Ad wars

AHIP Full-Page Ad: 'Health Insurers Make Health Care More Affordable'

Rachel Slajda | March 16, 2010, 9:53AM

AHIP, the health insurance companies' professional organization, is out with a full-page ad today in the Wall Street Journal which claims, in part, that "Health insurers make health care more affordable."

The ad will also run tomorrow in USA Today, according to Politico.

Read more »

AHIP

Sebelius And Health Care Exec Clash At AHIP Conference

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 10, 2010, 1:07PM

AHIP president and CEO Karen Ignagni and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

They were like yin and yang, oil and water. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Karen Ignagni couldn't agree on much today when they debated health care reform at AHIP's conference in downtown Washington, D.C.

Sebelius challenged to insurers to embrace the Obama administration's health care reform efforts before it's too late. Directly after she finished speaking, Ignagni took to the mics to challenge the administration to abandon its efforts to reform the way health insurance works in America -- before it's too late.

The lines appeared to be drawn.

Read more »

Health Care

Health Care Ad Wars: TV Spots Amp Up As Final Vote Nears (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | March 10, 2010, 9:56AM

A still from an AHIP ad.

After a cooling off period when health care reform legislation seemed nearly dead, television ad spending is now spiking. Interest groups attempting to swap public opinion and votes in Washington on both sides of the debate are funneling cash into health care ads that experts predict won't let up until after the midterm elections.

"We're going to see a fairly intense couple of weeks as health care reaches the endgame, but advertising related to this issue will only continue," Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis group which tracks ad spending, told me in an interview this morning.

America's Health Insurance Plans and Health Care for America Now sparred yesterday on the air over high costs of insurance and the massive rate hikes we've been tracking at TPMDC.

Read more »

AHIP

AHIP Spending $1M To Defend Rate Hikes (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | March 9, 2010, 8:49AM

America's Heath Insurance Plans, the lobbying arm of the nation's health insurance industry, is stepping back into the health care reform debate with more than $1 million in TV ads over the next few days, an AHIP official tells TPMDC. The ads, which will run on cable, will focus on "setting the record straight about rising health care costs" as the Obama administration goes after big insurers for raising insurance rates.

The exact content of the ads is not known, but AHIP and the White House have tangled before. Last year, an AHIP "audit" of a Senate health care reform plan led to a war of words between Obama administration officials and insurers, who started out 2009 supposedly on the same side of the debate.

Read more »

Insurance rate hikes

Health Care Showdown: The White House Takes on Insurers

Christina Bellantoni | March 4, 2010, 3:56PM

President Barack Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today summoned the nation's four largest health insurers responsible for rate increases the administration calls "jaw-dropping." They demanded the insurers - WellPoint, Cigna, Aetna and United Health Group - start disclosing their rate increases on the Internet.

Everyone involved called the talks "constructive," but shortly after the meeting a report surfaced showing the nation's largest insurer would stand to profit substantially if reform fails.

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein got his hands on a report from a consulting firm which evaluated Wellpoint stock and concluded, "Of course, healthcare reform is a double-edged sword for Wellpoint shares. Should reform fail, Wellpoint would be a primary beneficiary."

Read more »