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.

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Health Care

Insurance Lobby Exec Says Costs Not Addressed In Health Care Bills

Christina Bellantoni | December 3, 2009, 2:03PM

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni

America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Karen Ignagni is speaking today about health care at the Detroit Economic Club and says the bills being debated do not sufficiently address cost containment.

"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," she said.

Readers will recall that in October AHIP commissioned PriceWaterhouse Coopers to do a report showing that insurance premiums would rise under the bills being considered on Capitol Hill.

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Health Care

AHIP 'Concerned' About House Health Reform Bill

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 29, 2009, 12:54PM

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni

The health insurance lobby says it's worried about the health care bill proposed by Nancy Pelosi this morning, but says it's willing to work with Democrats to find a solution the industry says "will cover all Americans, make coverage more affordable, and improve quality."

AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni offered the industry's take on the House bill shortly after it was announced by Pelosi on the steps of the Capitol.

"The promise of health care reform has been that if you like your current coverage, you can keep it," she said. "We are concerned that this proposal will break this promise by increasing health care costs for families and employers across the country and significantly disrupting the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely today."

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AHIP

AHIP Chief Ignores Protestors

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 22, 2009, 4:45PM

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni

About 400 union activists gathered outside the Capitol Hilton in downtown D.C. this afternoon and called on AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni to take a break from the health insurance industry convention going on inside to meet with seven insurance company customers who say they've each lived through (some of them barely) a nightmare that started when they tried to get their insurer to pay their medical bills.

Ignagni didn't show.

Health Care For America Now!, and organized labor-funded lobbying group, hosted the protest and brought the seven families to DC to meet with Igagni. Executive Director Richard Kirsch told the crowd outside the bad news.

"They're all scared of you," he said of insurance company executives. "They don't want to face us."

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AHIP

Ignagni: Misleading AHIP Study? What Misleading AHIP Study?

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 9:50AM

Robert Zirkelbach, Press Secretary AHIP, Pricewaterhouse Coopers building, CEO Karen Ignagni

Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), has penned something a wee bit shy of a mea culpa, explaining away last week's much-derided industry study finding that health care reforms will cause people's premiums to skyrocket.

According to Ignagni, AHIP never meant to hide the ball from anybody:

The study clearly states that its analysis covers only these provisions and specifically notes that it did not factor in the impact of proposed premium subsidies. Nevertheless, critics have charged that the study nefariously hid the fact that it omitted provisions designed to enhance affordability, such as the subsidies and a grandfathering clause.

Elided here is the fact that AHIP asked PricewaterhouseCoopers specifically not to include the mitigating factors of subsidies and other affordability measures, in an attempt to make it seem as if Congress was on the verge of passing legislation that would cause everyone's insurance premiums to skyrocket.

Also elided is that, as has been widely reported, AHIP misled the White House about the existence of the study, despite being a nominal partner in the White House's reform efforts.

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