Thursday, September 24, 2009 1:00 PM
Ignagni: Bills Don't Make Health Care Affordable
All of the proposed pieces of health care legislation, including the latest bill set out by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., need to focus on cost containment rather than taxation as the greatest source of reform funding, the insurance industry's top lobbyist said Thursday.
"Every committee is going to need to take a broader look at affordability," Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
Baucus' bill includes a tax on insurance companies for the most expensive insurance plans.
Ignagni said that each insured family pays an average of $1,500 more per year because of the "underfunding of Medicaid and Medicare."
"At a minimum, there needs to be a prohibition against cost-shifting as a result of Medicare cuts," Ignagni said.
Ignagni said August was a "lost opportunity" for pushing reform efforts forward, but she still sees a "strong opportunity to pass reform legislation this year."
(Photo of Ignagni by Rick Bloom)
"You can build a uniquely American system based on the best of the private and public sectors," she said.
Included in that system, Ignagni said, should be a scaled out-of-pocket cap on expenses and a safety net for people who are unable to pay for coverage. But any form of public option based on Medicare rates, including a co-op or triggered option, would build "another tenuous financial structure," she argued.
AHIP's members include America's largest insurers: Aetna, the Blue Cross Blue Shield chapters, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, WellPoint and others.
The group has committed to supporting insurance reforms that would eliminate industry practices such as denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions and rating insurance based on health status or gender.
CongressDailyAM (subscription) has more on Ignagni's objections to the emerging Finance bill. In June, National Journal (subscription) examined Ignagni's role in the development of this year's health care deliberations.
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"At a minimum, there needs to be a prohibition against cost-shifting as a result of Medicare cuts," Ignagni said.
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