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Senate Finance Committee Slams AHIP Report
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
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The spokesman for the Democratic majority on the Senate Finance Committee pulled no punches in his response to a new health insurance lobby study that's critical of the reform bill drawn up by the committee.
"This report is untrue, disingenuous and bought and paid for by the same health insurance companies that have been gouging too many consumers for too long as they stand in the way of reform yet again," Scott Mulhauser said. "It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple."
Read his full comment after the jump.
Scott Mulhauser, a spokesman for Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee:
"This report is untrue, disingenuous and bought and paid for by the same health insurance companies that have been gouging too many consumers for too long as they stand in the way of reform yet again. Now that health care reform grows ever closer, these health insurers are breaking out the same, tired playbook of deception to prevent millions of Americans from getting the affordable, accessible care they need. This report is pitching some seriously flawed analysis that nobody's buying as it excludes all the provisions that will actually lower the cost of coverage - tax credits, grandfathering for existing policies, increased enrollment in private coverage and administrative savings from a more efficient mechanism for purchasing coverage. It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple."
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Bearlegdairy
October 12, 2009 9:26 AM
Just curious, what's a jump?
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Napoleon
October 12, 2009 9:34 AM in reply to Bearlegdairy
The "jump" is the break that is in the page when the post is displayed on the main page. Think of it as the crease in a newspaper so that if you are reading a story on, say, the front page, when you get to the crease you have to unfold the paper to read the rest of the story. On sites like Nate Silver's you don't need to open a separate page but you do need to press on a tab to open the rest of the page
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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
October 12, 2009 9:36 AM
Does anyone else note the weirdness of the insurance industry attacking the Senate Finance bill and Baucus' spokesman attacking the evil insurance industry? I really don't think AHIP is smart enough to trade on its own unpoplarity and run a "please don't fling me in that briar patch" strategy. And I definitely don't think they'd spend this much money on it.
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mans_best_friend
October 12, 2009 10:35 AM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve
The weakness all these groups have is their blindness. The simply don't see why everyone hates them, so they can't conceive strategies that work that way.
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Indie Pro
October 12, 2009 9:45 AM
The Senate Finance Committee bill does suck.
What the insurance industry doesn't like is the penalty for not buying insurance isn't stiff enough. Too many people are let out of the mandate. I wonder if lawmakers will respond.
They are letting you know they'll be raising their prices.
The subsidies are all ready too low in the Senate Finance Committee bill.
Plus, has anyone else heard that the Senate Finance Committee bill is the most bipartisan bill and most likely to be the model for the final bill? Wow. This is the worst bill.
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Micheline
October 12, 2009 9:52 AM in reply to Indie Pro
Then we need a public option.
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Moose49
October 12, 2009 10:24 AM in reply to Micheline
Precisely. I don't buy anything from AHIP, I certainly don't accept their premise, but to the extent that one does, all they're doing is making the argument for public option as the only way to keep premiums from going through the roof. Which is, of course, not their intent.
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jimbomoron
October 12, 2009 11:13 AM in reply to Indie Pro
I actually do agree with AHIP on the individual mandate. So does our friend Jonathan Cohn. The individual mandate penalty does need to be strengthened to at least the level it is here in the Bay State in order not to punish Joe & Jane Q. Policyholder, who abidingly purchase health insurance each year, with higher premiums because they don't receive the subsidy from young and healthy people, who choose not to purchase health insurance.
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Michael Lafferty
October 12, 2009 10:16 AM
Hopefully, enough Senators will see that AHIP and the industry have clearly overplayed their hand here, and lash back at them by including a serious, robust public option and other provisions which will strengthen the bill from the consumer point of view, and weaken it from the point of view of much of the industry.
I sure would not want to be the public relations flack sent out to defend this 'study!'
Any chance that Senator Baucus will, as a result, actually push back against his friends among the health insurance providers?
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Walter Mitty
October 12, 2009 10:33 AM
This could be strategy on AHIP's part. The Baucus Bill was universally panned by Democrats as written by the health insurance industry - maybe this push back by the industry is just to make it seem like the Baucus bill is bad for them as well, and if AHIP says it's bad "then it must be good for the people afterall" and thus should be the frame work for the final bill.
Ol' reverse psychology.
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fbacon2
October 12, 2009 6:19 PM in reply to Walter Mitty
I'm still trying to figure this out. It's weird, like NCSteve says above, and it could very well be what you're suggesting. But if it's the latter, then it's a very expensive piece of corporate PR commissioned through Pricewaterhouse designed to do little more than get a front page story on the pliant Washington Post.
My sense is that the simplest explanation is probably the best. AHIP and the WH have been playing each other close for their own self interests. AHIP now sees a bill that they could live with face a more likely partisan Dem vote, which means a stronger bill in the long run, which then means they will have a less favorable bill to their industry. Hence the report before the final vote of the most conservative and sold out committee. But judging from the backlash and the lateness of the AHIP counteroffensive it will be too late, and AHIP has overplayed its hand.
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3star2nr
October 12, 2009 11:15 AM
this one is a very very interesting strategy by the insurance companies. The baucus plan WILL raise premiums thats what its supposed to do. It has no public option, mandates coverage and makes it illegal to drop customers based on pre-existing conditions.
With more risks the obvious thing to do to preserve the insurance companies high profit margins would be to simply raise revenue through hire premiums or cutting back on overhead, like non essential staff etc.
The question is why would the insurance company lobby against something in their best interest. And the very simple reason is they dont feel like they have gotten enough from the bill. I think the strategy here is the insurance companies flexing their muscles and showing that they can hurt the politicians if they dont play ball.
I suspect what they want is to remove the preexisting condition mandate. And Also they want higher penalties for not buying their overpriced insurance, like wage garnishing etc.
If I were the whitehouse I would respond by scrapping the baucus plan all together andd go with the much stronger Kennedy bill from the senate help committee. And hit back at the insurance companies twice as hard.
I suspect though with the pussy politicians we have and a president who wont tell the corporatist dems to fuck off and fall in line, they are going to cave into the insurance company demands.
Proff of this can be seen in Rahm's response by cancelling the effective attack ad because it hurt Doles feelings.
Seriously, these people need balls. They need a just get it done and fuck anyone in the way attitude, they need a Dick Cheney or better yet a Howard Dean quarterbacking this.
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3star2nr
October 12, 2009 11:24 AM in reply to 3star2nr
the proposed bill also has cuts to Medicare, whats conveniently not mentioned by the media is what the cuts are, they are cut backs to ZBush's medicare plan, which basically gave billions to the insurance companies for them to negotiate for lower drug pprices.
Something the government could have and already does more effectively.
The insurance companies dont want the government to cut this because that's another source of income being eliminated
Then there is the tax on cadilac plans. The tax will of course scare customer's away from purchasing those plans. I dont think that tax would work in practice anyway, after a year or two.
This bill is an absolute disaster they need to kill it and pass the kennedy bill
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Mimi katz
October 12, 2009 12:31 PM in reply to 3star2nr
There are two parts to controlling costs--lowering insurance costs and lowering provider charges. There is puchback on all sides here. Ins Cos are allied with patients and the gov't in wanting to lower provider costs and patients and the gov't and providers are allied in wanting to lower insurance profits, overhead and adminstrative abuses.
But it is rich to see AHIP turn on Baucus because he didn't give them everyting they wanted. Karen Ignagni is very smart, but I don't buy the briar patch strategy. I think they are trying to shift attention to the other half of the cost issue so they don't bear more of the brunt of cost shifting and public anger when people focus on the details of what they will be paying for tyhe Baucus debacle.
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OffTheLows
October 13, 2009 12:31 AM in reply to 3star2nr
health insurers don't have high margins despite what many would think with premiums rising more than double inflation. They have one of the lowest profit margins by industry at around 3.5%, 5.5% pre-tax.
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Walter Mitty
October 12, 2009 11:22 AM
Isn't AHIP making a great case for a robust public option if not even Medicare-For-All?
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JohnMcCSF
October 12, 2009 11:48 AM
Gee Max, you don't get no respect
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hollywood
October 12, 2009 3:14 PM
Well what we can all be sure of is that IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS BEFORE ALL THIS TAKES EFFECT THE FUCKING GREEDY BASTARDS ARE GOING TO RAISE THE PREMIUMS THROUGH THE FUCKING ROOF!
My insurance premium just went up 28% for absolutely no reason, and that on top of a 30% jump last year. The 3 year phase in of the plan is going to bankrupt and kill so many people I really do not understand why once the law is passed it cannot be up an running AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. With so many lives on the line why the fucking hell do we wait 3 more years to be raped and left for dead by these completely immoral bastards? WHY?
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hollywood
October 12, 2009 4:49 PM
Well what we can all be sure of is that IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS BEFORE ALL THIS TAKES EFFECT THE FUCKING GREEDY BASTARDS ARE GOING TO RAISE THE PREMIUMS THROUGH THE FUCKING ROOF!
My insurance premium just went up 28% for absolutely no reason, and that on top of a 30% jump last year. The 3 year phase in of the plan is going to bankrupt and kill so many people I really do not understand why once the law is passed it cannot be up an running AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. With so many lives on the line why the fucking hell do we wait 3 more years to be raped and left for dead by these completely immoral bastards? WHY?
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marqthompson
April 15, 2010 6:16 AM
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