
Posted by The Campaign on November 30, 2009 at 12:22 PM
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach issued the following statement on today's CBO report:
“This is the latest report to confirm that the current health care reform proposal fails to bend the health care cost curve and will result in double-digit premium increases for millions of Americans.”
Highlights from the CBO report:
· Failure to bend the cost curve: The CBO analysis confirms that the current health care reform proposal does not bend the cost curve – a key goal of health care reform.
· Double-digit premium increases for millions of Americans: CBO projects that premiums will increase for many people higher than they would under current law. The CBO and JCT analysis estimates “that the average premium per person covered (including dependents) for new nongroup policies would be about 10 percent to 13 percent higher in 2016 than the average premium for nongroup coverage in that same year under current law”.
· One in five workers could lose their current coverage: According to CBO, “an estimated 19 percent of workers with employment-based coverage would be affected by the excise tax” in 2016. Further, the analysis states that “those who kept their high-premium policies would pay a higher premium than under current law”, but “most people would avoid the cost of the excise tax by enrolling in plans that had lower premiums; those reductions would result from choosing plans that either pay a smaller share of covered health care costs (which would reduce premiums directly as well as indirectly by leading to less use of covered medical services), manage benefits more tightly, or cover fewer services”.
Other Factors to Consider:
· Subsidies do not lower premiums: Subsidies are essential to helping low- and moderate-income families afford health care coverage. But in the same way that Pell Grants do not lower the cost of college tuition, subsidies do not reduce underlying medical costs.
· Incentive for people to delay purchasing coverage: Most experts agree that the current proposal provides a powerful incentive for people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage. This unfairly penalizes current policyholders who will be forced to cover the cost of providing care to those who wait to purchase coverage.
· Ignores regional variation in premiums: The CBO analysis estimates the nationwide average premium rather than examining the impact in each state across the country. Some states previously enacted guarantee issue and community rating reforms which led to significant premium increases in the individual market in those states. The current proposals would cause average premiums to decrease in those states while dramatically increasing premiums for people in states that currently allow medical underwriting.
· Ignores cost-shifting to families and employers with private coverage: Experience has shown that when doctors and hospitals receive less money from Medicare and Medicaid, they charge more to families and employers with private coverage to cover those costs. According to a Milliman, Inc., the average family of four is currently paying $1,500 in higher premiums as a result of this cost-shift. New Medicare cuts and a new government-run plan would exacerbate cost-shifting to families and employers.
· Many policies would not be protected under “grandfather” clause: The provision that supposedly “grandfathers” people into their current plans offers limited protection against higher costs because one-third of Americans change their coverage each year. Anyone who changes jobs, gets married or divorced, has a child or moves to another state would not be protected by the grandfather clause.
AHIP Statement on the Release of Proposed Senate Legislation
Posted by The Campaign on November 19, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Washington, DC – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following statement today on the release of proposed Senate legislation:
“The promise of health care reform is that it will provide all Americans coverage, allow them to keep their coverage if they like it, and bends the cost curve to put the system on a sustainable path. These are the standards by which any reform bill should be judged, and the Senate bill falls short of meeting them. We believe that these issues can be addressed and improved to achieve these goals, and we will continue to work with policymakers toward that end.
“We believe that all Americans, regardless of health status or medical history, should have guaranteed access to affordable coverage. We have proposed guarantee issue coverage with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions in conjunction with a coverage requirement and adequate subsidies for working families. We also have made a commitment to do our part by proposing far-reaching administrative simplification reforms that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and free up time for physicians to focus on patient care. We stand by these commitments, but agree with a wide range of health policy experts that market reforms will not work if there is not an effective coverage requirement.
“This proposal encourages people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage, which will significantly drive up costs for those who are currently insured. The legislation also imposes rating rules that will raise the cost of coverage for millions of young families in more than 40 states.
“The new health care taxes and fees will raise the cost of coverage for individuals, families, and employers. Health plans will be required to pay a $6.7 billion tax beginning next year for the next 10 years, in addition to ‘stabilization’ fees of $25 billion in 2014, 2015, and 2016. According to Fortune magazine’s analysis of the companies listed under ‘Insurance and Managed Care’, earnings in 2008 totaled $8.61 billion with a profit margin of 2.2% -- ranking the industry 35th on the Fortune list.
“This bill will also exacerbate the health care cost shift as health care providers offset reductions in public program reimbursements by charging more to families and employers who have private coverage. The new government plan will cause even more cost-shifting and threaten the employer-based coverage with which Americans are overwhelmingly satisfied.
“The $117 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage will threaten the choices that seniors have across the country and significantly reduce seniors’ benefits in many major metropolitan areas.
“Congress is being forced to turn to these financing mechanisms because it has been unwilling to make a commitment to specific strategies and enforceable objectives that will bend the health care cost curve downward.”
###
AHIP Statement on the Letter Regarding Health Care Costs
Posted by The Campaign on November 19, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Washington, DC – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following statement today on the letter regarding health care costs:
“We welcome the opportunity to address the issue of soaring health care costs. We look forward to providing information about how, where, and why costs are rising.
“Premium increases track increases in underlying medical costs, and each state has a process for reviewing changes in premiums.
“In addition to the growth in underlying medical costs, experience has shown that cost increases have been exacerbated in states that have enacted new health care taxes and shifted more costs from public programs to the private sector by underpaying providers. This experience underscores the serious concerns we have raised about the potential unintended consequences from new federal legislation that does not bend the cost curve.”
###
AHIP Statement: House Bill Fails To Bend Cost Curve, Breaks ‘Keep Current Coverage’ Promise
Posted by The Campaign on November 07, 2009 at 7:31 PM
AHIP Statement on House Passage of H.R. 3962
Washington, DC – Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following statement today on House passage of H.R. 3962.
“Health plans strongly support comprehensive health care reform, and we have contributed to this discussion by proposing a complete overhaul of how health insurance is provided. Earlier this year, we proposed guaranteed coverage, elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions, no longer basing premiums on a person’s health status or gender, and an effective personal coverage requirement to get everyone covered. We also have proposed far-reaching administrative simplification reforms that will improve efficiency, reduce costs, and free up time for physicians to focus on patient care.
“The current House legislation fails to bend the health care cost curve and breaks the promise that those who like their current coverage can keep it. A new government-run plan will cause millions to lose their existing coverage and draconian Medicare Advantage cuts will force millions of seniors out of the program entirely.
“This bill imposes inflexible mandates before getting everyone covered and new regulations that duplicate what is already in place at the state level. Many of these reforms begin in 2010 after employees have already chosen their plans and contracts have been negotiated. The result will be increased costs and massive disruptions in the quality coverage individuals and families rely on today.
“Recent polls have shown that Americans are increasingly concerned about the impact of rising health care costs. Yet the current health care reform discussion has, until recently, ignored the cost issue. Without real and effective measures to bend the cost curve, families and employers will not be able to afford coverage and health care costs will rise at a rate much faster than the overall economy is able to sustain.
“Health plans will continue to advocate for bipartisan reforms that cover everyone, improve quality, and make health care coverage more affordable.”
###
