Health Care

Top Expert: Disputed McKinsey Health Care Study Akin To Push Poll

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2011, 6:30AM

One of the nation's foremost experts on survey writing compared McKinsey & Company's controversial health care study to a push poll, calling into further question whether its results can be trusted as even a snapshot of employer sentiment.

"There is no doubt that the answers one would get after priming respondents the way they did would be expected to include more expressed interest in the possibility of not insuring employees than a question asked in a nonprimed context," said Floyd Fowler, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and author of the book Survey Research Methods.

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McKinsey

Dems Pile On McKinsey, Calls Firm's Defense Of Health Care Survey 'Unjustifiable'

Brian Beutler | June 20, 2011, 6:08PM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)

Democratic members of Congress who pressed the consulting giant McKinsey & Company to open the books on its disputed health care study are piling on, now that the firm's released its survey materials.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who took a leading role in the pressure campaign, just lambasted the firm for inadequately addressing the controversy. Baucus also provided new details about a private meeting the firm's representatives had with members of his own staff about the survey.

"McKinsey has long held a reputation for fair-minded analysis, so it is particularly disappointing that this study does not live up to that reputation -- or even come close. McKinsey made clear and definitive predictions, and, in the face of tough questions, simply changed their story" said Baucus. "This report is filled with cherry-picked facts and slanted questions - it did not provide employers with enough information for them to make honest choices and fair evaluations. Rather than correct the major deficiencies in their report, McKinsey has chosen to again stand by their faulty analysis and misguided conclusions."

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Health Care

McKinsey Breaks Silence On Disputed HCR Study: We Weren't Making Any Predictions!

Brian Beutler | June 20, 2011, 2:45PM

After two weeks of controversy, the consulting giant McKinsey & Company has broken its silence. The group came under fire from health care reformers for publishing a contrarian study finding that President Obama's health care reform law will prompt large numbers of employers to stop offering health insurance benefits -- and for refusing to publish its methodology or survey results.

Under public pressure from top Democrats in Congress and from professional peers, the firm has issued a long statement partially defending the study and explaining the roots of the kerfuffle. McKinsey has also released both the survey materials and results that provided the data from which its report was drawn.

"We stand by the integrity and methodology of the survey," reads an official statement from McKinsey. "The survey was not intended as a predictive economic analysis of the impact of the Affordable Care Act."

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McKinsey

Conservatives Defend McKinsey Against Democratic 'Bullying,' 'Enemies Lists'

Brian Beutler | June 20, 2011, 10:20AM

Fox Business host Stuart Varney

If the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. comes clean about the methodology behind its recent report that claims "Obamacare" will significantly undermine worker's health benefits, they'll have plenty of allies -- among conservatives.

A new line is gaining traction among health care reform opponents. They claim that McKinsey is entitled as a private company to keep its survey materials private -- and if they cave, they'll unleash a wave of administration bullying and antagonism against businesses on a White House enemies list.

"In economic terms this is the equivalent of a journalist being told to reveal their source," said Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Fox News Friday. "[I]f congress finds out which companies are indeed going to leave ObamaCare, then they will be subject -- maybe -- to all kind of pressure. Intimidation. Bullying. They may be on an enemy's list. There may be retribution against those companies."

In response to this, the anchor noted, "If you are an American insurance company and you say to McKinsey, 'You know, we are curious how this is going to affect us and how it's going to affect the people that we cover and the companies we're involved in, we would like to hire you privately to do a study to give us information on that. I think most folk would say that's a closed circle. That's a business arrangement. You give us the research and we'll pay you for it."

Watch:

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Health Care

Baucus Issues Public Call To McKinsey To Come Clean On Controversial HCR Survey

Brian Beutler | June 16, 2011, 2:50PM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)

Updated: 4:25 p.m.

McKinsey & Co's public relations fiasco continued Thursday, as one of the most powerful senators on Capitol Hill issued a public call for the influential consulting firm to come clean about a questionable study it published on the impact of the new health care reform law.

In an accompanying letter to the firm's managing director, Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) reveals that McKinsey has agreed to meet with members of his staff to discuss the survey -- and includes 13 questions on methodology, which he "expect[s McKinsey] to be able to answer completely."

"Honest public discourse requires a standard level of transparency -- one McKinsey simply has not met," Baucus said in a prepared statement. "The conclusions McKinsey reached differ sharply from results of other reputable, transparent research on the subject. McKinsey's findings also counter what actually happened in Massachusetts when similar policies increased employer-sponsored health insurance. We all want the most accurate information and the ability to evaluate its integrity, which is why McKinsey should answer these basic questions."

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