Viewing entries tagged with 'AHIP'
MUST SEE TV: AHIP on Fox Business News
Posted by The Campaign on August 11, 2009 at 2:18 PM
AHIP's Robert Zirkelbach appeared on Fox Business News this morning to talk about the status of the health care reform debate.
Watch it below:
Fact Check: The Individual Insurance Market
Posted by The Campaign on August 11, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Individual Insurance Market:
- 89% of individuals applying for coverage in the individual market were offered coverage.
- Consumers in the individual market were offered a wide range of benefits, including mental or behavioral health, prescription drugs, preventive, and maternity benefits.
- Forty percent of these offers were at standard premium rates and 49 percent were offered at lower (preferred) rates.
- Inpatient and outpatient behavioral health and substance abuse benefits were included in approximately 85 percent of policies purchased.
Rescissions:
- In 2005, less than 3/10ths of 1% of all policies were rescinded and in 2006 less than 2/10ths of 1% were rescinded.
- By enacting the reforms that health plans have put forward, we can make rescissions a thing of the past.
AHIP's PERSPECTIVE: Statement on Health Insurance Reform
Posted by The Campaign on August 11, 2009 at 8:58 AM
AHIP Statement on Health Insurance Reform
Washington, DC – America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released the following statement today from President and CEO Karen Ignagni:
"Health plans last year proposed health insurance reform to make sure that no one is denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Our proposal includes new consumer protections and market rules to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions, discontinue basing premiums on a person’s health status or gender, and get everyone covered through a personal coverage requirement. We are encouraged that policymakers in both parties are coalescing around health insurance reform as an essential component of comprehensive health care reform."
AHIP's PERSPECTIVE: Health Insurance Reform
Posted by The Campaign on August 11, 2009 at 5:36 AM
One of the main focuses recently of the health care reform debate has been "health insurance reform". The health plan community agrees that as part of comprehensive health care reform new policies must be put in place that strengthen market rules and add new consumer protections. To that end, the health plan community over the past year began putting forward proposals that would do just those things.
In fact, just this past weekend The Washington Post editorial page noted "the insurance industry of 2009 is in a far different place than it was 16 years ago; it has agreed to accept all applicants and generally charge the same amount, in exchange for a requirement that all individuals obtain insurance."
The Campaign Blog this week will revisit the health plan community's reform proposals and how these proposals fit into the current reform debate.
As the Campaign kicks off the week remember these five facts:
1. Health plans have proposed comprehensive health care reform to cover all Americans, make care more affordable, and improve quality.
2. Health plans proposed health insurance reform last year.
- Guarantee coverage for everyone.
- Make pre-existing conditions a thing of the past.
- Premiums not based on gender or health status.
- Personal coverage requirement so that everyone has health insurance.
- Helping hand to make coverage affordable.
4. Health plans are advocating and advertising in support of bipartisan reform.
5. Out of every dollar the nation spends on health care, one penny goes to health plan profits.
ICYMI: Washington Post Editorial: "An Unhealthy Debate"
Posted by The Campaign on August 09, 2009 at 6:22 PM
The Washington Post ran an editorial this morning looking at the ongoing health care reform debate, click here to read it.
One key excerpt:
"...the insurance industry of 2009 is in a far different place than it was 16 years ago; it has agreed to accept all applicants and generally charge the same amount, in exchange for a requirement that all individuals obtain insurance."
MUST READ: San Francisco Chronicle Asks Who's Smearing Whom
Posted by The Campaign on August 07, 2009 at 7:54 AM
The San Francisco Chronicle's Andrew Ross has a must read column this morning on the heated rhetoric and charges directed toward health plans.
Click here for the full column.
MUST SEE TV: AHIP's Mike Tuffin on Status of Health Care Reform Debate
Posted by The Campaign on August 04, 2009 at 3:24 PM
AHIP's Mike Tuffin appeared on MSNBC this afternoon to discuss the recent change in rhetoric directed toward health plans and health plans continued commitment to bipartisan reform. And click here to read AHIP's statement on the status of health care reform released this morning during a press conference with AHIP's Karen Ignagni.
AHIP's PERSPECTIVE: AHIP Statement on Status of Health Care Reform
Posted by The Campaign on August 04, 2009 at 11:30 AM
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.
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America’s Health Insurance Plans – Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans
BREAKING NEWS: Health Plans Gearing Up Grassroots During August
Posted by The Campaign on August 02, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Politico's Playbook reports on health plans' grassroots efforts during the August recess.
From Politico's Playbook:
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP -- the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans) is urging the industry's hundreds of thousands of employees to GO TO TOWN MEETINGS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN AUGUST TO CONFRONT THEM on House Democrats' top recess message -- that health-reform legislation is "health insurance reform to hold insurance companies accountable." The association's positive TV ad will continue into this week, but look for the spots to toughen up soon.
AHIP's director of strategic communications, Robert Zirkelbach, tells Playbook: "The American people want Washington to focus on solutions, not the same old divisive political rhetoric that hasn't worked in the past. Our industry has offered to completely transform how health insurance is provided today. We have stepped up to do our part to make health-care reform a reality. That's an INCONVENIENT FACT that some people have chosen to ignore. These attacks are politically motivated, and they ignore the significant commitment that our industry has made to the health-reform process. WE'RE GOING TO BE VERY ACTIVE. We have people on the ground in more than 30 states. There are thousands of industry employees WHO HAVE NOW HAD THEIR INTEGRITY CALLED INTO QUESTION. They want to have their voices heard as part of this."
AHIP IS TRACKING EVENTS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE HOLDING, AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO GO. Zirkelbach: "We have contacted all of our member companies and encouraged them to get involved. August is a great time because of the face-to-face interaction with members." Industry employees are getting ammo through Twitter and a six-week-old blog.
MUST SEE TV: Watch Mort Kondracke on Fox News Talk about Health Plans' Support for Reform
Posted by The Campaign on July 31, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Last night on Fox News, Roll Call's Mort Kondracke talked about the health plan community's support for reform.
Watch below to listen to his full comments about health plans:
