Word: reform
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...conference call with reporters, Karen Ignagni, lead lobbyist for the industry, described the Democrats' marketing push as a new campaign "launched to demonize health plans" and "the same-old Washington politics of 'find an enemy and go to war.' " Said Ignagni before declaring insurers' support for reform: "Attacking our community will not help get anyone covered...
...return for the support of one potential foe, the pharmaceutical industry, the Obama Administration reportedly made a side deal to limit drug spending cuts in any health-care reform bill to $80 billion. According to the New York Times, the Administration reaffirmed the deal after the drugmakers expressed concern that Congress might push for even bigger cuts...
...Despite its protests that it is being unfairly vilified, the insurance industry is far from ready to simply accept the reform proposals currently on the table. Most of its efforts are concentrated on defeating the creation of a public-health-insurance alternative primarily for Americans currently priced out of the private-insurance market. But the industry's opposition to Democratic reform proposals goes far beyond the public option, which it believes will have an unfair, government-afforded advantage over insurers, and the industry is quietly lobbying for legislative language changes that could have major consequences. (Read TIME's special report...
...market who have expensive pre-existing conditions and basing premium rates on health status and gender. But one variable that will persist is age, since older enrollees represent more health risks than younger enrollees, and insurers are doing their best to retain the most flexibility in that area. Current reform legislation in the House and the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee would allow insurers to vary premiums on the basis of age only by a factor of two, meaning insurers would be allowed to charge older enrollees premiums that are twice as high as those for younger...
...couldn't do business at 2 to 1. The younger people's premiums would just be too high," says Charles Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, a lobbying group for investor-owned hospitals, and a former lobbyist for the insurance industry during Bill Clinton's health-care reform battle in the 1990s. Essentially, a wider "age band," like the 5-to-1 ratio insurers favor, would allow them to charge higher amounts to middle-aged people not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare, while keeping younger people's premiums much lower. In a recent letter to Henry...